Researchers have located a German Dornier 17 “Flying Pencil” bomber shot down during the Battle of Britain in 1940. It is buried in a sandbank about 50 feet below the surface in the English Channel off of the British coast, according to press reports. The RAF Museum in London issued a statement, acknowledging the find and revealing that the aircraft appears to be “very well preserved” based on sonar scans. Efforts are now planned to retrieve the bomber for the museum’s Battle of Britain gallery. The aircraft was reportedly discovered when a fishing boat snagged its nets on it. (See FoxNews report and Toronto Sun report.)
B-52 Stratofortress bombers marked a new first in Operation Epic Fury when some of the BUFFs flew over Iran carrying JDAM-guided gravity bombs, according to people familiar with the matter. The development signals a weakening of Iranian air defenses and a new use for the venerable bomber in the nearly…