Intro
The genesis for this project started when I was in Kea, Greece in October 2023 during an expedition with Ben Lair and Justin Judd to dive the HMHS Britannic with Keadivers. I was showing Yannis (owner of Keadivers) some of my airplane photogrammetry models when he mentioned that there was a completely intact German Junkers Ju-52 close to the other wrecks we were diving; however, access was restricted.
Sounds to me like a problem waiting to be solved. 🙂
We chatted about it and we both thought that it would make a good photogrammetry project and decided to wait until January 2024 at which point we would apply for permits to dive the wreck targeting April 2024 before the start of the busy season.
I will publish two posts about this project: this one one about the trip and the wreck and then one specific to the photogrammetry model that resulted from the trip.
The Permit Process
We initially contacted the Greek government agency at the start of January. I provided Yannis a bio and examples of the photogrammetry models I had completed. About mid-February, we got some feedback from the archaeologists in Greece. The Ministry of Culture asked for more details, specifically: the purpose of creating the model, what we were planning to do with the results, what equipment would be used for the project, and my CV.
We provided all the details and waited for their response. Our planned dates for the trip were in mid-April and I had some events in New York I was trying to plan around so I was getting a bit nervous when we hadn’t heard anything by mid-March. Right around that time, Yannis said that we had approval to do the project but the project needed to be backed by a university or an archaeological or scientific institution. Russ Matthews who founded the non-profit Air | Sea Heritage Foundation (ASHF) was happy to sponsor the project. The ASHF focuses on the “study, investigation and preservations of relics, wrecks, sites, and stories related to aviation and maritime history.” Russ was kind enough to write a formal letter detailing their support of the project.
Trip Details
I will save you the details of the multiple flight issues getting to Greece but will advise you that flying Lufthansa from LAX to either FRA or MUC is likely to incur delays. The historical delay statistics are atrocious. You might get lucky, but I would plan for a long layover on either flight if you are connecting.
Ben Lair & Lauren Lasser were already in Europe doing some cool diving in mines, caves, etc. so I invited them down to Kea to help out with the project. We rented the same apartment that we had when Ben, Justin, and I were there in October. It was the off-season so the island was nice and quiet. Most of the hotels and many of the restaurants were closed, but we had a fantastic time.
I arrived into Athens airport after the last ferry had left but has pre-arranged to get picked up by Yannis so I could get to Kea that night and not spend a night at the airport or Lavrio.
As always, the food was amazing! Lauren found a bakery in the port area that had amazing pastries so we had to stop there on one of the mornings and bring pastries to the dive shop.
One day, during a down day due to wind, we took a trip the infamous “Lion of Kea” which was most likely carved in the 6th century — BC! If you are in Kea, it is worth the drive and short hike to see it. You also get a really nice view of the capital city of Kea.
The Ju-52 Airplane
Before heading to Greece, I did a lot of research on the Junkers 52 whose nickname was “Tante Ju” or “Auntie Ju” which was an affectionate nickname the pilots and crew gave to the Ju52. I have also heard it referred to as “Iron Annie.” According to the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft:
For all its seemingly archaic appearance, with fixed landing gear, angular lines and corrugated skin, the classic Junkers Ju 52/3m represented the common denominator of every land operation by Germany’s Wehrmacht, whether in advance or retreat. ‘Tante Ju’ was indeed the counterpart of America’s Douglas C-47 Skytrain.
The Profile Publications noted that
(it) was recognisable (sic) immediately by its lumbering corrugated silhouette as it roared overhead with a noise that has aptly been described as “six motor bikes racing downhill in bottom gear.”!
In my opinion, the most striking identifiers of this aircraft are the three engines (hence the “3m” at the end of the designation) and the corrugated aluminum skin which is very obvious throughout.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft has a good cutaway showing key characteristics of the aircraft:
In addition, the excellent reference book, Aircraft Anatomy of World War II has a good schematic but also a good illustration with key points of the aircraft:
In terms of power, the aircraft had three engines; however, the original model was a single engine. It made the first flight on 13 Oct 1930 and was powered by a 800hp Junkers L.88 twelve cylinder in-line engine. It then was re-engined with a BWM twelve cylinder in-line engine. It went through a few other variants with single engines and then was re-engineered as the Ju52/3m with three engines sometime in early 1930s. It was initially powered by three 525-hp B.M.W. built Pratt & Whitney nine cylinder radial Hornet radials.
According to Profile Publications, the Ju1 was the “first all-metal aeroplane.” The airframe of the Ju-52 was made from tubular steel and “covered with sheets of corrugated aluminium which offered a great increase in strength over conventional smooth sheets.”
The Wreck
The Ju-52 was initially found and identified in 2009 while the S/S Burdigala team was searching for the Burdigala. They published a sonar image on their project site when the aircraft type was still unknown and was side-scanned by mistake when looking for the Burdigala.
They conducted their first dives on the “unknown airplane” at the end of May, 2009.
After multiple dives on the aircraft, they were able to identify it as a Ju-52. They retrieved the ID plate and cleaned it with great care in efforts to find the serial number. After many years underwater and due to the effects of electrolysis, the ID number was not visible. However, given the location and state of the wreck (all propellers still intact indicating the engines were not turning), they were able to identify it as Werknummer 6590 which had been lost after ditching in the northwest sea of Kea due to fuel supply problems. The airplane was from the Transportgeschwader 4 (Transport Wing 4).
Interestingly, one of the reference booklets, Profile Publications had a small picture of a plane in the specific Group IV (note the caption):
I highly recommend that people interested in the details of how they identified the wreck to read the Burdigala Project page referenced at the end of this post. They did an amazing job and detailed their detective work with great photos and historical schematics of the Ju-52 plane.
The wreck itself is quite amazing. It is almost completely intact which is rare for an airplane wreck. The three engines up front are striking with their propellers still attached. Also, the corrugated aluminum is very unique compared to other airplanes I have dove. The aluminum skin has taken on a orange-reddish tint that can be seen with underwater lights when close to the body.
Ju52 Photos
I had studied the photos on multiple sites and noticed some things had changed between the original discovery of the wreck in 2009 and our dives. Below are some photos that Ben took and some that I took. Where I noticed it, I have provided some original photos from 2009 and a recent photo of the same area.
Overview Photos
Ben got some good photos of the overall wreck. The left and bottom right photos are from Ben and one that I shot is in the upper right.
Ben “off board” lighting photos
While I was diving and taking photos for the model, Ben & Lauren were setting up some off board lights to get some really nice photos of the wreck. These photos came out really good and evoke a really cool “mood” to the photos.
Cabin Area
Ben got a cool photo inside the cabin area looking into the cockpit. Note that a couple of windows still have the glass intact and you can see the shadows of the outside growths on them.
Changes
I noticed a number of changes on the wreck as I was reviewing our photos and the photos on the excellent website that details finding and identifying the wreck.
The biggest change is that the rudder is now detached from the tail. The pictures on the left and the top right are from the above mentioned website. The rudder is now on the ocean floor to the rear of the wreck (see middle right photo).
The other change is that the machine gun mount has collapsed (or been taken) and protective windshield is broken.
Detailed Photos
Below are photos of some of the details of the wreck that I pulled out of the photos I had taken for the photogrammetry model.
“Eric802” on Scubaboard pointed out that those are, in fact, ammo magazines for the MG-15 gun which was on top of the cabin in the rear area (see photo below). Below is a picture of the gun with the magazines attached.
Below is a photo at the back of the Ju52 with Yannis, Lauren, and Ben (left to right) at the end of our first dive.
Other Dives in Kea
Other than the Ju52 which was the primary target, we did a number of different dives while we were in Kea.
Patris
We did a warm up dive with Yannis on the Patris which is such a great wreck to visit. I always like the black & white treatment on photos of this wreck. Here are some photos I took:
It is worth noting that we saw multiple lionfish on the Patris. I don’t remember seeing them last October. I don’t know if they are seasonal or if I just missed them last trip.
The next day, Ben & Lauren dove the Burdigala while I sat out after some issues I had on the Patris dive. Ben’s scooter got into an argument with some monofilament and you can guess who won that battle!
As usual, we had some down days due to wind & swells but then the four of us finally got a dive on the Ju52. After another day off due to weather, we did a second dive on the wreck so that I could finish up my photos and fill in the few missing areas. I will provide more details of the dives for the photogrammetry model in a separate post.
Target Dive
In between Ju52 dives, we figured we would have a “down day” which ended up being pretty nice with the wind dying down late in the day. Yannis and I had noticed an odd sonar blip while we were out preparing for the Ju52 dives. Ben & Lauren decided to do a quick bounce on the target to see what they could find. It turned out to be two “plane shaped rock” formations!
Below is some video Ben took while doing the bounce.
Burdigala
The last day, Lauren and I had a fun dive on the Burdigala while Ben sat out with some sinus issues. I took some photos of the wreck that I thought worthy of sharing:
The Burdigala is a world-class wreck. I highly recommend that if technical divers are in the area, spend a few dives on the wreck.
Thanks
These projects are always resource intensive and take a lot of time and effort to coordinate and pull off. A number of people deserve recognition:
- Ben Lair & Lauren Lasser were great to dive with and I’m so happy they were already in Europe and able to make the trip down to Greece to join up with me. It worked perfectly.
- Yannis, Tasos, and the crew @ Keadivers. As usual, they are true professionals and it was great to spend some time in the water with Yannis. He was instrumental in obtaining the clearance to dive the wreck. Always a pleasure!
- The Greek government was very accommodating and I’m appreciative to have a chance to dive the Ju52 and to document it with a photogrammetry model.
- Russ Matthews at Air/Sea Heritage Foundation was critical to get support from an archaeological concern for the Greek government permit process.
- My wife had to listen to me incessantly talking about diving this “Ju52 airplane” in Greece and then, of course, not even knowing if I was going to actually travel based upon our permit status. Thanks, baby!
MISSION COMPLETE!
Next Up…
I will be publishing numerous screen captures, links to the photogrammetry model, and the details of how I built the model.
References
I did quite a bit of research work for this project. I’ve listed below all of the sources I used during the research and during the writing of this post.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft Issue 99
Profile Publications Number 177 : The Junkers Ju 52 Series
Aircraft Anatomy of World War II
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