Revealed: secrets of RAF bomber on Italian seabedThe Martin Baltimore had about a dozen machine guns to ward off enemy fighters.
The four crew consisted of a pilot, a radio operator, a navigator/bombardier and a gunner.
NICK SQUIRESin Rome
THE story of an RAF crew whose bomber plummeted into the sea off an Italian island nearly 80 years ago has been revealed for the first time.
It took a team of historians and divers six years to piece together what happened to the aircraft, which has now been identified as a Martin Baltimore light attack bomber.
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The plane was flying on a reconnaissance mission from its base in Malta on June 15 1942, when it was forced to ditch into the sea, either after being hit by enemy fire or because it had engine trouble.
It came down about 500 metres off the coast of Linosa, a tiny island that lies south of Sicily.