Recorded wreck AWR009
Overview
AWR009 is an unidentified aircraft wreck recorded in deep water off County Antrim. The saved entry says it was broken up at about 78 metres, but later survey did not detect it and no loss year, type, serial, crew or accident has been proved. It remains a useful record of possible scattered aircraft material, not a named crash site with a story that can safely be filled from guesswork.
The vessel and voyage
The record identifies only an aircraft. It gives no type, serial number, nationality, service, squadron, airfield, date or purpose of flight. With no year even a wartime or peacetime setting cannot be chosen safely. Many aircraft crossed the North Channel for patrol, training and transport, but that broad history does not tell us which journey ended here. The name AWR009 is a record number, not the aircraft's identity.
How it was lost
Nothing in the saved entry fixes the cause. The aircraft may have crashed under power, ditched after trouble or broken up later on the seabed, but those are different events and none is proved. The description 'broken up' concerns the recorded condition, not necessarily what happened in the air. Without a date, weather report, distress signal or accident file, the final flight and reason for loss must remain unknown.
Deaths and survival
No people are named and no crew size, death, survivor or rescue is recorded. The human result cannot be inferred from a deep-water aircraft mark because crews sometimes escaped a ditching and wreckage sometimes travelled from another point. Equally, no survival should be claimed without evidence. A later identity could open service files and name those involved; until then this page keeps the gap visible rather than assigning another crew's fate.
What remains
The saved record places broken aircraft remains in roughly 78 metres of water and grades the position accurate. A later offshore study calls AWR009 a dead wreck record: an object had been found or reported but was not detected by later survey. At that depth a small scattered target may be hard to recognise, and material could be buried or dispersed. The old point remains useful, but it is not proof of a complete aircraft waiting on the seabed.
Why it mattered
AWR009 matters as evidence of the many unnamed losses beneath a busy sea route. Its deep setting and failed later detection show why aviation archaeology depends on combining seabed survey with accident files rather than trusting either one alone. Preserving the record may allow a future survey to find scattered metal or compare the point with a newly opened loss report. Honest uncertainty also protects the memory of crews from being attached to the wrong place.
History checked 2026-08-15 against the named sources below.
A wreck point does not grant permission to dive, disturb the site or recover anything. Check current law and local conditions first.