Propeller find to go on show at Leigh fishing festival (From Echo)

Propeller find to go on show at Leigh fishing festival

6:30am Saturday 18th August 2012 in News By

Finders keepers – Richard Eves will be displaying the wartime propeller

A PROPELLER from a German wartime bomber, dredged up by a Leigh fishing boat, will be on show at the town’s fishing festival tomorrow.

About 8,000 people are expected at the annual event in Leigh Old Town where they will get the chance to see one of the many items salvaged from wrecks in the Thames Estuary.

The fishing festival, on Sunday between 11am and 4pm, celebrates Leigh’s fishing industry and heritage and allows visitors to see fishing boats, talk to fishermen, taste and buy shellfish.

Fisherman Richard Eves, 28, said he was looking forward to the annual event, where he will be showcasing the aluminium propeller from a Second World War plane, which he caught in his nets last year.

He said: “Unfortunately, the identity badges have corroded away, so we can’t identify exactly which plane it came from, but I’m told it is from a German wartime bomber plane.”

The propeller was finally hauled aboard Richard’s boat Wayward Lad after it had repeatedly been caught up in fishing nets.

Richard said: “It was the third time we had come over the wreck and when the propeller came up in the nets, I thought we had just caught one of the blades, then we realised we had the entire thing and it was intact.”

There is considerable interest and potential value in Second World War aircraft and Richard, who runs the Leigh Fishermen’s Co-operative, has been offered various sums for the propeller, all of which he has turned down. He has opted instead to keep it at his home.

During his ten years as a fisherman, Richard has found other relics from the past.

He said: “I have found an airplane wing, the odd mine and a pot from a shipwreck that dated back to 1600. That piece alone could be worth up to £1,000, but I like to keep what I find.”