A plan to raise the only surviving second world war Dornier 17 bomber from the English Channel has been postponed... because of the wind.

Experts salvaging the German aircraft had to ditch their original strategy to try a cheaper, faster and riskier approach.

The original scheme to bring up the plane, which is lying in 50ft of water at Goodwin Sands, Kent, was devised by the RAF Museum.

The plan was to build an aluminium frame or cradle around the wreck in which to lift it - putting the least possible strain on the fragile plane.

Divers from Seatech Limited were expected to take about three weeks to construct the frame, working down on the sea floor.

But ever since a salvage barge - complete with a giant crane - arrived over the wreck site on May 3, work has been repeatedly interrupted by poor weather.

Late last night, a bid had to be ditched at the last minute due to sea swell. Now experts have been told it could be around a week before a fresh attempt can be made, due to high winds out at sea.

The museum has told divers to take a fresh approach when the next bid is made, which involves attaching cables at three points to the aircraft itself to allow it to be hoisted to the surface.

Head of Collections at the RAF Museum, Ian Thirsk, yesterday said they had to work fast to preserve the aircraft.

He said: "We're having to rely to a larger degree than we originally planned on the structural integrity of the aircraft.

"But we have no choice. We're doing what we can to save a unique and precious heritage asset. If we leave it one thing is certain - it won't be there in a year's time."

Last week the museum and the specialist diving company doing the work, Seatech, held a crisis meeting.

The original plans - which were budgeted to cost £500,000 for 35 days work - were dashed when just 15 days in workmen were unable to dive because of weather conditions.

Continuing with the first plans was estimated to take a further 50 days which the museum could not afford.

The salvage team also discovered the wreck, which was thought to be resting entirely on sand and silt, was in fact partly lying on chalk bedrock.

To put the lower struts of the frame in place, divers were having to drill painstakingly through the chalk rather than simply sliding the frame's components through soft sand.

Instead divers will attach cables on three points of the aircraft which are strongest- two single-section spars that run the length of both wings.

Since the plane is lying on its back, one cable will pass through its central bomb bay, with the other two running through the undercarriage doors next to the engines on either wing.

Two polytunnels have been set up at Cosford, West Midlands where hoses will spray the

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with a citric acid and water for 18 months to prevent corrosion of the plane's aluminium structure.

The tail of the wreck will also be supported during the lift, and a central beam will be inserted to run from the bomb bay doors back towards the tail section to give the fuselage extra strength.

The

17 was a mainstay of the German bomber fleets during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

The plane on the Goodwin Sands is believed to be aircraft call-sign 5K-AR, shot down on 26 August that year at the height of the battle by RAF Boulton-Paul Defiant fighters.

If the wreck is successfully raised the RAF Museum plans to transport it by road to its conservation centre at Cosford in the West Midlands.

It will then go on display at the museum's main base at Hendon in North London.