Investigators are trying to establish if an object in one of the former Chatham Dockyard warship basins is a crashed aircraft.

The object emerged following a sonar survey of the former submarine basin, carried out by the Port of London Authority for maintenance purposes.

Martin Calder of the Chatham Maritime Trust, which maintains the basin, said the sonar revealed a dip about 32ft across in the middle of the basin, with an object sticking out of it.

There was speculation that the object could well be a wartime aircraft.

The survey had also revealed a 40 ft trench used by submariners to practice escape drill.

See Friday’s print edition of the Medway Messenger for the full story