[00:01.080]--- Lesson 66 Sweet as honey!
[00:07.240]--- First listen and then answer the question.
[00:13.400]--- What was 'sweet as honey' and why?
[00:20.200]In 1963 a Lancaster bomber crashed on Wallis Island, a remote place in the South Pacific, a long way west of Samoa.
[00:33.680]The plane wasn't too badly damaged, but over the years, the crash was forgotten and the wreck remained undisturbed.
[00:43.680]Then in 1989, twenty-six years after the crash, the plane was accidentally rediscovered in an aerial survey of the island.
[00:56.960]By this time, a Lancaster bomber in reasonable condition was rare and worth rescuing.
[01:05.400]The French authorities had the plane packaged and moved in parts back to France.
[01:12.960]Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored.
[01:18.480]It has four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, but the group will need to have only three of them rebuilt.
[01:27.040]Imagine their surprise and delight when they broke open the packing cases and found that the fourth engine was sweet as honey -- still in perfect condition.
[01:42.240]A colony of bees had turned the engine into a hive and it was totally preserved in beeswax!
[01:53.960]--- end