I do seem to remember an incident in the USA last year on the fires. A 212 was bucketing and on the lift off out of the tank, his bucket got snagged on something and actualy bent large parts of the airframe around the hell hole (cargo hook area) resulting in an engine failure, and subsequent landing. I cannot put my finger on the report at the moment, but I remember it contained the phrase "single engine autorotation" !!
And this was on an accident report!
As you say Taff, there was some serious airframe damage before the engine shutdown. If some one can search the NTSB, or I can next week.
I must admit though, I was confused as to which engine had been severed - the B17 or B212? Also, excuse my ignorance but what itis the salvors?