Tractor fanatic is on a deep sea rescue mission

Tobias Wedgwood wants to raise £10m to haul a tractor out of the Pacific Ocean

A plan to rescue a World War Two-era tractor from a sunken US Navy ship has been hatched by a tractor fanatic.

The never-used International Harvester A-14 is chained to the deck of the USS Hornet, which was sunk in the Pacific Ocean by Japanese bombers in 1942.

The aircraft carrier lies 17,500ft (5,300m) below sea level, but school site manager Tobias Wedgwood from Shepton Mallet in Somerset has plans to retrieve it.

Mr Wedgwood, 38, who has a tractor-themed podcast and a YouTube channel about fixing them up, hopes to raise just short of £10m for the task.

Mr Wedgwood said he was reading a scientific journal when he came across the story of the tractor, seemingly well preserved on the sunken ship.

"I felt a little sad about it being down there in the darkness," he said.

"I thought I'd enquire about how one rescues something like that from 17,500ft deep – and actually it really snowballed.

"I had marine biologists contacting me, talking about the possibility of new species of life down there."

Now working with a specialist company, he is confident in being able to raise the cash needed through philanthropy and investment before he hits the high seas next summer.

The sunken tractor is still chained to the deck of the USS Hornet

Mr Wedgwood's podcast and YouTube channel, under the name Father and Son Tractors, is run with his son and his partner Heather Bryson.

In episodes and vidoes, they talk about their passion for tractors, as well as fix them up and speak to celebrity guests.

Recent guests have included astronaut Chris Hadfield, Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer and contributors to Amazon Prime show Clarkson's Farm.

Mr Wedgwood also runs a mental health outdoor space called Wedgwood Field, and raises money for the Farming Community Network charity.