PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Remains of WW2 crew 'stored by collector'
Old 20th Dec 2022, 16:27
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ShyTorque

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In the late 1970s a crashed Miles Master was recovered from a field near Tern Hill airfield. It had crashed after a mid-air collision when joining the circuit during WW2 but the ground had been very marshy in those days and it rapidly sank to some depth. It proved impractical to recover it back then.

Decades later the area had been drained and cultivated but the exact location hadn't been accurately recorded. A local farmer's labourer remembered the crash, took the team to the field and pointed to a spot, telling them "Dig just there". They did and he was right. The pilot was still in the Master (which was the reason for the much belated recovery attempt). He was subsequently buried with appropriate military honours.

Strangely, I lived in one of the later OMQs on "Dawsons Rough" at Shawbury. Whilst digging the garden I often found small items of debris from an unknown type of aircraft. I found a number of shattered pieces of Perspex, aluminium skin, hydraulic pipes and aircraft fittings. I never did find out whether they were from an actual crash, or from a previous scrap heap.

Edit: Found an article about the above recovery: https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/...-october-1978/
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