Originally Posted by
Dan Winterland
My Granfather 'acquired' a Mosquito due to engine failure. He had a farm in Norfolk and one night in 1944 (I think) an aircraft crashed nearby. My mother remembers hearing an aircraft crash that night ...
... in 1975, my Grandfather decided to drain a patch of Fen which had never been touched which was only half a mile from the farmhouse. It turned out to be a Mosquito which had taken off from Great Massingham (I think) on a raid to Germany. ... It had been listed as 'Missing in Action' so it was not known where it had come down and it probably wasn't suspected that it had crashed so close to home.
The wreck was complete with crew and armament and gave the RAF bomb disposal crew some problems dealing with the bombs due to their being partly submerged in a bog.
It's an old message, but this has haunted me for ages. It must have been horrible for the families, not knowing for thirty years what happened to the pilots, especially given that they disappeared over the UK.
In a situation like that how would the families be notified of the recovery of the crew? A telephone call or letter seems impersonal but the thought of an officer appearing at the door
in 1975 is odd.