WW2 Spitfire to be unearthed from Cambridgeshire fen
 

"A Spitfire that crashed in Cambridgeshire while on a training mission during World War Two is to be dug up by archaeologists."

Full story:

WW2 Spitfire to be unearthed from Cambridgeshire fen - BBC News

How did it get there from Burma?

Indeed
 

My thoughts, exactly!

So, 'clever' comments apart, at least Pilot Officer Penketh got a proper burial. How many never got that opportunity?

Since it seems (from the press reports; I know) that it went in at a very steep angle, shouldn't it be "parts of Spitfire...."

Get the manufacturers plate off it and build a new one. Should be worth a million.

I'd say leave it there.
Let the old glory rest in peace.

FED's idea is the best so far. But there are a fair number of Spitfires about. Now if somebody could dig up a reasonably intact Hurricane, that would really be something !

D.

DP, interesting point. There are bits of aircraft still scattered around from as recently as the 50s but today everything is removed from a crash site.

Times change.

If they ever find my uncle I would like to find out what happened to his aircraft. His family and my aunt were convinced he had been taken prisoner but the facts were more prosaic. He simply disappeared off the North Foreland at night in a Beaufighter.

It has probably already been built, and is just awaiting the data plate to be dug up so that it can be claimed to be an original. I suspect money is more of a driving force in this dig than archeology.

Cynics. Many recovery groups do it for love. At East Kirkby they have a P51 set out with everything clean and in its right place. It looks more like a drawing out of Flight magazine.

Personally I see no problem whatsoever in somebody doing this for commercial gain. Pilot Officer Penketh's body was recovered from the site at the time and was returned to his parents in Hove. He was cremated at Brighton (Woodvale) crematorium (from the CWG website).

The site is thus not a war grave. I suppose it could be argued that the remains of the aircraft (such as they are) are still government property, but if someone is going to the trouble to dig them up, I'd say they are theirs to dispose of as they see fit. I cant see the RAF museum, for example, wanting to take charge of a pile of scrap metal, unless there is something special about this particular Spitfire.

Interesting, but having recovered a few crashed aircraft in Germany, of both sides, there is almost nothing of any worth that can be used today. I was even taken round the Lancaster at the BBMF being shown parts that if we found one to please bring it to them. The ground they are recovered from makes a difference too, on a B-17 that we recovered, the alloy had become grey powder yet on a Lancaster found in East Germany, the engines were remarkably clean and uncorroded. At least the family know where the Pilot is. There's nothing more emotional than finding a missing airman and giving the families closure.
ABS

The poor old Lanc, that ditched just short of RAF Manston into Pegwell Bay in 1944, must have all corroded by now. You can just see the prop tips here ... Pic taken in the 60's.


http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f6...202/Top-20.jpg

Image Credit : Unknown

103 Squadron Serial Number JB278 - All crew survived.


Coff.

I can't post a photograph but a local writer called Martyn Moore is taking photographs on a regular basis. This is the pilot's headrest unearthed today.

https://twitter.com/raf_ifa/status/651414983461470208

Almost all the Hurricane rebuilds to flight in the past 20 years (and therefore probably 75% of them currently flying or about to fly) have come out of Russia where the airframes were found where they had crashed or crashed landed during WW2.

The BBC are reporting that the excavation has been halted following the discovery of human skeletal remains.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-c...shire-34474718

However it also says:

That's a problem if an aeroplane spears into soft ground. The Crater fills up with water and makes it dangerous to recover the crew's remains. Sometimes it is impossible to collect everything so once a reasonable amount is recovered then the operation stops and the hole is bulldozed over.

Used to be a joke about Chinese aviation in the 90s.
'If a Chinese airliner crashes and there are no foreigners on board then they just bulldoze over the hole.'

The face book feed is being repeated on the Godmanchester Stirling site. Dig resumed with Coroners permission. Spitfire flypast today and they found his hip flask. (quite a few pictures)