Tri-Service

Spitfire Dig Halted As Pilot's Remains Recovered

The first artefacts have been recovered from a Spitfire which has lain buried in a field for 75 years since it crashed during the Second World War.

Archaeologists began excavating the site in Cambridgeshire on Monday. They hope to recover parts from the peat before the agricultural landscape is restored to wetland as part of a conservation project.

Since digging began at the crash site near Holme Lode Farm, Holme, three days ago, the aircraft's starter motor, parts of the wing and canopy and a well-preserved rubber head-rest have been recovered.

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Oxford Archaeology East senior project manager Stephen Macaulay, who is overseeing the dig, said he is hopeful large parts of the Merlin engine will be found as the team digs deeper.

He added: "We've already found artefacts with an awful lot of significance.

"As well as parts of the aircraft like bullets and cockpit fragments, we're also finding remains of the original recovery exercise including china plates the RAF personnel who recovered the pilot's body would have eaten their food from.

Oxford Archaeology East said the dig had stopped because "a fragment of human skeletal remains" was found.

The dig should continue on Friday.

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