Brian McDonald
In recent months, the US Department of Defense has counted dozens of missing airmen killed in action – and for each of them there is a harrowing story of the troops’ final moments. A Michigan serviceman died in World War II bombing mission in Southeast Asia when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire, causing its wing to catch fire. A 21-year-old from Pittsburgh died when his plane crashed during another bombing mission during that war against the oil fields in Romania. A Florida pilot disappeared during a solo spy missions during the Vietnam War.
While most of these missing troops have been identified primarily through DNA and dental records, the U.S. government is turning to British archaeologists to help find a World War II pilot whose plane crashed in dense English forest in 1944. Defense POW /MIA Accounting Agency has tasked Cotswold Archeology with recovering the remains of the unidentified pilot, who was listed as missing in action after his B-17 crashed, the company revealed this week.
The crash site is in East Anglia in eastern England, Cotsworld Archeology told CBS News on Tuesday. That region, with its farmland and small villages, became the headquarters of the Allied “Bomber War” during the 1940s, according to the report. National Museum of the Second World War.
Cotswold Archeology
The bomber, loaded with 12,000 pounds of explosives, crashed after its controls failed, and now Cotswold Archeology plans to spend six weeks excavating the “exceptionally special site”.
“This excavation will not be easy – the crater is waterlogged and filled with 80-year-old sediment, the trees and undergrowth are thick and all soil must be meticulously sifted to recover aircraft identification numbers, personal effects and any human objects. remains,” the company said in a post on social media showing images from the website.
Developed in 1935, the B-17 Flying Fortress is an American bomber that served in all combat zones, according to the National Museum of the US Air Force. The bomber was used primarily in Europe during World War II and was best known for strategic bombing of German industrial targets, the Air Force said.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of more than 1,500 Americans killed during World War II have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors. More than 72,000 soldiers from the war remain missing.
While archaeologists try to locate the remains of the missing B-17 pilot in England, a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency team is in Normandy, France, searching for three other missing airmen whose aircraft was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The team is scouring the ground for bone fragments, as well as personal items such as uniforms, navigation protractors, watches and rings.
“It is a true honor to be here on this recovery mission. It is a humbling experience and I am happy to help bring the full account of the missing to their families,” said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Raul Castillo, the team’s main support investigator on the mission in France.
