In recent months, the U.S. Department of Defense has killed dozens of missing airmen in combat — and for each of them, there’s a harrowing story about the troops’ final moments. One Michigan soldier died during World War II bombing mission in Southeast Asia when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire, causing the wing to catch fire. A 21-year-old from Pittsburgh was killed when his plane crashed into another bombing mission during that war against the oil fields in Romania. A Florida pilot disappeared while soloing spy missions during the Vietnam War.
While most of these missing troops were 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 a dense English forest in 1944. Cotswold Archeology has been commissioned to recover the remains of the unnamed pilot, who was listed as missing after his B-17 crashed, the company announced this week.
The crash site is in East Anglia, in eastern England, Cotsworld Archeology told CBS News on Tuesday. That region, with its rural farmlands and small villages, became the headquarters of the Allies’ so-called “bomber war” in the 1940s, according to the National WWII Museum.
Cotswold Archaeology
The bomber, loaded with 12,000 pounds of explosives, crashed after controls failed, and now Cotswold Archeology plans to spend six weeks excavating the ‘exceptionally special site’.
“This excavation will not be easy: the crash crater is boggy and filled with 80 years of sediment, the trees and undergrowth are thick and all soil must be carefully sifted to hopefully recover aircraft ID numbers, personal belongings and any human belongings to find.” remains,” the company said in a social media post with images from the site.
Developed in 1935, the B-17 Flying Fortress is an American bomber that served in every combat zone, according to the National Museum of the US Air Force. The bomber was used mainly in Europe during World War II and was best known for its strategic bombing of German industrial targets, the air force said.
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, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. More than 72,000 soldiers from the war are still missing.
While archaeologists will attempt to locate the remains of the missing B-17 pilot in England, a team from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Normandy, France, is searching for three other missing pilots whose plane was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire. fire on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The team combs the ground to find 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 pleased to help deliver the full accountability of the missing to their families,” said Air Force Master Sgt. Raul Castillo, the team’s lead investigator during the mission in France.
