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Thread: Cambridgeshire Spitfire Dig

  1. #1

    Default Cambridgeshire Spitfire Dig

    Heard about a new Spitfire dig in Cambridgeshire on the radio yesterday - Pilot officer Harold Edwin Penketh (from Brighton in Sussex) was the pilot that unfortunately lost his life in this incident on a training flight in Nov 1940. His body was recovered at the time but they are trying to recover the remains of his Mk1 Spit before the land is reverted to wetlands.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ter-crash.html

    http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Wrec...ail/story.html

    "He is wise who watches"

  2. #2

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    Interesting project; one wonders how much is left, and where they will display it.
    Nice tribute to a fallen warrior
    Karl
    It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus

  3. #3

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    If these remains are preserved in peat then quite a lot should remain. Will have a look at the links when I get home later today from Leeds Bradford Airport.

    Ever heard of the Dark Peak Wrecks in Derbyshire Yorkshire and Lancashire? Many crashed WW2 aircraft and several remains preserved well in peat see books called Dark Peak Wrecks 1 and 2 to find out more.

  4. #4

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    True, but how preservative is dried peat? Since this is a drained wetlands (that they are going to restore)?
    Karl
    It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus

  5. #5

    Thumbs up

    Thanks Dave for that info.
    One wonders just how much would be salvageable after a high speed vertical dive at high speed.

  6. #6

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    Saw this in the 'Metro'

    They're after whatever they can get, but are mostly hoping for engine and guns.

  7. #7

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    Interesting reads, Dave.
    Thanks for posting.

  8. #8

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    There was a piece on this in our local tv news at teatime yesterday. There is information about it on the BBC website at
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-34469384

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jager View Post
    True, but how preservative is dried peat? Since this is a drained wetlands (that they are going to restore)?
    Karl
    The depth it penetrated to at 300mph is pretty wet apparently Karl -
    "We're in deep peat and it's very wet and, while that may present itself as a problem, it is also a benefit because the plane sunk into the ground and didn't blow up and disintegrate on impact the way it might otherwise have done,"

    "He is wise who watches"

  10. #10

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    Wet peat may well not be the best preservative?
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussietonka View Post
    If these remains are preserved in peat then quite a lot should remain. Will have a look at the links when I get home later today from Leeds Bradford Airport.

    Ever heard of the Dark Peak Wrecks in Derbyshire Yorkshire and Lancashire? Many crashed WW2 aircraft and several remains preserved well in peat see books called Dark Peak Wrecks 1 and 2 to find out more.
    Have you read Pete Cunningham's Peakland Air Crashes or any of his WWI novels Barney?
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    Have you read Pete Cunningham's Peakland Air Crashes or any of his WWI novels Barney?
    No Sir I haven't but I will be looking into Peakland Air Crashes in particular. Used to live in the main area concerned and visited many wrecks on t'tops. All are now war graves and you are forbidden from removing anything from the sites. In fact some daft idiot in 2005 was prosecuted for this having tried to sell what he removed on The E-Bay.

    Peat has a habit of holding wreckage under ground and then gradually forcing it back to the surface over a long time. There is one wreck near Holme Moss (Holmfirth way) where even the flight instruments from the cockpit have started to appear ...

  13. #13

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    Hmm... I shall have to ask among my other associates what materials peat is best, and worst, at preserving -- I know a lot of Bronze- and Iron-Age relics have been found mostly intact in peat bogs; not sure about more-modern metals.

  14. #14

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    A human bone was found yesterday, although the pilot's body was removed shortly after the crash in WW2.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-34474718

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Naharaht View Post
    A human bone was found yesterday, although the pilot's body was removed shortly after the crash in WW2.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-34474718


    I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
    Coming down is the hardest thing

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    Quote Originally Posted by Naharaht View Post
    A human bone was found yesterday, although the pilot's body was removed shortly after the crash in WW2.
    I will add a too upon this discovery. Depends if they found the entire body if impact trauma was involved: Degrees of impact trauma did not exist when this accident happened unlike they do today and the flail damage to the human body would have potentially been enough to shatter or break bones.



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