An RAF plane that crashed in the Second World War will be excavated in Limburg from today. It is the first in a series of wrecks with missing pilots.

Project leader Coen Cornelissen from the Explosive Clearance Group (ECG) and his team have been preparing for a fortnight for the recovery of a British bomber. The Short Stirling W7630 MG-M crashed in a meadow near the town of Echt during World War II. "Monday, 16 September 2019, we will finally really go into the depths," he says. "It still feels a bit like opening an exciting boys' book, because of course we don't know exactly what we are going to find."

During the return flight from Düsseldorf in September 1942, the destroyed aircraft landed in this field, owned by an abbey. Two soldiers managed to escape by parachute, one of the pilots survived the war. Two others were found dead and were buried immediately. The four remaining occupants are missing and will probably be exhumed in the coming weeks after almost eighty years.

Over 5,500 aircraft crashed on Dutch soil during the Second World War. It is estimated that some 400 of these aircraft still contain human remains, according to the 1939-1945 Air War study group, which conducts research into wrecks. There are some 30 to 50 so-called promising recoveries, according to this study group. This was followed in 2018 by a proposal from ChristenUnie, VVD and CDA for a national salvage programme, which should make it easier for municipalities to carry out salvage operations. The government adopted it and is now reimbursing almost all costs - EUR 15 million has been made available for it. The disposal in the municipality of Echt-Susteren is the first.

ECG Air Branch, which specialises in the recovery of aircraft wrecks, has been hired to help the Royal Netherlands Air Force dig, sift and clean the often contaminated ground in its search for remains, ammunition and aircraft parts.

Bombs

In Limburg, a two-hectare area has been fenced off and the wreck is expected to lie some four metres underground. "We have mapped the ground with detection equipment and can see that in many places there is something and in one place there is a lot. That is probably the crash site," says Cornelissen. He does not expect to find many large pieces of wreckage. "It crashed at hundreds of kilometres per hour, which makes a deep hole and leaves little in the way of debris.

Air force major Bart Aalberts is leading the entire operation in Echt-Susteren, which will involve some fifteen specialists over the next few weeks, including soldiers from the air force salvage service, the explosive ordnance disposal service of the Ministry of Defence and the salvage and identification service of the army. "We are not sure yet whether there are any bombs," says Aalberts. "If we find any, we will of course defuse them."

He gave his life but is still lying there'.

Sergeant Maurice Pepper was in the plane that crashed in Limburg in 1941. He was the uncle of Rebecca Dutton (66) from Stratford-upon-Avon, England. "He was a brother of my mother. I am from 1953 so I did not know him. My mother, who has since died, didn't talk much about him, it was too painful, but she loved him very much. He was 27 years old when he went missing. Where he had crashed, she did not know."

"Just like that, one day in 2015, I received a call from Dutch people who were working on the excavation of a Short Stirling in Limburg. They told me that my uncle had most likely been in it. I was dumbfounded, but also happy."

"Via a Dutch foundation that has been advocating this excavation for years, I received more information. At 8.13 in the evening of 10 September 1942, this aircraft left the British base Oakington. On its way to Düsseldorf it was hit twice and had to turn back, even before it had reached its target. It was then shot down over Limburg by a German night fighter pilot. My uncle stayed in the plane to help the pilots as much as possible, I think, and therefore did not jump out with a parachute - but that is guesswork. I became convinced that it would be good to recover his body and that of three other crew members, who were presumably lying under the ground. I wrote several letters about it to the authorities and the owner of the land."

"Tense. At the end of this month I will travel there myself to visit the place. I will be sad, but also happy. You must know: my uncle was in the Pathfinders, a unit that guided other bombers to their target. They had to fly low, very dangerous. They knew their lives were in danger, but they did it anyway. My uncle was awarded a medal for bravery in 1941 for an earlier mission, it was even presented by King George at Buckingham Palace. These young men made the ultimate sacrifice: they gave their lives for our freedom. My uncle is still lying among the ammunition in a field. I think it is very important to help give him and the others a beautiful, safe resting place."

Mystery

The Air Force has already recovered some 250 wrecks since the 1960s, but this is the first to fall under the national recovery programme. Aalberts: "We hope that once everything is safely out of the ground, we can solve the mystery surrounding this crash."

Stieneke van der Graaf, Member of Parliament for the Christian Union, will travel to the crash site on Friday, together with her colleagues from VVD and CDA. The three parties were, after all, the submitters of the widely supported private member's bill for the arrival of this disposal programme last year. Van der Graaf: "I see it as a matter of honour. We are doing justice to the wishes of surviving relatives. This is the last honour we can give to people who gave their lives in the fight for our freedom."

Source: Trouw newspaper, dated 16 September 2019
Author: Harriët Salm
Image: Imperial War Museum London