Without wishing to contribute to thread drift , one mystery that was solved was the unexpected disappearance of several Wellingtons operating out of Southern Italy over the Adriatic ( 221 Sqn at Foggia comes to mind).
At least one young Italian Fascist had been penetrating the dispersals at night , armed with a small jar of paraffin containing a lump of phosphorus on a wire, then climbing up on to the wing of a Wimpey. In a few moments the fuel filler cap was removed , the wire at one end hooked into the cap cross member and the phosphorus plopped down in to the tank before the cap was replaced.
After a few hours’ flying the fuel level in the tank of course dropped, thus exposing the phosphorus to a fuel/air mix with the inevitable resultant explosion.