Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sure that in the 1970’s Gerrie Zwannenberg was a leader in the recovery of many aircraft that appeared after great tracts of land had been drained and wreckage appeared in broad daylight.

I wish the MOD shared the same compassion and drive as the Dutch and US for example in sekking out MIA’s.

You are right

Gerrie Zwanenburg was a leader in the field but he was came at the right time as the polders were being drained and the newly found aircraft wrecks HAD to be recovered because they were a danger to the workers draining the land. Only wrecks were removed where they were obstructing work such as digging ditches etc. There are even now wrecks still lying in the polders such as a Stirling we have recently been made aware of by the landowner as he was snagging his machinery on wreckage. Strangely Mr Zwanenburg (who remained a civilian in the Dutch AF but was given a rank) doesn’t seem to like the recovery groups operating in the Netherlands, which is a strange thing as that was exactly the way he started out himself. The many recoveries during the sixties and seventies in the polders made excellent PR for the team while all they were doing is cleaning up a large area of former lake bed.
Things have changed in recent years and now there is a good cooperation between the offical AF recovery group and ours. In the recent past this has resulted in some very succesful recoveries as well as the official burial of 11 RAF crewmembers during 2003.
Cheers

Cees