The bombers in the marsh

Press involvement in Digs

I quite agree with your comments re press involvement – fortunately we have yet to make such a grim discovery that would close a dig down and we do try to control press access to our digs – I do have memories of a parachute caught on the JCB bucket before I could signal the driver to stop and a figure emerge from the hedgerow with cameras swinging about his neck as he ran and then tried to bribe the JCB driver to recreate the shot as we had got the thing down by the time he got there!!! He couldnt believe us – “but everyone wants to be in the papers!” Not like that we don’t!

We do still give press the stories, though usually just after the dig – one of our priorities is recording memories whilst there are still witnesses to speak to and I have to confess the local press is a great way of finding such people. In our area many farms have consolidated and the villages are all executive barn conversions etc. meaning the people there when an aircraft came down have long since retired and can often no longer afford to live in the villages 🙁

We thought long & hard about TT involvement & one of the criteria we set ourselves was no chance of unwanted discoveries & even hopefully no ammunition – which was the case – though EOD still confiscated the guns 🙁

Well having been involved with a few digs now after the first dig in which a press photographer was with us we now do all our own pictures and stories and if we want our story in the press we will go to them with our pictures and story. It was only by luck that the press had just left when we made the discovery that stopped the dig. If we had still had the press there I dont know what would have happened.

But to be fair and honest the time team and crew did a lot better on this dig that had been done with the first. At least now they have got into the thinking about how to excavate aircraft. which is get a digger into do the work and jetwash the whole thing down. Would have liked to have had a jet wash to hose me down the last time I ended up in the mud.

Well done. Good viewing.

Hi all I’m with Cees on this one

I have been involved in a few “official” recoveries where remains were discovered – in some cases unexpectedly and on one occasion I had to physically restrain a ghoulish press photographer who was asked to leave whilst we attended to the remains of some very brave men who had tragically lost their lives protecting his. Suffice to say these people become hardened to all sorts of things in their profession and I feel lose their perspective and humanity as a result.

I prefer to have a professional “official” photograper on recoveries so historic and important images are captured whilst adressing the more sensitive aspects in an appropriate manner.

My thoughts.

John P

I was one of the local group involved with this project and even though the filming took place over 3 days our group spent 6 days on this site and we had been conducting research into the accident for over 20 years.

We had to think long and hard about involving the TV but without them this project would never have happened (over 2 km from “dry land” on a salt marsh) as you will probably realise when watching the program. We also had the full suport of the crews realatives to involve the TV.

see the following for a taster of what is to come on one of our websites

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lait/site/Time%20Team%20Brief%20Article.htm

Thanks for that answer,i did wonder how it was thought of.The T/V are there to “entertain it’s audience” so it’s perceptions and priorities may differ from the historical preservationists.

Personally I am not very much in favour of having a camera crew on site during a recovery. These things are very sensitive and you never know how it is put on screen whatever promises they may give you.

This is a serious business (especially when missing aircrew are concerned) and most camera crews don’t like it when you request them to see the footage or completed footage before it is broadcasted. Same goes for newspaper journalists, some exepted of course. If a story is put into the wrong perspective, Joe Public usually believes it and correcting it may be very difficult as the media are very much into quick news and then go on to the next topic.

Cheers

Cees

😀 Thanks for that,i just wondered how the forumites that excavate for preservation groups professionally feel about programmes like this and the way they do it,the Bomber Crew T/V series got some slating on here.
These programmes are done on a timelimit with the a set amount of time to be finished y where other groups may spend alot longer researching/digging etc.