Hi there

Some time ago I was told that during WW2, either a FW190 or Me109 crashed into marshland near Lower Way, Thatcham, BERKS and that the bulk of the aircraft was still down there as it was almost impossible to remove at the time (and probably now too).

This story came up again recently on FB and I wondered if anyone on here had the resources to check if there is any truth in the story?

Many thanks
Nick

Lower way is less than a mile north as the crow flies & 3 miles by road from Greenham Common
A lot of the land near the road has had gravel extracted over the years, so wouldn’t be marsh land ?

Probably best you acquaint yourself with the location of Portland then. It’s well off the beaten track, not easy to get to (either then, or now) and the only gate guardian it ever had, of sorts, was a Wasp. And that was towards the end of its existence.

No Attackers are recorded as being anywhere near Portland.

I can remember reading about a Sea Vixen that was put in the harbour next to Portland RNAS for dive practice, a bit bigger than a Attacker. I could never find any info of it being removed, when the water was clear enough I used to look for it when windsurfing there, never found it.

For those still questioning if it is a fake .

Evidence
The provenance provided for the piece for sale is the old black & white framed photo
The piece for sale & the piece in the photo ARE NOT THE SAME,
but the old provenance photo & the RAFM piece ARE THE SAME
So you have 2 choices
1/ the piece for sale is fake
or
2/ the old photo & the RAFM piece are fake

So what do you think is the real piece ?

Got to agree with Matt, the draughtsman/ artist in me was screaming no, the angles are all wrong before I read Matts post.
The Tarmac in the foreground as I mentioned before is unusual with the concrete blister floor which appears to carry on beyond the other side of it, possibly suggesting the taxiway entrance is the other side, which then leads to the question, why the Tarmac ? Connecting with another bit of older taxiway/perimeter track ?

From Classic Wings Magazine facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/ClassicWingsMagazine?fref=nf
In our previous issue we broke the news that a previously ‘extinct’ Martin Maryland is awaiting salvation in Africa, in the hope that someone with the means and the diplomatic skills can recover it – either as a project for themselves, or as a trade with an interested museum. Of the latter, at least one national collection had made a commendable effort to secure the wreck, but with a limited budget ( typical of most national museum’s) were unable to continue the quest. Hopefully someone else can take up the challenge, and this rare piece of history will not be lost for good.
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R J Coley and Sons, scrap dealer are still going, but now based in Bristol. They seem to have had a number of yards in the past. They may be able to help with their history.

http://www.rjcoleyandson.co.uk

Thanks for that, still at the same location in Bristol
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Not a rare engine per se being a Merlin, and being greedy by picking a pair, but two of them strapped to a sea hornet would be a sight to behold

The Merlin’s on the Hornet are rare though as they are a special streamlined version (unique block). IIRC only about 10 are known to to exist