I have a shoebox under my desk of small fragments from a KG2 Do17Z that crashed at Whitstable in 1940. Most are unrecognisable smush, but better ones include a piece of compass rim and – unusually – a number of 20mm cannon cases. IIRC at least one was fired, rather than “cooked off” in the post-crash inferno. Saddest relics are a Reichspfennig and a cigarette lighter…

I also have a paperweight from the same site – though the edges of a bit of shrapnel do tend to make a mess of delicate paperwork!

Adrian

Yes, they display a large chunk of Do17Z there that has family relevance to me – two of the crew were captured by a relation, hence my interest in a photo.

I phoned the owner, care of a phone number given by an acquaintance of his here, and spoke to him. He wasn’t especially friendly, but suggested I write to the trustees. I did, explaining the situation, offering to make a donation to the museum in turn for a photograph to illustrate the family history. I also offered to make over the copyright to them if I took a pic, and generally laid it on thick.

They never even bothered to reply – despite me sending an SAE. Call me old-fashioned, but if someone writes personally and sends an SAE, I will always reply as it would be the height of rudeness not to. Plus they did themselves out of the money they always claim to be so short of.

I have not gone back. I do not plan to go back.

Adrian

Tangmere1940, I’d be extremely interested to hear more (and see photos, if you have any) as I went to school in East Sutton and am very fond of the place. By PM is probably best or we’ll derail the thread!

Adrian

Damn right, Bruce! I was lucky enough to be in Saffron Walden when the first four (IIRC) Spitfires out of Audley End were being air tested. Lovely!

Adrian

The upshot is, the same ‘experts’ that ‘advised’ the Lottery people have since crept back to the project, tails between their legs, asking for reports and lectures etc about the methods being used to save every last original piece of K7, so at least future projects that need help might fare better when the ‘experts’ actually understand just what’s possible.

Let’s just hope that the occasional outbursts of bile against them on the project website don’t alienate the people who could be learning most from this! One or two have been just a little hair-raising – IMHO, of course.

Adrian

So…Is it Health & Safety’s fault? Or the EU Quango’s fault?

Because the EU don’t have no HSE… so it can’t be both!

Adrian

😮 Wow! 😮 I’ll second those thoughts – I’m guessing from the description that it was effectively a big groundloop at speed, with all the damage you’d expect from the undercart being wiped off.

Getting her back in the air from that, in those conditions, deserves a medal – and just goes to show that it takes a lot to kill a Dak!

I also love the understated caption to the (gory) photo from the first aid exercise…

Adrian