Great pics…well done…just like the old days….did you get the license easily ?

The nose and cockpit profile is all wrong for an 88….so are the long engine nacelles. Not a Blenheim IV either, again the engine nacelles are too long and even with an ‘underslung’ gun or whatever it still looks wrong. Even the tailplane elevators seem too big. Speed and poor focus can play tricks but………..?
Are we very sure about the year of this pic…….just asking !!!!!

Got it ! Blenheim V…Bisley…hence the nose line……………………I think !!

I know it shouldn’t be, but to me looks a bit like a Short Sturgeon.

Dave

My thoughts exactly….long engine nacelles anf that ‘bit’ under the nose….yep Short Sturgeon

There may well have been nothing to bury on the last dig, but many of those personal artifacts shown at the press release, plus some that were not shown, were found at a much earlier and unadvertised digs.
There have been at least two previous digs which included the front end of the fusalage,i.e. the cockpit, where naturally, one would find at least some of the remains of the crew along with those artifacts. To say that nothing else was found is almost beyond belief.
I still ask the question…what was the reason for this dig in the first place…who benefits from all this….a museum…relatives…Mr Graves ?
Where will all the artifacts go…to a museum…relatives….Mr Graves ?
Any answers ????

Come on guys,….lets get real here.
There were seven airman in this aircraft. It crashed to a depth maximum of twenty feet in very dark peat type soil, with very little water content compared to an Irish bog. The famous marshman Pete came to light a few years ago, after hundreds of years in similar soil conditions, and they could check what he had for breakfast the day he died.
These seven brave men were killed in a horrendous crash, and their remains would certainly have been scattered by the force of impact, but not out of existance.
I was personaly involved in the finding and recovery of the Australian pilot, Sgt. Smith, in France, earlier this year. His burning Spitfire had impacted the hard ground at 500 mph +, and was found at a depth of 25ft. Here was one man found and recognised by the CWGC as a pilot and human being, fit for burial.
It is impossible IMHO, that nothing was found of this seven man crew, especially with the clothing and personal effects that were found.
Only two weeks ago, a German dig on a Lancaster produced the remains of 5 men in the cockpit area. They were named and buried in one coffin as a crew.
What is very patently obvious is that this aircraft was dug without all the necassary and moral permissions. Relatives will have been shocked by the pre prepared article released to the press within hours of the dig, and unless there is a plan B to recover the crew remains, the site of so many deaths, has been violated for the sake of someones ego, and ownership of personal items which belong to the relatives of those who died.
I sincerely hope the British and French authorities attend to this matter with due diligence and respect, for and on behalf of the relatives/families.
Let us also hope that this happening does not finally preclude others from carrying out further legitimate/joint investigations and possble recoveries of wartime historical artifacts.

I am led to believe that this was the 3rd dig of this A/c.

Yes …now resident in France

I too was somewhat mystified by the lack of any reports conerning the crew, who by the declared finds, were definately in the aircraft at the time of the crash.
I have asked myself the question why I would want to dig up such a huge aircraft at what must be a fair cost , judging by the number of diggers and the depth involved.
I was more than a little surprised to read the figure of 400 previous recoveries by Mr Graves. With such a vast experience, what was the reason for the dig, and where is the benefit if there is to be no recognition of the crew i.e. memorial or burial service.
Surely not the evil-bay ??