Peter, I’ll have to leave others to answer that question, but are you suggesting that the same type of connector might have been used elsewhere on the aircraft?

That’s very helpful, TerryP. It seems therefore that the piece in the helmet was male and the connector attached to the electrical circuits in the aircraft was the female.

If my understanding is correct, then the piece we have would have remained in the aircraft, perhaps detached from the flying helmet, as the crew prepared to bale out?

Maybe this tiny piece tells a bit more of the story.

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I have just found a photograph of the helmet attachments. I can now see that the microphone is at the other end of the female connector cable. It would therefore make some sense if one of the crew had removed his flying helmet while preparing to bale out, but other explanations are obviously possible. All very poignant.

Many thanks TerryP – much appreciated.

I can see a piece on the top of the left hand picture which looks a little like our piece. I assume you still feel that what we have is an earlier version of this?

I think I need to ask Laurent for a picture from other angles in order to compare the two.

Yes, thanks Peter, that must always remain a possibility. But this was found on the eastern side of the forest some distance from where the fuselage came down along the northern edge, so it being moved that far seems unlikely. If we can get a positive ID on the piece, then the only obvious explanation for it being found where it was, is as a result of it being moved from its original location.

I have heard from Laurent. There is no trace of leather on our piece, but looking at TerryP’s diagrams and some pictures which I have now found on the internet, it seems as if our piece would be unlikely to have leather attached, but that it would be more likely to be made of Bakelite or something similar?

A long time ago Laurent found a few fragments of leather and some snap fasteners which are probably from a flying helmet, but these were located near the point where the fuselage came down.

The picture (attached again below for ease of reference – the piece we are discussing is on the left) looks as if it would have to be of the inside rather than the outside of the microphone connector. It would almost certainly be too much to hope that somebody would have a diagram showing a comparable view of our piece?

The next question is why would it have been found next to some engine pieces? It makes me wonder whether it is possible that it could be a similar looking electrical connector, but used for another purpose? Although obviously damaged it has a square rather than round appearance. The other piece on the right of the picture found close by is the recently identified nut for the oil tank filler cap arm.

Hmmm – unless we can find a picture of the item as described, the more I think about it, the more I am not quite sure about this – the location where it was found doesn’t seem right. Any more thoughts, anyone?

In the course of a recent private message exchange it was pointed out to me that this thread has evolved into a detailed investigation of a 70 year old crash site – something that apparently hasn’t been tackled in any depth on the forum before, and something that I had never envisaged at the outset. Perhaps because of this the number of views of the thread has increased greatly in recent weeks. So I am sorry that work on the crash site has now slowed down and new finds are going to be less frequent.

It is now exactly two months until the 70th anniversary of the demise of ED908, and it is perhaps time to reflect on the sacrifice of the crew. For some time I have been in contact with the office of the local mayor and I am very pleased to report that work is now progressing on a memorial to be erected in the churchyard where the eight members of the crew were originally buried.

As I have already mentioned in an earlier post, many of the relatives of the crew will be travelling to France to commemorate the events of 20 July 1944, and this will be the first time that we will have met as a group. I am in touch with one widow, two brothers, two daughters, cousins, and several nephews and nieces – in all four generations, although not all are able to travel to France for the dedication of the memorial. For me, it will be the culmination of three years’ work in researching the events of that day and the activities of the crew in the months, and in some cases, years, preceding it. Jim Foulsham and Ben Weightman were both serving as pilots with the RAF at the outbreak of the war and they had survived almost five years of the conflict; and John Swarbrick had joined the Volunteer Reserve four years earlier in 1940. The average age of the remainder of the crew was just 21 – having become part of the Pathfinder Force they had been lucky to have survived more than 30 missions over a period of 7 months.

The local residents will have a permanent memorial to remind them of the event, and it is to be hoped that the younger relatives will return again to the area at some time in the future to ensure that the crew of the pioneer Oboe Lancaster are not forgotten.