vacb, thanks for your response. Your description of the gun turret type fits with Peter’s picture. So that seems to rule them out. However the Lancaster appears to have two further types with an ‘E’ reference according to AP2062A, so maybe we have one of these? It seems a bit more research may be required before we have a positive identification but, hopefully, we seem to be heading in the right direction?

I guess the ‘FGS’ marking could be ‘AGS’ – Laurent was uncertain – it was difficult to make out and I cannot read it clearly on the photo he has sent.

vacb, I was editing my previous post just as you posted your last comments. Yes, they seem to be in the gun turret circuits. I have also found a high pressure oil filter in the hydraulic feed system, but can’t see any others. It’s after midnight my time, so will await any further responses in the morning. Many thanks again – another mystery solved!

Thanks vacb. I will see if I can find anything. Sadly we are a bit stuck until I have the diameter of our piece.

Thanks Peter. Any chance of a picture or diagram? I can’t put my hands on anything showing this.

Item M6

I am not surprised that I have had no response to my final effort to identify the previously unidentified items but, despite over 200 views, nobody seems to be able to help with the latest find, M6. Perhaps Laurent is wrong in his assumption that it was an engine part? Unless anybody comes up with some information, I think I will have to renumber it ‘40’ and consign it to the ‘too difficult’ box – Laurent has been numbering the engine parts found with an ‘M’ for ‘Moteur’.

I did find several pictures of a circular bolted fitting on the top of the rear of the port-side camshaft casing of a Merlin 28 which looked a little like the piece found (could somebody enlighten me as to what the fitting is for – it is unlabelled in all the diagrams I have seen): I have circled the area in the attached picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons – File: Packard Merlin 28 engine Flickr 7326117948.jpg – Flickr user “summer photo hobby”.

However Laurent does not think that this is the piece he has found which is aluminium. But presumably there was something similarly shaped which was attached to the bolted fitting– could this be what Laurent has found? I have asked Laurent to confirm its dimensions, but he has been very busy in his spare time over the last few days. I will have some more photos to post shortly.

Remaining unidentified items

Laurent has tried to clean up the bolt in picture no.6, but without success. He says it is “scisaillé” which I think means sheared, and that it is a high strength metal which is why it is so rusted, so much so that he cannot help us further. What he has said is wholly consistent with WV-903’s thought that this is a high-tensile steel bolt with a high loading/shear requirement. Amongst the wreckage found on the trestle table was an engine mounting block (T3 in post #35), so perhaps this bolt could be from the engine mounting.

I think that I have now posted photographs of all the items which are potentially identifiable from what has been discovered amongst the wreckage so far. I have not troubled with pieces of fuselage with no obvious distinguishing characteristics, nor a number of shapeless fragments. My thanks again to the members of the Forum who have contributed their knowledge to this thread and have helped to identify so many of the objects. Hopefully there will be more to come in due course.

There still remain, however, a small number of items which have defied all efforts to identify them despite their having distinctive shapes:

9. the possible fuel tank cap [post #1] – maybe from something like the hydraulic reservoir or glycol tank ??;

13. the copper pipe – from where? [post #340] – maybe from one of the engines, but what would require copper with its conductive properties, as distinct from aluminium alloy ??;

15. the suggested equipment mounting bracket [posts #1, #4, # 67, and #308] – maybe something small (with a base about 6 inches by 8 inches?) from amongst the radio/radar equipment ??;

31. the flanged piece with a circular arc [posts #129 and #196] not positively identified as being from a gun turret as at one time thought, but maybe not from the aircraft – what would that attachment that looks like a snap fastener be used for ??

33. another piece of copper tubing [post #118] – less than 1 inch in diameter and with what appear to be capped ends.

There are many others with less hope of success which I have ignored, but any further thoughts on those listed above would be much appreciated. For ease of reference I attach below the photographs originally posted.

Now that we may have come to a temporary halt, subject to any replies to these final queries, it might be helpful for me to produce a list summarising what has been identified to date. I will work on this.

The V-1 Site

I have been in touch with Laurent who tells me that extensive searching for wreckage has not been practicable over the summer “à cause des fougères et des ronces” –because of the ferns and brambles of the undergrowth! He has not given up looking and has identified a location where there may be something more to find but, working on his own, the clearance work in the area he wants to search will take some time. He needs to find a few local volunteers!

He will try to clean the bolt in picture 6 and he confirms that the pipes in picture 13 are indeed copper. I still hope somebody may be able to confirm where copper pipes might have been used – either in the engines or elsewhere.

However, we do have a new discovery from France. This time, not a piece of wreckage, but an aerial photograph apparently taken in 1947. Its original source is unknown, but it may have been connected with the activities of the No.1 Missing Research & Enquiry Unit after the war, or possibly during the course of work which I understand was undertaken to assess the impact of wartime bombing. It shows what is presumed to be the date (1947) and a reference number ‘110’. If anyone has any other suggestions as to its possible source I would be glad to hear.

I have attached a cropped part of the full photograph showing the area around the V-1 site. On its left is a present-day picture of the Forêt du Croc with the same area as in the photograph delineated by the white square and with an aiming point photograph taken on 6 July 1944 (see post #110) overlaid on it. The view from some 60 years later is shown without the overlay on the right for comparison with the old photograph. It is remarkable how little the roads and the forest and field boundaries have changed – much of the landscape is immediately recognisable – although the regular patterns of what I assume must have been carefully planted orchards have disappeared. I will leave those following this thread to carry out their own ‘spot the difference’ exercise! At the top of the picture, above le Croc, is the edge of the bois de Pimont. The view from left to right across the old photograph is a distance of a little over 3,000 metres or approximately 2 miles.

The buildings of the V-1 site were on both sides of the road which can be seen running diagonally from the left arm of the V-shaped junction at the lower centre of the photograph towards the north-west. This is where much of the devastation of the forest as a result of bombing can be seen. The launch ramp, pointing towards London, was located at the southern end of the cleared/bombed area running parallel to, and to the north of, the road beyond the point where it starts to curve westwards. What may have been the path to the firing control bunker and the ramp can be seen leading from the road. Today, the remnants of some of the buildings alongside the roadway are hidden by the foliage of the forest in the modern aerial photograph. Trees have been replanted, but much of the forest floor is covered by undergrowth including the area around a few surviving concrete bases for the ramp supports. These are immediately next to a large bomb crater which looks as if it may have been a direct hit. We were fortunate that local residents were on hand to guide us or we could easily have missed much of what can still be seen.

The photograph indicates how trying to find pieces of the wreckage from ED908 scattered in the vast area of the forest and fields some distance from the V-1 site is not an easy task!