Denis, do you know whether Lancs were scrapped/broken up/recycled! in that area post-war ?
Possibly parts of aircraft only were likely to have been recycled by someone. I have asked plenty of local people about this activity taking place in the mid 50’s-60’s but so far to no avail.
The airfield closed to flying in late 1944 with the Somerfeld tracking that formed the runways of RAF Sawbridgeworth being bulldozed in 1946. That knocks on the head any theory of aircraft flying in for disposal. If the part you have is definitely a Merlin related part, and there was no common feature in the construction of a Hercules engined variant then the likelyhood of identifying the donor aircraft is next to impossible.
I can find no other accounts or records of another Lancaster force landing, or crashing in the immediate area. RAF Sawbridgeworth only had Sommerfeld tracking for runways as it was an upgraded ALG. Even 4 squadrons Mosquitos couldnt operate from there, and had to fly from Hunsdon instead.
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