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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBoy finds WWII plane with pilot's remains in cockpit
(CNN)A 14-year-old Danish boy doing research for a history class found the wreckage of a German World War II plane with the remains of the pilot in the cockpit.
Daniel Kristiansen and his father, Klaus, discovered what's believed to be a Messerschmitt fighter plane buried in a field on their farm near Birkelse in northern Denmark.
"We went out to the field with a metal detector," Klaus Kristiansen told CNN. "I hoped we might find some old plates or something for Daniel to show in school."
Instead, they found bits of plane debris. So they borrowed an excavator from a neighbor and dug down seven or eight meters.
"At first we were digging up a lot of dirt with metal fragments in it. Then we suddenly came across bones and pieces of clothes," Kristiansen said. "It was like opening a book from yesterday."
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Wow!
Rhiannon12866
(203,030 posts)I hope they can identify the pilot...
Skittles
(152,966 posts)(unexploded ordinance)
yagotme
(2,848 posts)but I'm thinking that the field must be pretty soft to allow a plane to bury itself that deep after impact. The engine would go down pretty far, but maybe the lighter pieces were "retrieved" by the Germans, and the front part of the fuselage, including the cockpit, were deep enough to not be messed with.
anneboleyn
(5,611 posts)that would allow it to remain uncovered without being noticed.
yagotme
(2,848 posts)wouldn't see much use until mid spring, I would think. Perhaps the Germans cleared away the surface wreckage only, leaving the family to think that all the wreckage had been taken. I imagine that the locals would have been kept away from the site anyway, at least until the cleanup crew was done.
anneboleyn
(5,611 posts)covered it (maybe it created a small crater when it crashed?) If the plane has any identifying marks left, such as serial numbers, I bet they will be able to research the identity of the pilot.
Fluke a Snooker
(404 posts)...(They found his) pilot's suit, hat and three unused condoms
At least the flyers weren't real Nazis like Hitler, the German High Command, and the current Republican Party members.
yagotme
(2,848 posts)Goehring was head of the Luftwaffe, and a WW1 pilot. Believe he qualified as a Nazi. Bet there were several more in the ranks below him, too.
Aristus
(66,096 posts)Hey, look at these! Souvenirs! Danke, Helga! Wiedersehen, schatz!
marybourg
(12,540 posts)how?
cwydro
(51,308 posts)were not members of the Nazi party.
marybourg
(12,540 posts)"At least the flyers weren't real Nazis"
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)Three triple tanks, used in the Me 109, the Fw 190 and the Me 262.
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)I believe I would have figured it out eventually, maybe even in my sleep tonight. Thanks!
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)I'm not quite sure?