Cambridgeshire Spitfire To Be Recovered

Wonder if they'll actually find anything?
"A Spitfire which crashed in Cambridgeshire while on a training mission during World War Two is to be dug up by archaeologists.
The Rhodesian Squadron Royal Air Force plane, based at RAF Wittering, crashed at Holme on 22 November 1940.
Pilot Officer Harold Penketh, from Brighton, did not bail out and died.
The Spitfire remains were found after a geophysical survey of the area. It is hoped the recovered parts will be put on public display.
The cause of the crash was never fully established, although witnesses said the Mk 1A Spitfire X4583 broke formation and nose-dived into farmland in the village of Holme, south of Peterborough.
Experts expect it to take about a week to excavate the Spitfire from its crash site in Holme
Archaeologists are not sure how much of Pilot Officer Penketh's Mk 1A spitfire will be retrieved
An investigation concluded either the pilot's oxygen system failed or there was a physical failure of the plane.
Pilot Officer Penketh, 20, made no attempt to use his parachute. His body was recovered from the wreckage and returned to his family.
The "enormous crater" created by the Spitfire quickly filled with water as the water table in the area is high, eyewitness John Bliss, who was a child at the time, said.
The spitfire remains have lain in their watery grave for 75 years."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-34403689

 

*bump* for an update-
The dig has now been halted as they've found human remains-
"The dig to recover a Spitfire from marshland in Holme has been suspended after skeletal remains were found.
Archeologists have been working at the crash site of the plane at Holme Lode Farm since Monday. The fighter crashed 75 years ago.
Pilot officer Harold Edwin Penketh died in the crash, which happened on November 22 1940, and his body was recovered and buried in Brighton. It is believed the bone discovered belonged to the pilot."
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/spitfire-dig-halted-after-human-remains-found.html

 

how would the water effect the remains? I would say not good...the water level is not stable, correct??

 

It says the marshland is going to be restored as part of a conservation project, so that might mean lowering it or more likely raising it to a known former level.
It says the pilot's remains were recovered at the time, but clearly some parts were missed.
Having said that, peat tends to be a preservative; look at the number of well-preserved Iron Age bodies recovered from bogs in Northern Europe, although they tend to be complete ones-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_body

 

Here's what they recovered-
"From engine parts to a personalised cigarette case, these are some of the precious items that archaeologists have uncovered while digging up a Spitfire that crashed during World War Two.
The wreckage of the Mark 1A Spitfire had laid buried six feet under a field near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, for 75 years after the plane plummeted to the ground during a training flight.
But on Monday, experts began excavating the site of the 1940 crash in a bid to recover parts from the peat before the agricultural landscape is restored to wetland as part of a conservation project.
Six days on, they have discovered an array of items, including the plane's starter motor, cockpit control panels, part of its oxygen system, and the entire remains of one of its fuel tanks.
They have also unearthed parts of the Spitfire X4583's Merlin engine, a well-preserved rubber head-rest, and parts of the aircraft's wing at the excavation site near Holme Lode Farm in Holme.
Meanwhile, a watch and a golden cigarette case bearing the letters 'HEP' - the initials of pilot officer Harold Edwin Penketh, 20, who died in the crash on November 22, 1940 - have been discovered."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3267761/Buried-Spitfire-gives-secrets-Archaeologists-uncover-precious-items-plane-crashed-World-War-II.html#ixzz3oGdIO9LD

 

golden cig case with initials on it.....very nice....a personal item he used everyday.....brings in the human, individual element of the time......the 'humans' became part of the war machines....