THAMESIDE AVIATION MUSEUMTHE EXCAVATION OF A BRISTOL BLENHEIM BOMBER |
25 SQUADRON. NORTH WEALD. ESSEX, ENGLAND. Excavation carried out August 1975. Crashed at "Ramsey Tyrells" Stock, Essex, England. 17th November 1940 |
Above: left to right. Robin, Roger, Fred. on the day we found the site,note hump in fore-ground of this picture, this is from the crash thirty five years earlier.
The meadow in which the Blenheim had crashed had not ever been ploughed, so finding a small rise of earth in the field the metal detector was employed to scan the site with a good reading of metal being produced over an area of 12 sq ft (3 m2), this followed by a small excavation with spades allowing a small amount of finds to be located. After a discussion we decided that it would be worthwhile to bring the excavator to site the following weekend, and again we were to use "Rolly Ellis's" Dinkum Digger for the sum of £30.00 (1975). The excavation proved to be a bit of a dissapointment, all that we found was the Pito tube and a piece of armour plate, the rest of the readings from the metal detector had been produced from the corrosion in the soil, but never mind we all had a great time. Present on the dig were, Fred Dunn, Robin Hill, Roger Pickett, David Campbell, Ron Wingrave and Colin Wingrave. |
Above Left; Digging by hand,,,,,, Above Right: the dig.
Below: this is how we leave the sites, taken after the excavation 1975
© COLINWINGRAVE 2000