Crash of Gloster Meteor EE411 at Sülfeld, 16 June 1947

Archaeological investigation

On 27 December 2005 the municipal archive of the municipality of Sülfeld had applied to the State Archaeological Office for an archaeological investigation at the now known crash site. The Beste meadows were to be rewetted as part of the EU Water Framework Directive. The measure, costing 45 million EU, was endangered by the kerosene possibly still present in the aircraft's tanks. A leakage of fuel after completion of the measure would damage large areas of the surroundings. On 18 January 2006 the State Archaeological Office agreed to the investigation and recovery; it was to be led by the archaeologist Willi Kramer. Bärwald had also obtained the permits of the lower landscape conservation authority, and the water and soil association had, at his request, covered a number of costs. The British embassy had also been informed; it expressly welcomed the measure.

Before the recovery, Kramer produced a precise surface documentation. On 23 March 2006 two excavators from a local company were available. The volunteer fire brigade of Sülfeld cordoned off the investigation site and provided an oil barrier in the neighbouring Beste.

The mapping had revealed, in the middle of the find area marked by detector contacts, two trough-shaped depressions each about 8 m in diameter. In the western depression a steel cable with a towing eye was found, which came from an earlier recovery attempt. The soil structure (peat to 0.7 m, followed by alluvial sands) was, however, undisturbed here; the slight hollow had probably arisen through compression.

At the neighbouring, eastern hollow it was quickly apparent that the soil had been disturbed here. A discoloration boundary appeared between undisturbed peat and peat mixed with sand, which could be followed further with the help of the excavator. The strong smell of kerosene emanating from the sandy peat clearly indicated that the actual find site had been reached here. Subsequently the disturbed area was exposed along the discoloration boundaries, revealing a round pit of just under 10 m in diameter. The pit had steeply sloping sides and, at 14.6 m above sea level, 0.8 m below the surface, a trough-shaped bottom.

In the pit, aluminium parts of the aircraft up to 0.2 m in size lay randomly scattered. The largest find was an oxygen bottle. The wings, fuselage, turbines and landing gear were missing. These items had already been recovered in 1947. The total quantity of recovered aircraft parts amounted to about 35 kg.

A first trace of the accident victim appeared at a shallow depth of only 0.4 m below the surface with the find of a lace-up boot. Towards the north then followed the two femoral necks and finally a region with finds of the skull and the – presumably right – upper arm and a hand. East of this spot, where the left arm and the left side of the body must have been, a wristwatch (10.15 Greenwich time). and a black leather wallet were found. Both finds were immediately handed over, without the wallet being opened, to Warrant Officer Allen Bennet of the staff of the British military attaché, Berlin. Further finds were a silver belt buckle, a belt loop and parts of the leather and textile clothing. Another lace-up boot lay outside the otherwise clearly delimited find area in the area of the pit bottom. In the area of the human remains were found instruments and instrument parts, glass and armoured-glass fragments of the cockpit glazing as well as fragments of the oxygen hose. Surprisingly, during the 1947 recovery the cockpit area with the remains of the dead man had not …