IMG_1337
The recovery of Supermarine Spitfire Mark 1A X4583, which crashed at Holme in Cambridgeshire, on 22nd November 1940.
Whilst on a training mission from nearby RAF Wittering, Pilot Officer Harold Penketh experienced problems and crashed into farmland, just south of Peterborough.
Recovery of the pilot’s body occurred at the time, but the crash site filled with water, and the wreckage then lay undisturbed for 75 years. After a geological survey, the site is now being excavated, with artefacts being recovered for preservation and display before the land is restored to wetlands as part of a conservation project.
Operations were suspended on 8th October 2015, when probable skeletal remains were uncovered, and it was therefore even more fitting when shortly afterwards Spitfire Mk.IA N3200 from Duxford performed a flypast in honour of the pilot.
No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF, based at RAF Wittering. Moved from RAF Sutton Bridge after action over Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain, before moving to RAF Duxford in 1942 and re-equipping with the Hawker Typhoon.
IMG_1337
The recovery of Supermarine Spitfire Mark 1A X4583, which crashed at Holme in Cambridgeshire, on 22nd November 1940.
Whilst on a training mission from nearby RAF Wittering, Pilot Officer Harold Penketh experienced problems and crashed into farmland, just south of Peterborough.
Recovery of the pilot’s body occurred at the time, but the crash site filled with water, and the wreckage then lay undisturbed for 75 years. After a geological survey, the site is now being excavated, with artefacts being recovered for preservation and display before the land is restored to wetlands as part of a conservation project.
Operations were suspended on 8th October 2015, when probable skeletal remains were uncovered, and it was therefore even more fitting when shortly afterwards Spitfire Mk.IA N3200 from Duxford performed a flypast in honour of the pilot.
No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF, based at RAF Wittering. Moved from RAF Sutton Bridge after action over Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain, before moving to RAF Duxford in 1942 and re-equipping with the Hawker Typhoon.