I've been very busy with college work just lately so I am a bit late
with this one, but here goes...

Elliot organised a dig at a farm in wem, Shropshire near RAF
Shawbury.
He was good enough to invite me along. I could only spare a couple
of hours so I didn't do any work, just took a couple of pictues,
which are in the photos section.

A whitley crashed here in the 1940's. For some reason, despite
reasonable access and proximaty to a large RAF maintainance unit,
the engines were buried rather than recovered. These were dug up and
recovered in the 1970's by personel from RAF Shawbury.

I think Elliot was hoping that if the engines were buried in WW2
then other substantial airframe parts would still be on site.

When I arrived there was a very deep and impressive hole in the
ground, but sadly a small and much less impressive bag of tiny
corroded fragments. Nothing much bigger than a half house brick was
found. I'm not sure whether anything very useful or interesting was
found among these bits and peices after cleaning, but the general
impression I got was that it was all a bit of a disappointment.

So, what happened to the rest of the wreckage? Presumably the RAF
team in the 1970's recovered most of the remaining airframe as well
as the engines. If anyone knows anything about the 1970's recovery
or about RAF Shawbury, please let us know.

Steve