Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

A Hurricane was excavated by the Brussels AirMuseum in Loonbeek(Belgium) in 1981/82.I contacted them for info and they told me it was Sgt.Williams 3Sqn. shot down 15 May 1940,anyone knows if this is correct?

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

BoFTaN has Hurricane L1645 of 3 Sqn lost on 15th May 1940. Sgt J L C Williams missing. Aircraft believed shot down by Bf109's near Dinant

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

René,

L1645 indeed came down "near Overijse", which perfectly matches Loonbeek.

Regards,

Leendert

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

Sgt James Leslie Clutton WILLIAMS is indeed still missing and his name on the Runnymede Memorial. If his Hurricane was recovered and identified as L1645 it does beg the question: what became of Sgt Williams?

Also, what/who is the "Brussels Air Museum at Loonbeek"?

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

Belgian Air Museum

See also:


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...sels+Hurricane

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

Over to Peter Cornwell, methinks.....!

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

Makes me wonder as a Belgian,where are the people of the Belgian(Brussels)Air Museum as there was such a lot airplaneparts excavated,the identity must shorely be known by now,after nearly 30years.But as it is state owned,you never know!

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

I remain confused!

The Brussels Air Museum is in Brussels and we all know about that. However, Loonbeek is in the municipality of Huldenberg some way from Brussels. Are we talking about the museum in Brussels or some other private museum collection in Loonbeek. Can anyone clarify?

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

Loonbeek or Huldenberg was the place were the airplane came dawn and the Belgain(Brussels) Air Museum dug it up.

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

Doh! That is just me being rather stupid in misunderstanding the first post. My apologies.

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

The Hurricane came down on the territory of Huldenberg not on that of Loonbeek. Until this day there is no absolute proof who the pilot was. See also;

http://www.rafcommands.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=14039&forum=DCForumI D6&archive=yes

Dirk

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

From one of the posts on that site we have the following. The question needs to be asked - what was the final outcome here? It sounds to me as if the remains were quietly disposed of. A more thorough investigation of the site and wreckage might well have given rise to an identification in this case.

The Huldenberg Hurricane was excavated 25 years ago in the presence of a man of the Belgium Aviation Museum Brussels, on Saturday September 11th 1982 . According to local witnesses it had crashed somewhere around May 15th 1940. The engine and parts of the cockpit were found at a depth of about 5 metres, together with a few human remains of the pilot and a piece of parachute cloth, suggesting that the pilot had died behind the pilot stick and had crashed to his death.
When I asked the Belgium Aviation Museum Brussels (pieces of the Huldenberg Hurricane make part of their collection) whether a thourough report was ever made after the excavation, they could'nt answer my question. I strongly doubt whether a thorough official inquiry was made after the excavation of the plane to establish the pilots true identity or that of the plane and the Squadron it served with? I find this truly a pity and wonder where the pilots remains went.

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

I read about the excavation in the newspaper at the time,after a bit of research I found the man who saw the crash as a young lad and he helped the Museum to the locaction.As reward he was given 2 machineguns(all black,both in good condition),an underwing flap(white painted,well preserved),one undercarriage leg without the wheel(silver,good condition)and a piece of upperskin from one of the wings(brown and green,the latter crudely overpainted with a lighter green with brush).He also had written down a few numbers(no serial number of the aircraft) a transmitter serialnumber,one of an hydrolyc pump and another one.He was not interested in this old metal and gave the lot to me,except for the Brownings.

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

The excavation of the Hurricane:
The excavation took place on Saturday, September 11th 1982. The information I have about the excavation is based on a newspaper clipping dated September 13th, 1982 from 'Het Laatste Nieuws' - a Flemish news paper. According to the news paper, the following officials were present at the excavation of the plane:
representatives of the British Embassy and representatives of the 'Luchtvaart Museum, Brussel' (= Air Museum, Brussels), amongst whom the Technical Advisor of the Air Museum, Brussels.
Prior to the excavation, a rural policeman had contacted the British Ambassy, Brussels and the Belgian Ministry of Defence to inform them about a fighter plane still lying buried beneath the land of a farmer at Huldenberg. According to the author of the newspaper article, both British and Belgian Officials showed their interest in the excavation of the plane, but weren't eager to carry all the expences, especially when a crane was needed to make it all possible. Consequently, the rural policeman took the initiative in own hands. A firm lent the crane-driver and crane. Two weeks prior to the excavation of Sept. 11th 1982, the wings and flaps were already dug out by volunteers with the aid of spades. Found were several guns and 700 to 800 rounds of ammunition. Weapons and ammunition were all handed over to the Belgian demining service. The Belgian demining service even sent men with metal detectors to pin-point the exact location of the plane.
In the article the following is stated: 'At present the search goes on for numbers and mark indications, necessary for the further identification of the aircraft. With the results London would be able to identify the pilot who flew that aircraft at that time.'
I wrote the British Ambassy in Brussels, but was thus far given no concrete answer as to what happened to the unknown pilot's remains.

René, I'm a member of the history circle of Huldenberg.

Regards,
Dirk

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

Hi Dirk,thank you for this information,I remember the policeman well,he was very upset at the time and his son took the conversation over.

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

Hallo René,

I have sent you a private message.

Dirk

Re: Hurricane excavation early 1980's Belgium
 

René - you forgot to give me your e-mail address (see also second private message I have sent you).

Dirk