大象传媒

I was a schoolboy aged 10 living in Norfolk, near an American Airforce Base. Some of us from the school 鈥榓dopted鈥� a B24 Liberator aircraft, to follow her progress. After school we used to go up and get the stories from the crew, as to how their missions went. We named the 鈥榩lane, El Flako.

One day she didn鈥檛 return from a mission. We felt very upset. After El Flako went missing, the crew chief was given another aircraft to look after, but he didn鈥檛 have the same interest.

Many years later, whilst visiting relatives in Holland, by chance I met Franz who was also interested in aircraft, and when he heard my story, he searched the internet for any information regarding the crash of El Flako. Through this we got in contact with a German historian, who had discovered the crash site a few years earlier, in Dortmund, Germany, in a wood near the canal. She鈥檇 been hit in the bomb bay. Two of the crew had managed to bale out but were captured and shot by a farmer. The rest of the crew were killed in the crash.

The German historian invited us to visit the site, which we did. He gave me some small fragments of the aircraft and let us seach for more fragments with a metal detector and spade. I was able to bring these pieces home. I mounted one of the largest pieces on a plaque of wood, which I gave to the museum which is now at the airfield, in the control tower. Others I was able to keep for my own memories. We said, 鈥淣ow she鈥檚 come back home!鈥�

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