Visitors to the Bunker Museum in Egmond aan Zee will be able to admire a brand new acquisition this summer: a wreckage of a British bomber from the Second World War that washed ashore. After storm Eunice it washed up on the beach in Camperduin. Martijn Visser is happy with it: “The Second World War can be read as an exciting boys’ book and now another chapter has been added.”
Beach finder Marco Snijders made the remarkable find last week while he was at work. “We clean up the beach every day. After a storm, quite a lot of things always wash up,” he says. “During a storm, the force of the water is very strong and sunken things tossed from the seabed. It is likely that that is what happened with that wreckage.”
When Marco found the wreckage, it was entangled in a fishing net. Because “it looked like an airplane wing,” the beach finder kept it aside and took it to the workshop. There he freed it from the net.
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special
The news about the wreckage soon reached the village newspaper Dorpsgenoot, after which Martijn Visser of the Bunker Museum called Marco: “He then saw that it belonged to a British bomber.”
That is quite special, says Martijn: “I have often seen people come to me with pieces of aluminum that have washed ashore, but usually you can no longer trace what type of device it is.” Thanks to the type number on the wreckage, this is possible this time.
Halifax bombers did an excellent job during WWII
“We are sure that it is an English aircraft from the Second World War,” says Martijn. “A stamp that can be seen on the inside shows the letters ‘AM’ and a crown.” Those letters stand for ‘Air Ministry’. “In WWII that was responsible for the planned execution of bombing flights.”
Reliable device
According to Martijn, another indication that it is a bomber is the fact that a small piece of window can be seen near the wreckage. “A small one-person aircraft had no side windows. In this case, the bomber crew could see out of the window.”
“Whether the seven crew members survived, we can only guess”
He thinks it concerns the Halifax brand: “That was a four-engine heavy bomber,” says Martijn. “He did an excellent job during the Second World War.” According to him, it is a brand that crew members liked to fly with: “It was just an incredibly reliable aircraft.”
It will probably never be possible to find out how the plane came to an end, says Martijn. “We will not find out who was piloting the bomber. We know that there were seven crew members in a Halifax. But whether they died or escaped by jumping out, we can only guess.”
At the moment it is being investigated how the wreckage can be preserved as well as possible. After that, it will be exhibited in the Bunker Museum.
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