[flyXwire]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070815/...8HkQHc1qgE1vAI

ROME - A group of researchers has located the remains and plane of a German ace shot down during World War II and also discovered some personal effects, including the dog tag and good luck charms the pilot carried into combat, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The amateur researchers found the plane flown by Flight Sgt. Maximilian Volke — a Munich-born pilot credited with shooting down 37 planes — near the site of the German defensive line that witnessed months of bloody battles as the Allies fought to liberate northern Italy.

Searchers located the plane after narrowing their area based on information from state archives and eyewitness accounts of the ace's final air battle in 1944, said Leo Venieri, president of Romagna Air Finders, a group that scours the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna for signs of missing World II pilots.

Volke's Messerschmitt Bf 109 was dug out of a farmer's field just north of Modena in July. The pilot's remains were well preserved, Venieri said.
The dig also yielded a number of artifacts, including a wallet with money, documents and images of the Virgin Mary and an African elephant.
Volke took off from a northern Italian air base on Sept. 5 with three other fighters to intercept a group of American bombers. He was shot down by gunners in one of the U.S. planes, Venieri said, citing witness accounts and the bomber squadron's logs.
The pilot's remains have been sent to the University of Modena for an autopsy and Venieri's group plans to bury him in September at the German war cemetery of Passo della Futa, between Bologna and Florence.

More informaiton, photos and artifacts discussed on this forum:

http://translate.google.com/translat...Den%26s a%3DX

[ZS-VAN]

What an incredible story. It's a long time to be unaccounted for, it's not as if he crashed in the wilds. Very sad indeed. I wonder whether he still has relatives who could receive his personal effects.

[Kubikali]

This story made me google. There's an estimate there are about 1200 planes to be salvaged in the Netherlands alone. The story focusses on the explosives that still could be on board, but it makes you think about the number of men entombed in their plane... Sad.

[ZS-VAN]

Originally Posted by Kubikali

This story made me google. There's an estimate there are about 1200 planes to be salvaged in the Netherlands alone. The story focusses on the explosives that still could be on board, but it makes you think about the number of men entombed in their plane... Sad.

My heart really just goes out to these pilots and their families. It really is very hard to believe. I would never have thought that so many could be missing with their aircraft.