Page 12 - Alexander V. Bone

Finally after sixty-nine years, in September 2012 work has begun to recover this
Lancaster and crew from the crash site.

Initially, there was some local reluctance to do this due to the nature of work they
were undertaking, but the German authorities felt that as the crew had given their
lives for their country, despite their nationality they deserved to be recovered and
finally laid to rest in a military cemetery.

Two bodies, thought to be Sergeant Cope and Pilot Officer Watt were recovered at
the time of the crash by the Germans, but the records of where they are buried was
lost and they are remembered at the Runnymede Memorial in Surry. The remaining
bodies have been in the wreckage until now. Historians were led to the crash site by
a local man who witnessed the actual crash.

Photographs of the recovery operation are seen on this website under the flipbook
titled: 49 Sqn ED427 recovery.