TELEVISION'S Time Team has been in Warton this week, trying to unearth the secrets of two crashed American bombers.
Presenter Tony Robinson and a team of archaeologists and air crash investigators have been excavating the Second World War aircraft on Warton Marshes, where they have lain preserved for 60 years after a mid-air collision.
Despite eyewitness reports telling what happened, no-one has been able to explain why the planes collided. So Time Team set out to excavate engines, propellers and wing parts to try to solve the mystery.
They dug a 12ft deep trench on Tuesday, and by yesterday teatime (Wednesday) clues were beginning to emerge.
"We have just uncovered virtually a whole aeroplane just in the last few hours," Tony said.
"The quality of what's coming out is just fantastic. Marsh land is always great - it's a fantastic preserver."
The programme has worked on two aircraft before: a fighter and a bomber. "We have excavated far more aeroplane here than the other two put together," said Tony.
"Someone has said to me this may be the largest preserved excavated aeroplane from the Second World War in the whole of Britain."
The two bombers, each with a 60ft wingspan, had just been fitted out by the American Air Force and were heading for a US base in Bretigny, France, when they collided in 1944. The bodies of the two pilots and an engineer killed in the crash were recovered shortly after.
BAE Systems, which borders the site, has been helping Time Team with its arrangements for the dig and offering technical expertise including that of Ray Messih, air accident investigation specialist.
"Investigating an accident after all of these years is extremely difficult, and determining what actually happened is dependent on how much good recorded material is available," said Mr Messih.
"The crash site itself would have changed after all of these years, with tidal and land movement shifting wreckage from its original impact point. Attempts have also been made in the past, by either the military or local people, to salvage some of the wreckage, which may well mean that some of the components are not in their original place."
But what has been uncovered has been carefully cleaned by volunteers such as Maureen Gleaves of the RAF Millom Museum, Cumbria.
She said: "We have never done anything on this scale before. Today's just been brilliant. I'd love to do something like this again."
Museum colleague Bob Neate added: "It's important for its historic value and also as a memorial to the pilots who died."
The finds will be taken to the museum to be steam cleaned, restored and eventually put on display.
Meanwhile, viewers will have to wait until next spring to see the finished Time Team programme.
Log on to www.rafmillom.co.uk to find out more about the museum, its work and opening hours.
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