THE final minutes of a tragic 21-year-old airman's life are unravelling -- 62 years after his Second World War plane was shot down over the Netherlands.

The Royal Air Force is trying to trace family members of the heroic air gunner whose remains were lost a few feet under the surface in a field 500 yards from Opmeer -- until now.

Norman Howarth Nuttall was serving with the XV Squadron, flying in a Stirling heavy-bomber, when it was attacked by a German night fighter at 10.45pm on May 11, 1941.

He had been living with his grandmother in Daisy Street, Blackburn, before being posted with the squadron in a bid to slow the German army's invasion of Europe. Now the search is on to find out if Mr Nuttall still has living relatives.

The crew of seven set off from Alconbury in Cambridgeshire on a mission to raid Berlin, armed with a cargo of five 1,000lb bombs and nine 500lb bombs. The XV Squadron was one of 23 Berlin-bound bombers that night, but only 20 returned.

The plane carrying Mr Nuttall, as second wireless operator and air gunner, was blasted from the sky by a Luftwaffe night-fighter. It was the first Stirling to crash on Dutch soil.

The pilot's body was thrown from the plane and recovered the next day. But the other six crew members' remains, including those of the Blackburn airman, have lain buried in a field for more than 60 years. An excavation team from the Netherlands, including specialist forensic officers from the Dutch Army, are working to gather the human remains. The excavation began four weeks ago.

Greg Stringer from the Ministry of Defence said: "Records revealed who was on the plane, so we know who the remains belong to, but there is still a great deal of mystery and questions needing to be answered.

"It is a very important discovery and we are anxious to track down the relatives of those servicemen who gave up their lives. For whatever reason there does not seem to be any mention of parents."

According to a telegram sent to his grandmother Ellis Nuttall, the gunner worked as a railway clerk before the war. He had brown hair, blue eyes and a scar on his right knee.

It is hoped that after the bodies have been formallyformerly identified, a joint funeral will be held in Bergen general cemetery in Germany, where the pilot is buried.

Sue Raftree, case work officer with the RAF casualty recovery team, said: "The most important thing here is that families can have a final closure as before it was only as a war grave."