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Man who found over 1,000 pieces of WWII plane looking for pilot’s family
The detectorist says the fragments reveal the Spitfire’s flight path and has asked for help locating the Polish pilot’s relatives.
- Metal detectorist Danny Jones identified the 1942 crash site of an RAF Supermarine Spitfire near Henley-on-Thames, confirming the pilot was 27-year-old Polish airman Sylwester Jerzy Godlewski, who perished during a training exercise.
- Unearthing more than 1,500 fragments, Jones discovered the site nearly 80 years later while detecting in woodland and confirmed through national archives that the plane crashed on May 29, 1942, after the pilot lost control.
- Private possessions of the pilot, including dog tags and badges, were sold by an auction house in Kent for $3,000; Sylwester Jerzy Godlewski fled to Britain after the Nazis invaded Poland and is buried in Northwood Cemetery.
- Seeking the airman's family, Jones has been unable to locate them, while the MOD denied his request to continue searching due to potential human remains at the site.
- Inspired by this month's 90th anniversary of the Spitfire's first flight, Jones renewed his efforts to locate the pilot's relatives and honor the memory of Sylwester, who died at 27.
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Leaning Left1Leaning Right4Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Center
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- 50% of the sources are Center
50% Center
C 50%
R 40%
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