A chance discovery by a berry picker in a forest near the Baltic city of Świnoujście has led archaeologists to what could be one of the area's most significant WWII aviation finds in recent years.
The local resident came across an excavated pit in woodland near Fort Gerhard and the historic Underground City complex, where numerous fragments of aluminium aircraft structure and burnt ammunition were scattered across the forest floor. Suspecting the debris was unusual, he recovered one loose fragment and took it to the Museum of Coastal Defence at Fort Gerhard.
The discovery immediately caught the attention of museum specialists.
"At first glance it was clear this was not simply scrap metal," said Wiktor Czeszewski of the Museum of Coastal Defence. "The construction of the aluminium panels, the riveting, structural aircraft components and the burnt ammunition all point towards the remains of an aircraft."
A subsequent inspection revealed a large debris field containing numerous aircraft fragments, disturbed ground and ammunition remains, suggesting the site may mark the location of a wartime crash.
Particularly significant is the ammunition recovered from the site. Preliminary analysis indicates it is .303 British calibre, widely used in RAF Browning aircraft machine guns during the Second World War.
The discovery has fuelled speculation that the wreckage belongs to an Allied aircraft, possibly one operated by the Royal Air Force or another Allied air force.
Investigators have also recovered a section of seamless copper tubing bearing an alphanumeric identification mark. After carefully cleaning the component, researchers identified the marking "T7", which RAF technical documentation indicates was used on seamless copper tubing fitted to aircraft oil, fuel and gas systems.
According to museum researcher Kacper Stachula, the marking represents another important clue linking the wreckage to British military aviation.
An earlier find from the site—a numbered tube believed by some researchers to be associated with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine—has prompted suggestions the aircraft could have been a Lancaster heavy bomber, a de Havilland Mosquito or another Allied aircraft powered by Merlin engines. However, archaeologists stress that this remains only a working hypothesis.
"We cannot state with complete certainty what type of aircraft this was," museum experts said. "However, all the available evidence suggests we are dealing with the site of a major wartime incident."
They also warned against unauthorised excavation of the site.
"This is not a place for souvenir hunters," Czeszewski said. "We cannot rule out the possibility that the remains of crew members are still buried here. The site must be professionally secured and investigated."
The Provincial Conservator of Monuments, the Międzyzdroje Forest District and organisations responsible for military graves have all been informed, allowing formal archaeological and forensic investigations to begin.
The location itself adds further significance to the discovery. During the final years of the Second World War, Świnoujście occupied a strategic position on the Baltic coast and lay beneath major Allied flight routes to bombing targets including Szczecin, Police and numerous ports, shipyards and industrial facilities across Pomerania.
The region witnessed intense aerial operations involving RAF Avro Lancaster bombers, de Havilland Mosquito aircraft, American bombers, Soviet aircraft and fighter escorts. Heavy German anti-aircraft defences made the skies over the Baltic particularly dangerous during the closing months of the war, and several Allied aircraft are known to have been lost in the area.
Researchers believe the newly discovered wreckage could help identify another of those missing aircraft and potentially reveal the fate of its crew more than 80 years after the conflict ended.
If confirmed, the find would represent not only a significant archaeological discovery but also an important wartime memorial, offering fresh insight into the air campaign over the southern Baltic during the final stages of the Second World War.
Sources : Muzeum Obrony Wybrzeża w Świnoujściu