Wreck of missing Lancaster bomber found He identified the likely site, in a field near a farm just outside the village of Zelhem, near the German-Dutch border, from wartime records and witness testimonies from the period. After securing permission from the local authorities, the dig began earlier in the autumn, overseen by Major Arnie Kappert. Mrs Rumsey's daughter Elissa, 42, and granddaughter Abigail, 10, flew to Holland from the USA to observe the excavation findings. The team excavated to a depth of around 21ft, recovering an assortment of metal debris, including armour plating, parts of the airframe, and fins from bombs - testament to the heavy impact of the crash and a large explosion: the aircraft went down on its way to its target, still laden with bombs. Two of the recovered items confirmed the identity of the wreck: two pieces of armour plating, which were placed beneath the crews' seats to protect them from beneath, with the aircraft's serial number "470" scrawled on them. Because so little remained of the aircraft after the explosion and fireball, no human remains were found during the dig. However, the investigating team discovered that some remains were buried in a local graveyard at the time of the crash. The Rumsey would like to have this DNA tested, once the MoD confirm the suite. Mrs Rumsey herself is planning to travel to the site on May 4 - The Netherlands Remembrance of the Dead Day and May 5 - Liberation Day - as well as making her usual trip to the Runnymede Memorial Service which takes place later in the same month. Coincidentally, May 4 is also the date, in 1999, when Mrs Rumsey's mother - Derek's wife, Betty - died. Mrs Rumsey said: "My Mother's spirit will be with us when we travel in May. The Heather family has been on a journey for almost 70 years, not knowing where we were going but feeling compelled to go on in search of my father's final resting place. It was difficult for my mother after my father's loss. For years and years, she thought he might come back, because there was no grave. When people go missing, there is always hope. Her parents met before her father joined up, when he and her mother were working for an insurance firm in London. Mrs Rumsey was their only child. She said: "My mother told me that she got pregnant because she wanted to keep a part of him. So many men were being lost. She must have thought there was a chance she would lose him. Betty remarried in 1951, to a merchant sailor, Albert Myers, and the following year the family moved to Nassau and then, in 1954, to California. Mrs Rumsey first made the journey to Runnymede at the age of 16 and has returned regularly ever since. Along with wreckage of the aircraft, the excavation also uncovered German bullets, giving a hint of its fate, which has also been pieced together by the researchers. Gillian Rumsey, Cynthia Heather, and Derek Rumsey at Runnymede (COURTESY GILLIAN RUMSEY) The bomber, ED470, from 61 Squadron, had set off for its last mission at 7.20pm on September 23, 1944 from its base at RAF Skellingthorpe, near Lincoln. It was one of 136 bombers, accompanied by five Mosquitos, sent to attack the Dortmund-Ems canal, near Gravenhorst. The waterway was an important transport link for German industry and at that location, the level of the canal water was well above that of the surrounding area. However, near to Arnhem, in Holland, it was intercepted by a Junkers 88, a German nightfighter, which attacked it from above and astern. It was repelled by gunfire from the Lancaster, but either the same or a different aircraft attacked again, setting the bomber on fire and sending it to earth. One of the crew survived the attack - Sergeant John Miller, the rear gunner, had been able to parachute to safety. In an echo of the war time film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, Miller, from Warrington, was able to link up with the Dutch resistance, who protected him. He stayed with a family on a farm until the Allies liberated the country the following year. When he left, he took the farmer's niece, Tilly Reterink, back to London with him, where they married - although they divorced in 1949. Miller, who later remarried, died in 1992. The other men lost when the aircraft went down were: Flying Officer Albert Hornibrook, 20, the pilot from Queensland, Australia; Sergeant Tegwyn Roberts, the flight engineer, from Denbigh, Wales; Flying Officer John Condon, 24, the navigator, from New South Wales, Australia; Sergeant Robert Stanley Meachen, 23, the wireless operator, from Billingham, County Durham; Sergeant Thomas Brown, 25, the mid-upper gunner from Southport. British reports initially suggested that ED470 had crashed into the River Waal but Mr Monasso located it by examining local records in Zelhem, which recorded a crash on the evening the aircraft was lost and gave the location. According to locals, the aircraft exploded a few minutes after crashing as explosives on board went off. An aerial shot of the area taken later in 1944 showed a large crater near the farm, but there is now no sign of the crash. It is thought that the farmer filled the crater with sand. Mr Monasso, 63, a former civil servant, then traced the whereabouts and identity of all the other 17 bombers lost that night to determine which one had crashed at the spot. He has been campaigning to get the local authorities to dig since 2004. His interest in locating missing aircraft began in 1972, when he stumbled upon part of a Lancaster bomber while out walking in marshland. He has since set up a museum and a foundation involved in investigating cases of missing aircraft. His team, which covers an area of eastern Holland of around the same size as London, has searched for 400 British, German and American aircraft lost during the war. Some of the crash sites were fully cleared at the time, by many others were buried. The team have been involved with about 200 excavations and have helped find the resting places of 22 missing personnel. A report of the excavation is to be passed from the Dutch military to the Ministry of Defence to confirm the aircraft's identity and to decide what future action should be taken.