Koggenland starts recovery of two downed WWII Allied bombers

BERKHOUT - A Dutch mayor recently informed surviving family of the crew members of a downed WWII British bomber that the remains of their loved ones had been unearthed. The bomber, a Hampden MKI, crashed in the night of November 8, 1941 and drilled itself into the soft soil of a meadow near the North Holland village. The painstaking recovery work could take as long eight weeks and may involve unexploded bombs. Excavation work will also be done on a second bomber, a U.S. B24H Liberator which came down prematurely on June 29, 1944 in the former municipality of Ursum. All crew members of both planes perished but only two were found at the time. Koggenland mayor Sipkes unveiled a history marker before recovery work commenced in Berkhout. Thousands of Allied planes crashed over the Netherlands during WWII which in the past sometimes has been described as an Allied plane cemetery.