Pictures of dug-up German fighter plane unearthed (From Dorset Echo)

Pictures of dug-up German fighter plane unearthed

10:40am Tuesday 9th February 2010

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A GREAT deal of interest has been aroused by the 50 Years Ago article (Looking Back, January 12) about a German fighter plane dug up in a field near Swanage.

Now, the younger daughter of the ploughman who unearthed this amazing piece of aviation history at Swalland Farm, Kimmeridge, has been in touch with her late father’s photographs of his find.

Marita Shaw, who was just three when her father Harold ploughed the field, said: “I don’t remember much about it, although dad did speak of it.

“He was ploughing the field when he saw a bit of metal sticking up out of the ground, shining. I think he may well have broken a bit of the plough on it!”

She added: “Once he saw it, he started digging round and soon realised that it was more than just a bit of metal. I don’t know what happened to the pilot though.”

However, thanks to Weymouth man Edward McBride we have been able to fill in the gaps.

He writes: “My records state it was a Messerschmitt 110 shot down on Tuesday, August 13, 1940 at Swalland Farm, Kimmerige, after combat with a Hurricane fighter, Royal Air Force at 12.35pm.

“It was abandoned by crew Obergefr O Giglhuber and Uffz W Schummechen who baled out and were captured unhurt.”

The text of the Echo report of 50 years ago read: ‘GERMAN PLANE FOUND BURIED IN DORSET FIELD: A search for possible bombs and cannon shells is being made on land at Swalland Farm, Kimmeridge, following the discovery by a ploughman of a German plane buried in a field.

‘The ploughman, Harold Brown, was ploughing a large area of downland between Swalland Farm and Swyre Head, an area used for grazing, not ploughed for many years.’

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