Major Excavation Of Crash Site in 1989

THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE LANCASTER PB 265

By Gérard Renault (translation Germain Julien)
"Great-Britain, on the 24th of July 1944, night has just fallen. In Elsham Woods, on the base of the 576 Squadron, the Lancaster crews have been given the order, for the third consecutive night, to bomb the German city of Stuttgart. As the others, the crew of the Lancaster registered as “UL-V2” on his cabin, serial number: PB 265, doesn’t know yet the flight won’t be back from this new mission.
The airbase of the RAF in Elsham Woods has been created in July 1941. She first was the base for the 103rd Squadron equipped with Wellington bombers and then endowed with Lancaster in 1942. The 576 BS has been formed in November 1943.
Let’s now turn our attention to the Lancaster registered as “UL-V2” and whose serial number is PB 265. The bomber’s crew is:
- Flight Officer Robert Sarvis (ASN), young American pilot from Tennessee originally from the 12th Replacement Depot of the USAAF who has been transferred to the RAF. - Sergeant Alexander Balfour (ASN 1.021.030), mechanic in the RAF. - Sergeant J.M. Weir (ASN 1.560.450), bomber in the RAF. - R.T. Gordon (ASN R 181 524), navigator from the Royal Canadian Air Force, Sergeant J. Coates (ASN 1.622.241) from the RAF. - Sergeant E. Reed (ASN 1.541.804), machine gunner from the RCAF. A crew in command of an American with two Canadians and four British on a British plane!
In this night of Monday the 24th of July 1944, the 576 BS leave the English coast and join up with a unit of 412 Lancaster and 138 Hallifax, and then head toward Stuttgart. Heading south for Orleans and then toward the east until the target. The unit reaches the French coast east of Le Havre, catching sight of the gleam of the fights raging the bridgehead of Normandy where the allied troops trampled on for a few weeks, on the eve of “Cobra”, the great offensive that Americans will launch in a few hours. The unit then reaches the south of the département of Eure-et-Loir. Here, hidden in the shade, a German night fighter is waiting for his prey. He has chosen it. It will be the Lancaster PB 265. The German attacks and hits the bomber. F/O Robert Sarvis then order the evacuation of the plane, Sergeant Alexander Balfour jumps with a parachute from the airplane. But the pilot manages to control the bomber and reconsiders his order of evacuation. He decides to attempt to reach the bridgehead of Normandy. The Lancaster is at 9 500 feet high and head toward Normandy.
But let’s get back to Sergeant Balfour. He was at the front of the airplane, busy throwing Windows (according to a letter from A. Balfour, dated from the 19th of August 1990) when he receives the order of evacuation. He jumps and hits ground in Loiret. He is rescued by Mr. Bernardeau de Saint-Denis-en-Val. He is then directed toward the Resistance in Orgères-en-Beauce (Eure-et-Loir) and then taken in charge by the network of the pharmacist Picourt in Chartres. He is then accommodated at Mr. Laulhée and Mr. Château in Villebon (Eure-et-Loir) until the liberation by the Patton Army on the 16 and 17th of August 1944. Meantime, the Picourt network had collected 51 allies aviators, 17 of them were taken by the German police in July 1944, thanks to information given by a traitor. The network had notably collected Major Bud Mahurin (American pilot of the 56th Fighter Group, shot down on the 27th of March 1944 near Allonnes in Eure-et-Loir), hotshot of the US chase who totalized 21 victories. Bud Mahurin will get back to Great-Britain (mission Pick-Up) thanks to a Lysander during the night of the 6th of June 1944, on a clandestine field near to Outarville in Loiret.
We now come back to the Lancaster that was continuing his route toward Normandy. It reaches Carentan at 8 500 feet high, where, to crown it all, it is attacked by the American DCA of that town. The Lancaster is hit once again, on fire. F/O Sarvis orders the abandon of the flight. Five members of the crew jump and witness the fall and then the explosion of the bomber. Sergeants Gordon, Reed and Clark are injured ; they will be hospitalized by the American Medical Corps in Carentan. But what happened to F/O Sarvis in these first hours of the 25th of July? Did he abandon the bomber after the others? mystery! In December 1944, while all the members of the crew got back to Great-Britain, he is still “missing”. The research undertaken on site of the crash, on the side of the CD 270, in the town of Carquebut, won’t give any results. And yet, thereafter, in the cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer (Calvados) there will be a grave (Plot B, Row 05, Grave 38) and a cross on which is written: Plt O. Robert, J. Sarvis, Tenn., July 25, 1644, 12 Rept Depot. Normandy, B. 05.38. But what’s in this grave?
Second act
Let’s now jump forward through time, 45 years later, on the 18th of July 1989. We are a team of “researchers”, all fascinated by aviation of the Second World War, and that all come to spend their holidays in Normandy every year. At the instigation of Mr. Tournailles from Clainville, this team goes to the swamp of Carquebut. There is there: Mr. Leprêtre (from Brussels), Pierre and Jean Nekrassoff, Gérard Renault. Armed with shovels and a metal detector, we discover an important amount of unidentified parts of aluminium, from a US, German, English plane? Then these relics show calibre 303 munitions and also a Dunlop flying boot and, macabre discover, a human leg in his boots and a part of trousers. It was a British plane. The excavations carried on until 1,8 meters deep enable to discover an extractor parachute and a white parachute in perfect state of conservation in the swamp, in spite of 45 years. Excavations are really difficult because of the presence of oil, petrol and water. They will be abandoned on the 19th of July after the discovery of an important amount of Windows (aluminium stripes still tied up), each Lancaster would carry about 200 kilograms of these on the European Front during August 1943. The human leg is put back into ground: pictures are taken straight away.
Among the numerous metallic parts discovered: four small aluminium plates with series of numbers on them. On one of them, the figures 683 and PB 265 will give us the key of the enigma. In order to move forward in our investigation, we ask M. B. Eadon Mills, British citizen, campsite neighbour, his contribution, what he accepts with pleasure. Thereafter, he will contact the British Ministry of Defence and the embassy of Great-Britain in France. Back home, we ask the support of the “Ailes Anciennes”, in the person of Messrs. Niclot and Lafosse, of Lucé, aviation specialist. In their documents, we find tracks of the Lancaster P 265, given for shot down in France in July 1945 (date mistaken). Subsequently, Mr. Niclot will obtain the Missing n°9741 from the National Archives in Washington along with a document concerning the Sergeant Balfour. The British embassy, amazed by our discovery, transmits the result of our research to the American embassy. As we didn’t possess the material resources necessary to excavate the site, we ask for the help of the “Ailes Anciennes”. The excavation are undertaken on the 4th and 5th of July 1990 thanks to a mechanical excavator and with the presence of two American members of the US sepulchre of Germany. The excavations, carried on up to six meters deep, enabled the discovery of new parts shown on this page."

POSTSCRIPT

The above article appeared in a wonderful edition of 39-45 Magazine in 1990 which is now in my archive. I have since been in touch with members of the dig team and been promised the parachute pictured here! From other sources in Normandy I have first hand testimony from villagers stating that they remembered the crash and indeed local kids played in the wreckage the following day, even finding a flying helmet and goggles. Sadly these are now lost to history.
The remains of Sarvis found on this excavation were interred in his grave but the trousers of the
flying suit were stolen at the time of the dig.

I was saddened by this bit of news but it is the
unfortunate aspect of wartime archaeology that
often grave robbers will follow such an event and
seize their opportunity when it appears.
I was touched to hear of students and staff of MTSU at which Sarvis attended paying a visit to the crash site last year and have been delighted with the response from villagers and interested parties around the world on various WW2 Forums who have added so many pieces to this historical jigsaw over the last two years.
My father, son of Air Bomber Sgt JM Weir visited Normandy last year and paid an emotional trip to Bob Sarvis grave at Colleville-sur-Mere. It is

my intention to visit the crash site in 2013 and to mark the anniversary on the 24th July with a small ceremony at the site.
I am in talks with archaeologists regarding the viability of another excavation at the site in the next year or so. I would like to find any further remnants of Lancaster PB265 and also to search for further remains of the brave pilot.The MACR of Mr Sarvis contained fascinating letters from the FBI in which they were attempting to identify remains found at the crash site in 1944.
Only his right arm was found at the time of the crash and the final letter, signed by J.Edgar Hoover finally identified the fingerprints as belonging to Bob Sarvis. It is my belief that the rest of his body still lies in that swampy marshland known locally as the 'field of the clods'.
Recently the same area has unearthed the remains of Lancaster ND 739, and there is believed to be another two planes in nearby fields, dating from the D-Day landings. One gets the felling that this is just the start of another chapter in the story of Lancaster PB265 and the Sarvis Crew.
Here are a selection of photos taken in 1989 at the major excavation undertaken by the 'Old Wings' members and locals at the time. They come courtesy of Mr Renault and Mr Pierre from the association. I have been able to buy small pieces of the wreckage via Ebay and private sales and am hoping to locate every piece of wreckage from this plane in order to put on permanent display in both Scotland and at the RAF Elsham Wolds museum, along with a huge collection of photos and log books and personal effects from the Crew which I have built-up over the last few years of research. Thank you to the Forced Landings Association and in particular
to Jean-Pierre,President. Also a huge thanks to Heidi Mehltretter from the
Living Battlefields site for her assistance.Kenneth Lewis has been a huge help also as have various experts from the forums, without whom my research would have foundered and Germain Julien who has been a true friend and huge help in all negociations thus far!
From more recent research it appears that some parts of the plane appeared to have been sold by the french public domain to a scrap merchant (1948), whose names are M. Roger Lamache of Montebourg Apparently he purchased the remainings of the wreckage and also a so called 'ME109 G6' who was on the other side of the road.
A lot of the useful pieces of wreckage of Lancaster PB265 were used in the reconstruction of another existing Lancaster and I will be visiting Paris in 2013 to view this. More of this story to follow in later posts!
Thank you to Gilles Billion, of the Ailes Anciennes Association and to Sean Claxton for locating and photographing the crash site in 2010. To all of these people I am hugely indebted.