On May 23, 1940, RAF pilot Paul Klipsch's Spitfire (P9373) went down in a field in Wierre-Effroy, France. Time Team, alongside WWII aviation experts and crash investigator Steve Moss, delves into the incident. They are joined by Klipsch's stepbrother, who last visited the area on D-Day. Local villagers recall witnessing the aerial combat and the subsequent crash. Group Captain Allan Wright, who was flying with Klipsch, also contributes to the inquiry. The wreckage of the Spitfire is unearthed, revealing that Gunther Specht in a Messerschmitt Bf 110 was responsible for the downing. Meanwhile, Phil engages in experimental archaeology by learning to fix a Spitfire wing flap using basic tools.
Show
Time Team
Episode
S07E03
Air Date
Jan 16, 2000
Season 7 Episodes
S07E01
A Muslim Port In Spain - Denia, Spain
S07E02
The Mosaic at the Bottom of the Garden - Cirencester, Gloucestershire
S07E03
One of the First Spitfires Lost in France - Wierre-Effroy, France
S07E04
An Iron-Age Roundhouse and a Henge - Waddon, Dorset
S07E05
Hadrian's Wall - Birdoswald, Cumbria
S07E06
In Search of the Earliest Traces of Mankind - Elveden, Suffolk
S07E07
The Missing Cathedral and the Diabetic Prior - Coventry, West Midlands
S07E08
The Royalists' Last Stand - Basing House, Hampshire
S07E09
A Bronze-Age Barrow and Walkway - Flag Fenn, Cambridgeshire
S07E10
In Search of the Palace of King Offa - Sutton, Hereford
S07E11
A Roman Temple in Sight of the Millennium Dome - Greenwich Park, London
S07E12
Nuns in Northumbria - Hartlepool, County Durham
S07E13
The Roman Fortress of Eboracum - York, Yorkshire