Mystery Object #3 Reveal

Curated by Dr. Grace McNutt, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Cape Breton University, School of Arts and Social Sciences

In the very late hours of March 29, 1943, the Royal Airforce Force (RAF) squadrons of Bomber Command were able to launch 329 aircraft to bomb Berlin. Not long after they left the British Isles behind, storms began hampering their progress. Over 120 aircraft were forced to turn around. The rest carried on, including Short Stirling BK716, with a mixed British and Canadian crew. BK716 navigated harrowing airspace, dropped its bombs on Berlin, and then began the long journey home. Meanwhile, a German night fighter took off and pursued BK716 once it entered the airspace above the Netherlands. A radar station guided the night fighter to BK716. At 4:49 in the morning, BK716 was gunned down East-Southeast of Marken Island.

For the next 65 years, the location of BK716 and its crew remained unknown. Until, in December 2008, a boatowner hauled up pieces of the craft on its anchor after sailing on Lake Markermeer. Winter prohibited further investigation until the following Spring. Initial dives were unsuccessful, but eventually the wreck was located. In 2020, the pieces of the BK716 and, more importantly, the remains of her crew were finally brought up from murky depths. The crew of seven men were all identified and properly interred in 2022.

Most of BK716 was destroyed but one of most intact pieces was the engine block, which has been transformed into a memorial to the crew, located in Almere. This spring is a piece of that engine block.