London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Spitfire found in peatbog slowly being pieced back together

Spitfire found in peatbog slowly being pieced back together

Aircraft enthusiasts are building a World War Two Spitfire using original pieces of a plane recovered from where it crashed in a Norwegian peatbog almost 80 years ago.

Auchterarder-born pilot, Flt Lt Alastair "Sandy" Gunn, had flown the aircraft out of RAF Wick in Caithness on 5 March 1942 on a secret mission to photograph the German battleship Tirpitz.

Gunn's aircraft was shot down. He was captured, interrogated, imprisoned and later executed after the Stalag Luft III "Great Escape".

His plane, Spitfire AA810, is being restored after the crash site was located on a mountainside near the village of Surnadal, south west of Trondheim, three years ago.

Five pilots flew Spitfire AA810


Parts of the Spitfire are still being found and many have been added to the giant jigsaw puzzle.

The plane is being put together in a hangar at Sandown on the Isle of Wight by the Spitfire AA810 Project. It hopes to have the machine airworthy by 2024.

New parts of the plane are being manufactured to replace sections that are missing or too badly damaged to use.

Remains of the aircraft laid out in Norway after the discovery of the crash site

An underwing radiator recovered from the peatbog and now in the case of a specialist rebuilding facility near Oxford.

An original wing part from Spitfire AA810


Tony Hoskins, of the Spitfire project, said: "Whilst it is sometimes more laborious to recover, repair and treat original parts compared to making new, every possible part recovered that can be used, will be used.

"We recovered a huge amount of material from the crash site, all of which had to be cleaned and sorted.

"Once organised the salvaged items can be compared to drawings and any missing or damaged bits replaced or repaired."

The work comes amid calls from the project team to erect a memorial to Flt Lt Gunn and his fellow pilots of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU).

Two of the PRU pilots pictured are known to have been killed flying their aircraft while another was held as a prisoner of war after being shot down


Aberdeenshire MP Andrew Bowie brought a debate to the UK parliament earlier this month to support the campaign.

Fundraising for the memorial is due to be launched soon.

The Spitfire project also hopes to find out more about Flt Lt Gunn's "Penny". The woman, believed to be his girlfriend, sent him a photograph taken in Algiers when he was a prisoner of war.

Mr Hoskins said: "On the reverse of Penny's photo a stamp shows it has been passed by the camp censor and would have accompanied a letter now sadly since lost.

"We are still looking for her."

PRU flew on clandestine reconnaissance missions and the photographs they took of infrastructure, troop movements and weapons sites were used in the planning of operations such as the D-Day landings.

The pilots' aircraft were stripped of guns and armour to make them lighter and also to carry photographic equipment and additional fuel.

Flt Lt Gunn, standing second left, with his room-mates in Stalag Luft III


Flt Lt Gunn was one of five pilots to fly Spitfire AA810. Built in Reading, the aircraft was first flown from Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire on 17 October 1941.

The Germans believed Flt Lt Gunn's Spitfire had been flown from a secret air base in Norway or Sweden and used various techniques, including denying him food, during his interrogation.

Flt Lt Gunn gave details of his ordeal in letters and diaries he wrote. His interrogators even took him to a pub and poured drink down his throat in their efforts to make him talk.

A picture of Flt Lt Gunn's "Penny" which she sent to him while he was a prisoner of war. The project team is still trying to find out who she is


The pilot, who refused to give details of his missions, was later moved to Stalag Luft III in Poland and was a key figure in the prisoner of wars' escape tunnel digging.

Flt Lt Gunn was among those to escape the camp, but he was captured after two days on the run and shot. He was 24.

Mr Hoskins said records showed the survival rate of PRU pilots was the second lowest of any Allied aerial unit during World War Two.

He said: "These crews have never been officially recognised, their sacrifices largely unknown. In total 452 men would be casualties flying with the PRU."


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
×