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| Sergeant Charles Armstrong Bell, whose identity in the picture is not yet clear, with crew who were listed as MIA when their plane was lost as it returned from a bombing run in Germany |
The plane of a British airman who went missing in Europe during World War Two has been discovered in a lake near Amsterdam 77 years later.
Wreckage of a Short Sterling bomber BK716 manned by Sergeant Charles Armstrong Bell, which disappeared in 1943, was found submerged in Lake Markermeer this week.
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World War II, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, saw nearly every part of the globe embroiled in a calamitous conflict. The war was fought between two groups of countries – the Allies and the Axis. The principal belligerents of the Allies were the U.K., U.S., France and the Soviet Union. For the Axis, the biggest powers were Germany, Italy and Japan. The war saw a casualty count of around 40-50 million, making it the largest and bloodiest war in history.
Many experts argue that the conflict was a result of nearly two decades of uneasy tension between nations in the aftermath of World War I (1914-18). WWII began on Sept. 1, 1939, when German forces invaded Poland. The U.K. and France were the first to respond with a declaration of war just two days after. The conflict between the Soviets and the Germans began with the latter's invasion on June 22, 1941. The war in the Pacific, fought mainly between Japan and the U.S., began with the attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
The Allied landings at Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, along with the advancement of the Soviet Red Army on Nazi forces, led to the fall of German forces and eventually, the end of the war in Europe on May 8, 1945. On the Pacific front, America's crackdown on Japanese strongholds and the devastating atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (which left nearly 150,000 people dead) in August 1945 brought an end to the war. WWII officially ended as Japan signed the surrender documents on the deck of U.S. battleship USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.
Land battles, aerial bombardments, political executions, racial crackdowns, war-induced diseases and famines and maritime attacks were counted among the biggest reasons for the loss of civilian lives. Although there are no reliable official records of civilian casualties, it is estimated to number between 35 and 60 million. Nearly 5.7 million Jews lost their lives in Nazi concentration camps – more than half of whom were from Poland.
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Sergeant Bell, from Langley Park, Durham, was listed as Missing In Action - along with six other crew members - when their Short Sterling bomber BK716 was lost as it returned from a bombing run in Germany.
Police believe the remains of the crew are still on board.
As preparations are underway to recover the plane in March, the Bomber Command Museum of Canada contacted Consett Police, part of Durham Constabulary, to help track down any living relatives of the sergeant
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| The Marker Wadden, artifical islands located in the Markermeer lake in The Netherlands. Wreckage of the bomber was discovered in the lake near Amsterdam |
A family member contacted Consett Police after appeals were shared on social media, and relatives of the six other crew members have also been traced.
In an appeal for any other relatives, a spokesman from Durham Constabulary said: 'Charles Armstrong Bell was the son of James Ainsley Bell and Elizabeth Bell and lived at 10, Quebec Street, Langley Park with his wife Frances.
'On his memorial stone he is listed as a son and husband, making us believe that he did not have children.
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| A model of a Short Sterling bomber pictured from circa 1939. Wreckage of the bomber BK716 was found earlier this week |
'Frances later remarried a John Wharton and may have had a sister by the name of Lilly Dobbin. Frances died in 2003 and we can find no record of Lilly Dobbin.
'It is unknown where family members may have ended up, so please share this post to maximise our chances of success.
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| The Markermeer, one of Europe's largest freshwater lakes, regulates the water level in the rest of the Netherlands. The crew were returning from a bombing run in Germany |
'It would be great to help in this worthy cause to ensure that an airman who paid the ultimate sacrifice is represented by his family at his burial.'
Anyone with information should call Sergeant Mawson at Consett Neighbourhood Policing Team.
