Man who found over 1,000 pieces of WWII plane looking for pilot’s family

By James Gamble

A metal detectorist is trying to find the family of a WWII pilot after finding 1,500 pieces of his downed Spitfire in woodlands.

Danny Jones stumbled across the 1942 crash site near Henley-on-Thames, Oxon,. five years ago and has since discovered all about the life of the plane's pilot.

The 57-year-old found crash reports revealing that the plane was piloted by Sylwester Jerzy Godlewski, a Polish airman who had fled to Britain after his home country was invaded by the Nazis.

The 27-year-old, who was from Warsaw, had perished during a training exercise in May 1942, having lost control of his plane.

Jones stumbled upon the crash site while out detecting in woodland with his dogs nearly 80 years later.

The grandad-of-three has since been searching both at home and abroad for the young airman's family, but has so far been unable to locate them.

Jones, whose dad was in the Army and whose grandad was a warrant officer in the RAF, said he again took up his hobby of metal detecting after decades off.

He said: "As a kid I had a metal detector. I always loved history, but I never found anything too interesting.

"About 12 to 14 years ago, I bought another metal detector for my birthday and got out with the dogs and got permission to detect in some woodlands in Henley.

"On that day, in early March 2021, I was out as normal but didn't find a lot.

"Just before I went home, I had a good reading... It was a small bracket, really nicely manufactured.

"It had an inspector's stamp on it. Being an engineer myself, I knew it was something special.

"I knew it had to be from an aircraft."

Jones didn't find anything else that day and, after telling the owner of the land of his find, was told it was likely from a tractor.

But the following day he returned to widen his search.

"All of a sudden, I hit a prime spot," Jones said.

"It was read after read after read. I thought it had to be a crash site.

"I dug up as much as I could, took them home and cleaned them.

"They weren't the iconic green of a Spitfire, though, so I thought it could be a German aircraft shot down during WWII.

"The third or fourth day, I dug up a plate which said: 'Warning - do not re-cock guns during flight'.

"So I knew it was British and a military aircraft."

The avid metal detectorist unearthed more than 1,500 fragments of the crash in just three months, ranging from tiny pieces to two-foot-long wing parts and a cockpit clock.

He also began to find bullets from the plane's cannons and machine guns, and began digging into national archives.

Jones discovered reports of a plane crash near Henley-on-Thames on May 29, 1942, and began to dive deeper into his research.

He said: "All of a sudden, I knew the plane and the pilot.

"It's just amazing."

Jones found that the RAF Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIb was piloted by Sylwester Jerzy Godlewski, who was buried in Northwood Cemetery in Middlesex alongside 53 other Polish airmen from World War II.

However, having asked the MOD for permission to continue his search, his request was denied due to the human remains likely still at the site.

Despite this, Jones and his dogs have still continued to find surface fragments at the site.

"From those fragments found in just three months, I can tell the direction of the plane and how it came down and hit a bank over a 200-meter distance," he added.

"Sylwester was based at RAF Hendon. He was 24,000 feet up when he left formation and went into a spin.

"They seem to think he didn't have his oxygen on and, by the time he did, it was too late."

After making his discovery, Jones began searching for Sylwester's family with the assistance of the local Polish community.

But not being able to speak or read Polish has made his search 'almost impossible'.

Having given up, the 90th anniversary of the first flight of a prototype Spitfire this month has inspired Jones to take up the search once again.

"I thought of his age, how far away he was from his nation, what he did for the world...

"When Germany invaded Poland from one side and Russia from the other, these brave men and women left their country and came to Britain to fight against the Nazis for the good of the world.

"At the age of 27, having only come at 25, I just feel it's important to remember Sylwester.

"It's a mark of respect. He had such a short life but what he did was so important.

"I hope his family know his story. I want to know that his family remember him and are proud of him.

"I want to explain his story to them, how brave he was.

"I class Sylwester as family. Maybe there could be a connection between our families; that would be amazing.

"It has been a long journey. I get emotional talking about it.

"My son Oliver is 27 as well. If he died, I would want people to remember him.

"I need help to find Sylwester's family. The stumbling block is the Polish."

In another fresh twist, Jones recently discovered Sylwester's private possessions were sold by an auction house in Kent for $3,000, including his dog tags and badges.

His details have been passed on to both the seller and the buyer by the auction house, in the hopes they might finally find the pilot's family.