Remains found in search for crew of British bomber shot down by Nazis

A five-week salvage operation is underway on the wreckage of British Lancaster ED603, which never returned from a mass bombing mission targeting Bochum, Germany, in 1943. Photograph: Granger/REX/Shutterstock

The remains of British airmen shot down by the Nazis over Dutch waters may have been discovered in a massive rescue operation.

With the help of a €15m national plane-wreck rescue fund, the Dutch have started to sift the wreckage of the British Lancaster ED603, which never returned from a mass bombing mission targeting Bochum in Germany on 13 June 1943. Instead this “Pathfinder”, that gave the lead to 503 bombers, was tracked as it headed home. It was shot down and crashed in the blue Dutch waters of the IJsselmeer with seven men aboard.