Spitfire Excavated

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Spitfire shot down over Salisbury Plain by the Luftwaffe 70 years ago is dug up by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans

Rosemary Baillon, 72, watched her father Paul Baillon's Spitfire Mark 1 (file picture bottom right) being excavated on the Salisbury Plain (left) yesterday, nearly 73 years after it crashed. Incredibly, Pilot Officer Baillon (top right) survived the incident but was shot down and killed a month later during a dogfight with the Luftwaffe over the Channel. The remains of the plane (top left) were dug up by soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a Ministry of Defence project.