250923-F-EJ686-1006
Volunteers work to sieve earth at the crash site of a P-47 Thunderbolt, which went down during a training flight in January 1944, from a specific, forensically surveyed area on private farmland in Essex, England, Sept. 23, 2025. Almost 5,000 artefacts and small aircraft parts relating to the crash have been discovered by archaeologists, in partnership with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Active-duty and retired U.S., Canadian and U.K. military volunteers, along with local community volunteers, helped locate evidence of the aircraft over a six-week period, as part of an investigation of the crash site of World War II U.S. Army Air Forces pilot, 2nd Lt. Lester Lowry, and his aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo by Karen Abeyasekere)