In response to Mike Usherwood's letter (Exploding myth, January 8), I would like to point out the following facts which support the theory that the bomb, which I discovered at Balkholme, did in fact come from aircraft LK-K MZ 696 which collided with aircraft LK-E 834 over Bransholme, Hull on the night of 20/21 July 1944.

  • The Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington kindly provided me with Ordnance Survey Map references for both the crash sites at Balkholme, enabling me to pinpoint their exact location. The bomb was discovered buried directly in the centre of the fuselage impact crater, between the location of the starboard and port inner engines and was surrounded by crash debris from the aircraft
  • Having spoken to Jim Inward DFC, who was a flight engineer on the very same mission, he thought it was very probable that the bomb had got "hung up" by the release mechanism in either the fuselage bomb bay or the wing bomb bays and therefore not released over target or jettisoned on the return flight over the North Sea
  • The crash site at Balkholme is within 20 metres of a residential property and more than two miles south-east of the area of Howden Range, and it is also within 500 metres of the hamlet of Balkholme itself and is therefore not a safe jettison area
  • If the bomb had been jettisoned at low altitude as Mr Usherwood discussed, due to the structure of soil in this area and the shifting sand, even at an altitude of 100ft the bomb would have been buried much deeper than it was found.

I am convinced beyond doubt that this bomb was within the body of plane when it very sadly fell to earth almost 64 years ago and for some reason was not recovered by the wrecking crews.

Phil Stead, Kilpin, Howden, East Yorkshire.