A Day Out With the Metal Detectors

A Red Arrows Hawk T1 crashed shortly after a display in Bournemouth on August 20. Now the newspapers are reporting the area's artefact hunters are swarming over the fatal crash site in a search for ­“souvenirs”.

Villagers say people have turned up armed with metal detectors and shovels and even asked residents to point out the exact spot Flt Lt Jon Egging’s body was found. One resident, Stephen Young, said: “It is sickening. They were just like ants crawling all over. At one point I counted 35 people all bent down in the field. It is very ghoulish.”[...] Locals say people have flocked to the site to collect pieces that scattered over a 500 yard area. Dorset Police warned: “It is RAF property and they are committing theft”.

We recall the story a while ago about the tree surgeon who was reportedly looking for WW2 aircraft bits and found a torc instead and was highly praised by the PAS for his activities.