Missing pilot found

The remains of an American pilot, posted missing in action 72 years ago, have been found thanks to an aerial photograph from NCAP.

Lt Frank Fazekas was lost on 27 May 1944, when his P-47 Thunderbolt fighter was shot down in northern France. The crash site, in farmland near Buysscheure, Nord Pas de Calais, was later levelled and forgotten. Lt Fazekas' body was never recovered.

In May 2016, researchers at the US Department of Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) noticed an aerial photograph of the area on the NCAP website. Taken by the Royal Air Force two days after the crash, the photograph shows an impact crater and ground scarring near Buysscheure. Using this photograph, a search team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the DPAA travelled to the site. They successfully located the wreckage of the plane and finally recovered the possible human remains of the pilot.