14-year-old armed with metal detector discovers WWII plane buried in field

A Danish father and son found remains of a WWII ME 109 Messerschmitt plane, some munitions and the remains of a pilot while doing a homework project.

Daniel Kristiansen was given an assignment to research World War II and his father suggested he go out to a field nearby because his grandfather had told him a plane had crashed there in 1944, according to the CNN.

Using a metal detector, Kristiansen found debris from a plane. The pair used an excavator to dig into the field several feet below the surface and unearthed more metal fragments as well as what appeared to be the remains of the pilot.

"At first, we were digging up a lot of dirt with metal fragments in it. Then, we suddenly came across bones and pieces of clothes. It was like opening a book from yesterday," Kristiansen told CNN.

Daniel's father Klaus had never believed that a plane wreckage was still in the field. His grandfather had said that the Germans had removed it.

The wreckage is now being examined by the Historical Museum of Northern Jutland. The pilot's possessions and the plane's remnants are being used to help identify the pilot and to notify relatives.

Resterne af et tysk Messerschmitt-fly fra Anden Verdenskrig er fundet ved Birkelse i Nordjylland. Fundet blev gjort...

Posted by Nordjyllands Historiske Museum on Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Torben Sarauw, curator at the museum, thinks the plane came from a nearby training base in Aalborg, Denmark.

Read more about what was found on the pilot and in the plane here.

A 14-year-old Danish boy doing research for a history class made an amazing discovery

Posted by CNN on Wednesday, March 8, 2017

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