World War II plane, Nazi pilot remains found by Danish schoolboy on class project

A Danish schoolboy from Birkelse recently set off into his family’s field for a school project and ended up with a major historical find.

The Kristiansen family history included a story of German plane crashing into their field during World War II, but it was a homework assignment that literally unearthed the evidence.

“When my son Daniel was recently given homework about World War II, I jokingly told him to go out and find the plane that is supposed to have crashed out in the field,” Klaus Kristiansen told a local television station, The Local DK reported Wednesday.

The father and son wandered off into the field with a metal detector, which soon turned up pieces of a Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109. They dug up bits of metal and then called authorities once the pilot’s clothes and remains turned up.

“We also found documents and papers in the pockets of some clothes,” Mr. Kristiansen told the station. “Luckily, my son has something to write about in his assignment now. He’s actually been given the day off school today so that he can watch the police and bomb disposal people working. It’s quite exciting for all of us.”

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force calls the Bf 109 “the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter force” since it served in all fronts of the war. More than 30,000 were made before the Allied powers’ victory.