Solved! The mystery of the World War Two プロペラ 設立する in a potato 解雇（する）

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It was a chance 発見 that 誘発するd 憶測 around the world.?

While working on a remote Scottish 山腹 last year, a digger driver 明らかにするd an 極端に 無作為の and perplexing 反対する ? the プロペラ of a Second World War 航空機, buried in a peat bog and, inexplicably, wrapped in potato 解雇（する）s.

The curious item drew the attention of 全世界の newspapers, websites and even the 定期刊行物 of the prestigious Smithsonian 会・原則 in Washington DC, 誘発するing historians and 軍の buffs to ponder which 計画（する） the プロペラ blade had come from, why it was in such an out-of-the-way 位置／汚点／見つけ出す and how long had it been buried.

Also, why on earth was it bundled in tattie 捕らえる、獲得するs?

More than a year later, the answers can now be 明らかにする／漏らすd after 集中的な 探偵，刑事 work by the archaeology team at the 国家の 信用 for Scotland (NTS), the charity which manages the land on Arran where it was 設立する.

請負業者 Stewart Lambie, with NTS 特別奇襲隊員 Kate Sampson, 設立する the 支え（る） blade wrapped in potato 解雇（する）s

A B-17 飛行機で行くing 要塞 of the type that 衝突，墜落d on Arran in December 1944

The プロペラ blade was 設立する wrapped in potato 解雇（する）s

Behind the mystery is a saga spanning eight １０年間s, 連合させるing 戦時 悲劇, honest 試みる／企てるs to honour the fallen, modern-day 自然保護 and a ghoulish 新たな展開 伴う／関わるing an unscrupulous 略奪者.

The tale is unravelled in a new podcast by 新聞記者／雑誌記者 and 放送者 Jackie Bird, who is also 大統領，／社長 of the NTS.

She said: ‘The skies above us were once theatres of 戦闘. There’s physical 証拠 that can retell those terrible years.?

Recently, a 発見 on 国家の 信用 for Scotland land on the island of Arran made news around the world.?

The find was the プロペラ from a Second World War 航空機.?

What made it 特に mysterious was that it was 設立する wrapped in a potato 解雇（する） 深い in a peat bog.’

The more Ms Bird learned about the provenance of the プロペラ blade, the more intrigued she became.

She said: ‘The story of the Arran プロペラ isn’t just the stuff of a war movie but of a 罪，犯罪 novel.’

The riddle began in February last year during work to 回復する peatland around the mountains in the north of Arran.?

While using a digger in a corrie below the 2,600ft 頂点（に達する） of Beinn Nuis, the driver heard his excavator bucket 衝突，墜落 against something metallic.

In the podcast, Derek Alexander, 長，率いる of archaeology at the NTS, said: ‘Suddenly this thing went “clunk” on his bucket.?

He stopped すぐに and had a look to see what it was. It was やめる unusual in a peat bog to come across a large metal 反対する.?

So when he got out, he 設立する it was something wrapped in potato 解雇（する）s and tied up with rope.

‘It became quickly 明らかな that it was a Second World War プロペラ. But why was it in a peat bog in the middle of nowhere??

We knew there had been 衝突，墜落s の近くに by but we didn’t know which one this belonged to.?And the fact that it was wrapped in potato 解雇（する）s 示唆するd it had been moved. It was an 未解決の riddle.’

During the dark days of the Second World War, 航空機 衝突，墜落s were an all-too-ありふれた occurrence in Scotland, with 記録，記録的な／記録するs showing there were around 4,500 between September 1939 and September 1945. 全体にわたる, nearly 6,700 乗組員 and 乗客s died.

Mr Alexander said: ‘It was 戦時, so some 計画（する）s were 死傷者s of 戦闘 ? they were 発射 負かす／撃墜する. But the sheer number of 計画（する）s during the war had also 増加するd 劇的な, so the chances of something going wrong had 増加するd.

‘New 乗組員s were brought in at short notice so there was the 可能性のある for 事故s, mistakes and 事故s. 航海 might go wrong too ? in Scotland there is the 天候 and the 予測できない 地形 and it’s really difficult to 飛行機で行く in.’

The fearsome 頂点（に達する）s of Arran, rising はっきりと from the sea to the 2,867ft 首脳会議 of Goat Fell, 現在のd a special hazard to 操縦するs and 航海士s.

After the 発見 of the プロペラ, two 難破させるs in particular seemed most likely to be the source.?

The closest 衝突，墜落 場所／位置 to where the blade was 設立する was that of a B-24 Liberator, an American 爆撃機 which （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する in August 1943 with the loss of 11 lives.

The other 計画（する） which 衝突，墜落d nearby was a B-17 飛行機で行くing 要塞 ? another US 爆撃機 ? which disappeared from the skies in the winter of 1944.

Puzzlingly, the プロペラ was 設立する at least half a mile from any known 破片 from either 衝突，墜落.

Mr Alexander said: ‘The closest was the Liberator 場所／位置, so 最初 we thought it was from that. But was it part of the （疑いを）晴らす-up that happened straight after the 衝突，墜落??

Or was this part of a later 航空機 衝突，墜落 回復? It was a mystery to us.’

All 衝突，墜落 場所／位置s are 保護するd by 法律 under the 軍の Remains 行為／法令／行動する, meaning anyone who wants to 除去する any part must 適用する for 許可.?

Mr Alexander said: ‘We knew that the 飛行機で行くing 要塞 had been 調査／捜査するd a couple of times in the 1980s and so licenses had been 得るd from the 省 of Defence to go out and search these 場所／位置s and わずかに tidy up the remains.?

We knew people had been out on the 場所／位置s and we 手配中の，お尋ね者 to find out more about what had been 回復するd.’

On December 10, 1944, a Boeing 飛行機で行くing 要塞 from the US 388th 砲撃 Group 始める，決める off from Suffolk to Prestwick, Ayrshire, carrying nine 乗組員 and two 乗客s.

条件s were difficult, with low cloud, rain and snow. An hour and a half after the 航空機 had been 予定 to land, the alarm was raised.?

With 報告（する）／憶測s that an 航空機 had been plotted 飛行機で行くing west off Arran at the time, police were asked to search the island but couldn’t 位置を示す any 難破.

Mr Alexander said: ‘They didn’t know 正確に where it had disappeared ? it could have gone into the sea or it could have kept going. It was just 行方不明の.

‘The problem was, because it was snowing over December, the 衝突，墜落 場所／位置 wasn’t identified for three months until March 3, 1 945, when a 地元の man had been out walking in the hills and noticed the 衝突，墜落 場所／位置 and human remains.’

By checking on the 研究 from the 1980s, the NTS team ascertained that the mystery プロペラ had come from the 衝突，墜落d 飛行機で行くing 要塞.?

But they still couldn’t 人物／姿／数字 out why the fragment was so far from where the 計画（する） went 負かす／撃墜する.

The 打開 （機の）カム when the NTS was 接触するd by Peter Stanley, who had 以前 適用するd for 許可 to 除去する 難破 to be 陳列する，発揮するd in a museum in Suffolk honouring men and women from the British and American 軍隊s who had died in the war.

Working with the Coastguard ? who agreed to 供給する a Sea King ヘリコプター to 解除する the heaviest items ? he had 設立する large 部分s of the 航空機, 含むing fragments of one of the 味方する guns, the tail wheel and one of the stabiliser fins from the 後部 of the 計画（する）.?

Crucially, he had also 設立する a プロペラ boss ? the solid cylinder 位置を示すd at the centre ? with two blades 大（公）使館員d.

But when the ヘリコプター was called away on an 緊急の 救助（する）, Mr Stanley and his team were unable to take all the 反対するs off the hillside.

Mr Alexander said: ‘The Sea King wasn’t able to come 支援する, so they weren’t able to 解除する much 構成要素.?

Instead, they buried it with a 見解（をとる） to 回復するing it at a later date. Unfortunately ? and this where the story takes an unusual turn ? it seems that somebody had been watching where they buried these remains.’

In the podcast, the NTS archaeologist read out a letter from Mr Stanley, explaining in more 詳細（に述べる） the bizarre 見えなくなる of parts of the 難破.

The letter said: ‘It was during this time that some unpleasant occurrences happened. We’d spent many hours 回復するing two blades and a boss which had been 位置を示すd on a previous 探検隊／遠征隊.

‘As the ヘリコプター 解除する had been cancelled, we 始める，決める about reburying the blades to 妨げる them from 存在 除去するd or 損失d by souvenir hunters.?

During this time a 孤独な walker approached, which was unusual as the 大多数 of walkers tend to keep to the high 山の尾根s and その結果 never see the 難破.

‘This chap stopped and watched what was going on. 結局 once the 穴を開ける was filled in and the turf 取って代わるd he wandered off.?

Not thinking any more of it we 始める，決める off 負かす／撃墜する the hill, carrying what we could. Unfortunately, 予定 to the 差し迫った 不明瞭,?

I decided to hide many of the other artefacts we had 回復するd in the valley below the 衝突，墜落 場所／位置. It was at this time I noticed a 人物／姿／数字 sitting on the 山の尾根 watching.?

The に引き続いて day when we returned to the place where all the items were hidden, everything had been taken.’

To the 失望 of Mr Stanley and his team, all that remained of the プロペラ 中心 and blades was the central boss ? and a pile of hacksaw blades.

Mr Alexander said: ‘Somebody had taken the プロペラ 中心 and 削減（する） the blades off ーするために 除去する them from the 場所／位置 because it was too big to carry 負かす／撃墜する in a one-er, and they had taken the blades away.’

But although the 略奪者 had managed to make off with some items from the 難破, he had made an elementary mistake.

Mr Alexander said: ‘He had seemingly left his 指名する and 演説（する）／住所 in a 地元の 訪問者 調書をとる／予約する and was identified.

‘When it was 報告（する）／憶測d to the police, it was 示唆するd he may also have taken 軍需品s from the 場所／位置, so they 扱う／治療するd it 本気で.?

They went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to his house in Glasgow where they 設立する all the 行方不明の 構成要素. They 回復するd all the other items that had been dug up and taken, apart from two プロペラs and the tail fin.’

The （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） from Mr Stanley 許すd the NTS to deduce that the プロペラ 設立する by chance was part of the bungling どろぼう’s plunder, and that the potato 解雇（する）s had formed part of his 不正に 遂行する／発効させるd 計画（する）.

Mr Alexander said: ‘The プロペラ 設立する in the potato 解雇（する） was probably about a kilometre 負かす／撃墜する the hill from where the 衝突，墜落 場所／位置 was.?

It seems likely that the blade had been 削減（する） off the 中心 and put in a potato 解雇（する） which had been tied up ーするために be able to carry it.

新聞記者／雑誌記者 and 放送者 Jackie Bird unravelled the プロペラ mystery on the Love Scotland podcast series from the 国家の 信用 for Scotland?

‘It would have been taken part way 負かす／撃墜する the hill from the 衝突，墜落 場所／位置 and probably deposited in the bog with the 見解（をとる） that he would come 支援する for it at a later date.

‘But of course, having been caught, he never returned. It was only last year we discovered it with the machine.?

That must be one of the 行方不明の blades and there must be another one out there ? also in a potato 解雇（する） 推定では.’

Ms Bird said: ‘The mystery of the プロペラ is solved ? but there could be another one waiting in the hills.?

Even though they are 衝突，墜落 場所／位置s and there’s a 法廷の 推論する／理由 for 調査／捜査するing them, these are still 悲劇の human stories, often lost in the 霧 of war.

‘It’s surprising how some of the artefacts that are 回復するd even after 80 半端物 years can be so moving.’

● Solving The Mystery Of The Potato 解雇（する） プロペラ is part of the Love Scotland podcast series from the 国家の 信用 for Scotland, 利用できる now on Spotify and other streaming 壇・綱領・公約s.