Oxford News
1,500 RAF Spitfire pieces found by Henley metal detectorist
Danny Jones stumbled across the 1942 crash site near Henley five years ago and has since discovered all about the life of the plane’s pilot.
The 57-year-old found crash reports revealing that the plane was piloted by Sylwester Jerzy Godlewski, a Polish airman who had fled to Britain after his home country was invaded by the Nazis.
The 27-year-old, from Warsaw, had perished during a training exercise in May 1942, having lost control of his plane.
Mr Jones stumbled upon the crash site whilst out detecting in woodland with his dogs nearly 80 years later.
The grandad-of-three has since been searching both at home and abroad for the young airman’s family, but has so far been unable to locate them.
Mr Jones, whose dad was in the Army and whose grandad was a warrant officer in the RAF, said he again took up his hobby of metal detecting after decades off.
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He said: “As a kid I had a metal detector. I always loved history, but I never found anything too interesting.
“About 12 to 14 years ago, I bought another metal detector for my birthday and got out with the dogs and got permission to detect in some woodlands in Henley.
“On that day, in early March 2021, I was out as normal but didn’t find a lot.
“Just before I went home, I had a good reading… It was a small bracket, really nicely manufactured.
“It had an inspector’s stamp on it. Being an engineer myself, I knew it was something special.
“I knew it had to be from an aircraft.”
Mr Jones didn’t find anything else that day and, after telling the owner of the land of his find, was told it was likely from a tractor.
But the following day he returned to widen his search.
“All of a sudden, I hit a prime spot,” Mr Jones said.
“It was read after read after read. I thought it had to be a crash site.
“I dug up as much as I could, took them home and cleaned them.
“They weren’t the iconic green of a Spitfire, though, so I thought it could be a German aircraft shot down during WWII.
“The third or fourth day, I dug up a plate which said: ‘Warning – do not re-cock guns during flight’.
“So I knew it was British and a military aircraft.”
The avid metal detectorist unearthed more than 1,500 fragments of the crash in just three months, ranging from tiny pieces to two-foot-long wing parts and a cockpit clock.
He also began to find bullets from the plane’s cannons and machine guns, and began digging into national archives.
Mr Jones discovered reports of a plane crash near Henley-on-Thames on May 29, 1942, and began to dive deeper into his research.
He said: “All of a sudden, I knew the plane and the pilot.
“It’s just amazing.”
Mr Jones found that the RAF Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIb was piloted by Sylwester Jerzy Godlewski, who was buried in Northwood Cemetery in Middlesex alongside 53 other Polish airmen from World War II.
However, having asked the MOD for permission to continue his search, his request was denied due to the human remains likely still at the site.
Despite this, Mr Jones and his dogs have still continued to find surface fragments at the site.
“From those fragments found in just three months, I can tell the direction of the plane and how it came down and hit a bank over a 200-metre distance,” he added.
“Sylwester was based at RAF Hendon. He was 24,000ft up when he left formation and went into a spin.
“They seem to think he didn’t have his oxygen on and, by the time he did, it was too late.”
After making his discovery, Mr Jones began searching for Sylwester’s family with the assistance of the local Polish community.
But not being able to speak or read Polish has made his search ‘almost impossible’.
Having given up, the 90th anniversary of the first flight of a prototype Spitfire this month has inspired Mr Jones to take up the search once again.
“I thought of his age, how far away he was from his nation, what he did for the world…
“When Germany invaded Poland from one side and Russia from the other, these brave men and women left their country and came to Britain to fight against the Nazis for the good of the world.
“At the age of 27, having only come at 25, I just feel it’s important to remember Sylwester.
“It’s a mark of respect. He had such a short life but what he did was so important.
“I hope his family know his story. I want to know that his family remember him and are proud of him.
“I want to explain his story to them, how brave he was.
“I class Sylwester as family. Maybe there could be a connection between our families; that would be amazing.
“It has been a long journey. I get emotional talking about it.
“My son Oliver is 27 as well. If he died, I would want people to remember him.
“I need help to find Sylwester’s family. The stumbling block is the Polish.”
In another fresh twist, Mr Jones recently discovered Sylwester’s private possessions were sold by an auction house in Kent for £3,000, including his dog tags and badges.
His details have been passed on to both the seller and the buyer by the auction house, in the hopes they might finally find the pilot’s family.
On Wednesday, September 2, it was the Concours judging and private viewings to dominate the agenda for the day.
Twelve Concours classes were held across almost a century of motoring, including The Golden Age of Motoring, 100 Years of Carrrozzeria Touring, La Dolce Vita, 60 Years of the Lamborghini Miura and Passione Ferrari.
Two new classes also made their debut for 2026, Rare Breeds of the Digital Age and Hypercar Heaven, which recognise the growing importance of contemporary performance cars within the international collector market.
Judging will take place across Wednesday and Thursday, with the show field bringing together a 70-strong collection of classics, supercars and hypercars from around the world.
Some of the cars include Aa Maserati 8C 3000, Alfa Romeo Sprint Berlinetta, a one-off Maserati 3500GT Spyder Prototipo by Vignale, a very early Porsche 356 Split Window Coupé, Aston Martin DB3S, Lamborghini Miura P400S, Bizzarrini 5300GT, Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 Cabriolet, Bugatti EB110 Prototype, Aston Martin Valiant Prototype and the extraordinary Bugatti Bolide, one of just 40 produced worldwide.
Helen Pike has decided to step down as Master of Magdalen College School at the end of the 2026/27 academic year, the school in east Oxford announced in March.
MCS is one of the top performing schools in the country, ranking in the top 20 independent secondary schools in The Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide 2026.
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The new academic year will start next week, with Ms Pike preparing for one more year in charge before she hands over to her successor, who will take over in September 2027.
The first female Master at MCS, Ms Pike guided the board of governors to one of the most significant decisions in the school’s history, to become fully co-educational from 2027.
While there has been a co-educational sixth form at the school for 15 years, the school last month announced it will become fully co-educational over the coming decade.
Ms Pike said earlier: “I love MCS, and it is a perennial privilege to lead this remarkable school.
“Being Master of MCS is a brilliant job, and I am declaring my intention early in order to give MCS the very best opportunity to find the right Master for September 2027. I shall continue to do all in my power to further the fortunes of this wonderful school until then.
“I look forward to a new phase in my own professional life, one that builds on all that I have enjoyed and achieved in my career during the past 30 years.
“Having encouraged many cohorts of pupils to take sensible risks and to do something creative and different when the time feels right, I am doing just that.”
During Ms Pike’s tenure, MCS has been recognised as a Top 20 Independent School and South East School of the Year by the Sunday Times and won Independent School of the Year for Social Mobility.
Thanking her in his letter to the school community, chair of governors, Bob Price, said earlier this year: “Helen is an outstanding leader and will go with our sincere gratitude and warm thanks for her exceptional headship.
“She will leave the school in excellent shape for her successor.”
Recruitment for a replacement for Ms Pike is now under way.
Last month, Ms Pike congratulated pupils on their “outstanding success” in this year’s A-Level exams, after more than a quarter of pupils (43) achieved three A*s or more and 25 secured all A*s.
In total, 39 pupils from the 2026 cohort are heading to Oxbridge, while 22 have secured places to study medicine.
As part of the school’s expansion plans, MCS is preparing to build a new Science, Library and Partnerships building.
A spokeswoman said the new building will offer an exciting opportunity to reimagine the senior school site as staff look ahead to full co-education.
She added earlier: “With a vision to create a sector-leading science building in the centre of Oxford, the development will enable us to support an ambitious and forward-looking science curriculum, expanding to the emerging and rapidly advancing areas of robotics, AI and Big Data.”
Holding banners which read ‘For f**k’s sake, just stop oil’, the demonstrators took to the road in Parliament Square at noon today (Wednesday, September 2).
This was as Andy Burnham faced his first Prime Minister’s Questions, and many of the protestors glued themselves to the road.
The group demanded that the UK government stop approving all further oil and gas developments, and sign a Fossil Fuel Treaty to stop oil and gas extraction.
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Just Stop Oil say that the police are expected to arrest all those blocking the road, and that one lane has been left free of glued-on action takers to permit access for emergency vehicles.
Andy Burnham is due to make a decision on whether to allow more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Reverend James Crote, a Baptist Minister and grandfather from Chesterton near Bicester, said: “Today is my grandson’s first birthday. I have to take action for the sake of his future.
The 69-year-old added: “The government has been dilly-dallying about whether to say yes or no to the Rosebank oil field but, if we want a future for our children, there is no choice – it has to say ‘no’.
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“I am here as a Christian Minister because the Church has to speak out and demand that the government stops approving further oil and gas developments now. It’s time for us all to say ‘For God’s sake, Just Stop Oil’.”
Data from the Met Office indicates that 2026 was the hottest summer in UK recorded history, beating 2025, which was the previous hottest summer on record.
2026 was also one of the driest summers on record, delivering record-low food harvests.
Climbing temperatures have triggered wildfires across the country, and national fire chiefs said the wildfire risk facing the UK is “like nothing we have seen before”.
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Taking action, grandmother Victoria Ann Lynch-Staunton from Leamington Spa, said: “What is happening is beyond a tragedy.”
The 71-year-old added: “I beg everyone to join Just Stop Oil or governments will continue to prioritise endless growth and corporate profit over billions of lives – yours and your children.
“Wake up and smell the coffin. It is the responsibility of all of us to act now!”
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said today: “We are all Just Stop Oil.
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“Every single person who fears deadly wildfires, devastating droughts, and spiralling food shortages is Just Stop Oil.
“The first duty of government is to keep the public safe – but by greenlighting oil and gas drilling, they endanger our survival while corporates and billionaires laugh their way to the bank.
“Every one of us feels alone and powerless in the face of this insanity, but we know there is massive political and public support for our demand.
“So we’re inviting everyone to join us at an online call on 3rd October 2026 – because it’s when we work together that we are powerful and win.”
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