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.
The controversial figure, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was due to speak at the Oxford Union on Thursday, May 28 before it was postponed over security concerns.
Yaxley-Lennon has been jailed multiple times for a variety of offences with his significant recent imprisonment in October 2024 for contempt of court.
And his planned visit had sparked furious backlash, with politicians in Oxfordshire saying he is “not welcome” to the city.
However, a source at the historic debating society told this newspaper that Yaxley-Lennon is now due to appear for his debate on Islam on Wednesday, June 17.
The source added that this was the day before the Union’s Palestine debate on June 18.
“The concern is that the Union intends to announce the debate only shortly before it happens, apparently to minimise public backlash and make it harder for students, local councillors, community groups, or the police to respond in time,” the source added.
“There is also concern that the timing is designed to avoid internal accountability: under Union rules, the final date to file a no-confidence motion against president Arwa Elrayyes is understood to be 5 June.
“Announcing the event after that date would effectively prevent members from using that route against her before the end of term.”
The Oxford Union has not responded to requests for comment around the new date.
It’s been reported that Thames Valley Police quoted the Oxford Union security and policing costs between £50,000 and £80,000 to safely host the debate.
It’s also been reported that the Oxford Union is facing a “financial crisis” with donations drying up after the Charlie Kirk scandal in which the former president-elect appeared to make light of the US commentator’s assassination.
Thames Valley Police was asked whether it would be attending the debate and expected protest outside.
A spokeswoman said: “We work closely with partners through established safety advisory structures to ensure local events run safely and smoothly, while minimising disruption to our communities.”
In a statement announcing the postponement, the Oxford Union said: “The Fifth Week debate has been postponed from 28 May to later this term to allow time for planning of the event.
“We are grateful to our local partners and stakeholders for their continued support and engagement.
“We expect to confirm the new date shortly, following discussions with our speakers.”
Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds also expressed concern at Yaxley-Lennon appearing in Oxford.
She said: “The hatred promoted by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, has no place in our great city.”
Zac Sanger-Reynolds, of North Hinksey Lane in Oxford, previously plead guilty to stalking at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on Friday, April 28.
He will appear at the Buckinghamshire court on Thursday, June 4 for an application to vary a restraining order.
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Sanger-Reynolds was handed the order in April after a mother-of-two spoke to the Oxford Mail about his ‘obsession’ after she became uninterested in him after two dates.
He was told to complete 100 hours of un-paid, supervised work within 12 months and undertake 26 days of rehabilitation.
He was also ordered to pay £199, including £114 for the victim surcharge and £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Construction company Taylor Wimpey was granted the development on appeal in 2017 for up to 95 homes at Thames Farm, off Reading Road in Lower Shiplake.
It has since reduced this to 84 to provide adequate drainage because “the land is unstable and vulnerable to sinkholes”.
Taylor Wimpey said the new drainage plans will ensure there are no off-site impacts relating to surface water and this will include a basin on the western part of the site.
Members of the Thames Farm Action Group, which represents Shiplake residents, have concerns about the environmental impact of the scheme, which they say has no precedent in the UK.
The ground would have to be injected with grout and concrete to keep stable despite it sitting on top of an aquifer that supplies water to nearby towns.
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In July 2025, the planning committee of South Oxfordshire District Council voted to refuse the ground-stabilisation application despite a recommendation for approval.
Councillors cited concerns about possible impacts on the aquifer and public water supply.
The formal refusal notice stated the application “failed to demonstrate that the proposed engineering operations would not pose an unacceptable risk to the aquifer and nearby public water abstraction points”.
But now the plans have been given the go ahead by a separate planning inspector.
Despite objections from the district council the project appears to have been given the go ahead.
Freddie Van Mierlo, MP for Henley and Thame, said: “I will be working with The Thames Farm Action Group, Henley Town Council, Shiplake Parish Council and Harpsden Councils to ensure their voices are heard.”
The new report states there is a risk, but it’s “an acceptable level of risk” for the area.
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