Eight children, aged 8 to 13, from St. Augustine’s Junior School in Peterborough, UK, have come together to honour the story of Wellington bomber HE346. The aircraft came down in the Netherlands during the Second World War and was recovered in 2024.

I feel privileged to have been part of this project. Through their digital magazine, these young students have ensured that the memory of its crew will live on and be passed to future generations.

During the war, more than 5,500 aircraft crashed in the Netherlands. Over 1,000 airmen are still missing, hidden in roughly 400 wrecks spread across land, lakes and the sea. After the war the country was rebuilt and life moved on. But for the families of those airmen, the loss remained unresolved. That is why, in 2019, the Dutch government started the National Programme for Aircraft Recovery — to help families who want to bury their loved ones and to learn what happened. Research shows that it is still possible to recover about 30–50 of these aircraft, with a good chance of finding missing airmen. The programme aims to recover many of them over the next decade.