We received an e-mail from the Niece of a USAF pilot lost off the Suffolk coast.
There are no charted aircraft wrecks in that vicinity, however somebody out there may have dived a snag or uncharted wreck that might possibly be this aircraft or parts of this aircraft.

If you are able to offer any information, please contact us using the links above so we can pass on the information.
Many thanks in advance.
Here are the details of the Pilot and the wreckage and parts of the e-mail:

   
PIERCE, Leonard R. - 1Lt., 334th FS, KIA - North Sea, 30 miles east of Southwold, UK, 5/13/44. He bailed out into the sea and was seen stuggling with his chute 150 yards from his dinghy. The chute drowned him before rescue. P-51B 42-106441 QP-G.

My mom was 7 and my aunt 14 at the time when my uncle was killed and apparently the family was never the same.  Leonard was from Cheshire, NY and there is a Memorial Park there named after him- you can check it out on the internet- Leonard R. Pierce Memorial Park, Canandaigua, NY.  My mother, who passed away a few years ago, spent years compiling information,letters and geneology information. 
She also spent the better part of her life trying to come to terms and say goodbye to her brother.  I think she always hoped that at some point we would find him or his plane and be able to bring a piece home to be with my grandparents.  It wasn't until the 1990s that she hooked up with the 4th fighter group and learned the information that I copied above.  They had always been told that he went down in the English Channel and that was pretty much it- was he captured- did he die- they never really knew.

I had recently read about a WWII soldier's remains brought home and it inspired me to go out and look on the internet again- and that's how I found you!  I will have to look thru Mom's things and see if I have a good picture to scan to you.  I believe there is one of Lenny next to his plane.  And I think it would be fine to post some information and see if anyone has seen/found it.  

My aunt, who ended up marrying a career USAF gentleman, is still alive and 81 years old.  She has no living children/ grandchildren and I am an only child- so I guess I carry the torch to see if we can find Lenny or his plane!

Thousands of shipwrecks have sunk around the UK over the last few hundred years caused by a variety of reasons:

Collision

Poor design

Running aground

Bad weather

Warfare

The greatest cause from the above list is Warfare, and unfortunately for those poor sailors in World War 2, the area around the North Sea coast had a disproportionate number of shipwrecks caused by mines, torpedoes, shelling and aircraft. The reasons for this:

·         The coast around Norfolk protrudes into the North Sea creating a funnel that convoys had to squeeze through.

·         Sandbanks focussed the convoys further creating a duck-shoot for submarines and e-boats.

·         London’s industry required massive amounts of coal that had to be shipped non-stop from Newcastle.      

There are places with more wrecks, but what makes the North Sea wrecks special is the depth of the water.

10,000 years ago, the area between the South of England and Holland was low lying grassland, and over time this flooded to depths that are easily reachable by recreational scuba divers, so this is by no means deep sea diving.
So with all the shallow shipwrecks on offer why isn’t the North Sea inundated with divers every weekend?
Well the bad news is that the visibility can be very unpredictable and can vary in the course of a week between 0.5 meters and 8 meters.
With the funnelling effect and the shallowing of the water tides can be extremely strong with tidal ranges greater then 7 meters and slack water of less than 5 minutes.
Launching boats from the beaches is tricky and the number of ports is limited.

What this amounts to is an area that is a unique time capsule for hardy divers who are prepared to take the risk and give it a go.
www.Northseadivers.co.uk is a site written the divers who explore this area, has tools to help dive planning, shares tales of the wrecks and gives a taste of the individuals involved.