Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Survey of WWII American Aircraft Impact Craters

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Beyond the Battlefield: The Search for World War II’s Missing in Action by DPAA and Its Partners", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Geophysical surveys are regularly used to examine archaeological landscapes and features. Metal detection is often used during historic aircraft crash site recovery missions to define the lateral extent of craters but do not typically penetrate beyond a meter below ground surface. Aircraft crash craters have unique characteristics based on landscape morphology, aircraft type, crash velocity and trajectory. During recovery missions of WWII American aircraft crash sites in Germany, IUP used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) on sites previously surveyed using metal detection. GPR systems collect electromagnetic (EM) data extending meters below the ground surface, and the data is combined to create 3D models of the subsurface. Each 3D model revealed landscape changes attributed to both cultural and non-cultural forces, revealing the dynamic impacts of aircraft crashes on the landscape allowing for strategic and informed archaeological recovery strategies. This presentation will present results from GPR surveys of two WWII aircraft crash sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Beyond the Battlefield: The Search for World War II’s Missing in Action by DPAA and Its Partners

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow