“Lost to History: The Unraveling Mystery Behind WWII Airman Robert T. McCollum’s Final Flight Revealed in Denmark”
Robert T. McCollum was declared non-recoverable on May 12, 1950. Then, more than half a century later, Danish divers came across a World War II-era aircraft wreck in the same area where McCollum’s plane went down.
Recovering The Lost B-24 And Identifying Robert T. McCollum’s Remains
Trident ArchäologieA piece of Robert McCollum’s plane recovered from the Baltic Sea.
In 2019, the Royal Danish Navy was alerted to the discovery of a World War II-era aircraft. Upon investigating the scene, divers were able to recover a .50 caliber machine gun with a damaged serial number, one that partially matched Robert T. McCollum’s missing plane. Two years later, the site was cleared of unexploded ordnance and quickly became an archaeological site due to the presence of human remains and other evidence.
On several occasions in 2022, 2023, and 2024, Trident Archäologie, Wessex Archaeology, volunteers from Project Recover, the Royal Danish Navy, and the Langelands Museum teamed up to conduct excavations and recovery operations. Their endeavor was a success and they recovered human remains as well as ID tags from two of the crew members.
Next, using dental records and DNA tests, scientists were able to identify one of the sets of remains as belonging to Robert T. McCollum.
Department of DefenseFor 80 years, the exact location of Robert T. McCollum’s remains had been a tragic mystery.
Eighty-one years after his plane went down off the coast of Denmark, McCollum has been located. His name, recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery in Cambridge, England, has now been adorned with a rosette to signify that his remains have been recovered. According to the Department Defense, his remains will also be flown back to the United States, where he’ll finally be laid to rest in San Jose, California.
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