The Orwell Dornier
During the Second World War, the skies above Cambridgeshire and much of the east of England were filled with the sounds of aircraft, both Allied and Axis. A find from a recent Cambridge Archaeology Field Group fieldwalking exercise at Orwell, brought back to light one local incident from those dark times. The group had been walking fields at Rectory Farm Orwell with the permission of the National Trust. There were generally few finds from these fields, however, we did find the remains of a 20mm cannon shell casing. Stamped on the end cap was 1942, the year of manufacture and K2, which indicates that it was a type produced by Kynoch at Standish, Greater Manchester, part of ICI. [1] 20mm cannons formed part of the armaments of several WWII aircraft, including versions of the Spitfire, Hurricane and pertinent to this article, the De Havilland Mosquito. The 20mm cannon shell casing from Orwell. (Photos: T Dymott) Mosquitos were wooden-framed, multi-role twin-engine aircraft, used as li