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Bomber Crash site researcher?


36thIDAlex
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Hey all, I really was not sure where to put this but I figured this would be the best place. So I have a friend whose grandfather was a gunner and radioman aboard B17 42-97562 as a replacement when it was shot down and crashed on December 7th, 1944. He managed to bail out and survived the war after being rescued by Yugoslavian partisans. There’s a lot more to his story and my friend has a TON of items left from his service.

 

The other day a man from Croatia by the name of Radovan Zivanovic - Raus messaged my friend and some of his family members introducing himself as a historian of crashed WWII planes in his country. I was a little fishy at first, but the amount of detail he goes into makes me lean towards maybe he is legit?

 

He offered to send pieces of the plane back to the family whenever he goes back to site and my question was if any of you all had heard of this man and whether or not you think he’s legit?

 

If so this would be an amazing thing for my friend and a wonderful family return.

 

I’ve included photos of the messages he received yesterday. The details he talks about all line up with the MACR report for his grandfathers plane.

 

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Seems like an honest enough fellow. I would be ecstatic if I had a local contact me about a relatives crash site.

 

https://flyingforyourlife.com/misc/rad/

https://www.pixsell.hr/agencija/pxl-standard-news/mihotici-radovan-zivanovic-skuplja-stare-dijelove-aviona-galerija-198314/

 

I have had interactions with a couple similar metal detector guys in France & Germany who have found sites related to items in my AAF collection...There is a shared passion there to research out the crews and honor the memory of those lost.

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familytreevets

He's legit. He has some postings on a 450th BG Association site. Clear trail on the internet that he is a researcher/historian of WWII.

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  • 4 months later...

I have been involved with a few research projects with "strangers" across the pond. They have all turned out to be a pleasant experience. I've even had guys here fill in some missing details of the lost Veteran. He isn't asking for money. The worst thing that can come out of this is that this research comes to a dead end.

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