Pre-print - For the Journal of Conflict Archaeology (2018) To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2017.1414423 The Excavation of WWII RAF Bomber, Halifax LV881-ZA-V PHIL MARTERa, RONALD VISSERb, PIM ALDERSc, CHRISTOPH RÖDERd, MICHAEL GOTTWALDe, MIRKO MANKf, STEVEN HUBBARDg, UDO RECKERh aDepartment of Archaeology, University of Winchester, UK; bDepartment of Archaeology, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Deventer, The Netherlands; chessenARCHÄOLOGIE , Wiesbaden, Germany; dIndependent Aviation Archaeologist, Flugzeugwrackmuseum, Ebsdorfergrund, Germany; eDirector of Archaeology of the Federal State of Hesse, Wiesbaden, Germany. ABSTRACT. This article outlines the preliminary results of archaeological fieldwork at the crash site of RAF Halifax bomber LV881-ZA-V and explores some of the challenges presented by the excavation of this military wartime crash site. The aircraft and her crew were shot down by a German night fighter in the early hours of March 31 st 1944 during the infamous Nuremberg Raid. Four of her crew were killed and the remaining three were taken prisoner and later took part in the ‘Long March’. All three survived the war. An international team comprised of staff and students from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the UK explored what remained of the crash site, located on a hill outside the village of Steinheim, north east of Frankfurt in the German Federal State of Hesse. KEY WORDS: World War II, RAF, Bomber Command, Crash site, Aviation Archaeology, Halifax bomber. Introduction The village of Steinheim lies among the gently rolling hills of the Wetterau region, some 50 km north east of Frankfurt in the district of Gießen (see Figure 1a and 1b). The rural district of Gießen forms part of the German Federal State of Hesse, and was an area frequently over-flown by Allied bombers during World War II. Bomber streams would pass through what was known as the ‘Cologne Gap’ (a 20 mile wide area between southern Ruhr Flak battery and a defended zone around Coblenz) and fly on over the Westerwald towards Fulda and targets deeper with Germany. The area is littered with This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in JOURNAL OF CONFLICT ARCHAEOLOGY on 19 January 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15740773.2017.1414423.