On returning from an escort mission, the pilot had to attempt to land at the Nivelles airfield because his aircraft was out of fuel. Witnesses at the time saw him poke his nose and crash into a field outside the city. The pilot was killed in the accident and his body was taken to the cemetery in Brussels, Evere where he was buried.
A Belgian specialist in the search for WW II aircraft wrecks discovered the remains of the Spitfire MK232 on the weekend of August 20, 2020. The parts will be exhibited in the Baisy-Thy Museum in Walloon Brabant
Few aircraft wrecks remained during the war. During the occupation, the Germans directly collected the remains in order to melting them in Germany. Fl/O Warfield fell on December 3, 1944, when the country was liberated. If we could still find the remains of the plane, we must remember that winter was raging and that the events in Ardennes (offensive von Rundstedt) had just begun. The farmer who owned the field where the plane crashed will most likely have quickly filled the crater left by the plane when it crashed to make its field cultivable the following year.
Nicolas Clinaz, who found the remains of the Spitfire MK232, flown br William Warfield, 76 years after the crash. (Picture: Vers l'Avenir")
