A 71-year-old wartime mystery looks like it has been solved by a group of local history enthusiasts.

The wreckage of a German fighter plane has been discovered more than seven decades after it plunged to earth.

The Messerschmitt 109 was widely reported to have crashed in land which is now the disused Wood Service Station site off London Road, Leybourne.

But, despite several eye-witnesses reports the exact location of the plane has been a source of confusion.

Now experts using top tracking equipment have located the Second World War crash site and the group is waiting for the backing of the MOD to recover the wreck.

A Messerschmitt Bf109E, flown by Unteroffizier Artur Gonschorrek, was shot down at 2.30pm on October 28, 1940, by Pilot Officer George Kemp Gilroy of 603 Squadron. The pilot bailed out, was captured, and became a prisoner of war.

Full story in the Kent Messenger out today.