The remains of one of Hitler’s deadliest weapons from the Second World War are being uncovered in a field in Kent.

Research Resource Archaeology is working all week in Westerham near Sevenoaks to see what’s left of a V2 rocket that exploded there on March 11, 1945.

The research team, led by brothers Colin and Sean Welch, knew exactly where to look for the rocket, having discovered both German wartime records about its launch and British records of the damage it caused.

They even had a postwar aerial photograph taken by the RAF in 1946, which clearly showed where the crater caused by the rocket could be found - although it has long since been filled in.

The rocket landed just short of a railway line and only a few hundred yards from a row of houses in Madan Road.

Sadly the blast from the rocket destroyed the back of three of those houses and damaged 150 others to a greater or lesser extent.

George Blake, who had been feeding his ducks in his garden at number 80 Madan Road was fatally injured, dying in Sevenoaks Hospital later that same day. Fifty-six others were wounded.

Curiously, the Westerham branch railway track escaped unscathed, and after fallen debris was cleared, trains were running again only an hour after the blast.

The rocket was launched from a site at The Hague in Holland at 10am that day and landed in Westerham six minutes later.

Sean described the rocket as the cutting-edge technology of its day. It weighed 14 tons, but 10 tons of that was alcohol and liquid oxygen - the fuel that it burnt through in the first minute after launch.

It carried a one-ton explosive warhead and travelled at three times the speed of sound - far too fast for the RAF’s Spitfires to catch. Unlike their predecessor - the V1 Doodlebugs - the V2s gave no warning, with their arrival only announced by the explosion.

This is about the 20th similar wartime excavation undertaken by Research Resource Archaeology - two years ago they uncovered at V2 rocket at St Mary’s Platt - but Colin explained that this dig was unusual.

He said: “For one thing, it’s actually the first rocket we have investigated that caused a fatality.

“Secondly, the soil here is sand, which has altered the fragmentation pattern.”

Sean added: “The rockets usually hit the ground at a 45-degree angle, penetrating several metres below the surface. If they landed in chalk or clay we find the most fragments on the far side of the impact crater.

“But here the sand stopped the rocket penetrating so deeply. It also had the effect of blowing back more fragments to the entry side of the crater.”

Sadly, whereas clay soil tends to help preserve any rocket fragments, sand allows water penetration, causing plenty of rusting over the intervening eight decades.

Nevertheless, the brothers were able to identify key elements from the rocket among the many pieces their small team of volunteers has been able to find.

Each will be taken off-site to be carefully cleaned and catalogued, with the ultimate aim of exhibiting them in a virtual museum.

Health and safety has been a key concern at the dig. Because the crater was so close to the houses, it was felt there was a good chance the hole was later filled in with rubbish.

Sean said: “You have to be careful, because there’s always the chance we might uncover asbestos.”

Fortunately, the only 1940s’ waste to be found so far comprised a bicycle, a bedstead, some Shipham’s paste jars and an ink bottle.

Also the nature of sand means the excavation trenches dug out each day by an excavator are unstable and cannot be left overnight.

So each day, the trenches are filled in again before the crew leaves the site.

Colin said: “This dig is of particular resonance since it is happening in the 80th year since the start of V-weapon offensive in 1944.

“We have carried out many excavations of V1 Flying-Bombs and V2 rockets, discovering some incredible physics (particularly in the case of the supersonic V2) and gaining a unique understanding of the technology which was to become the keystone of modern warfare.”

A class from Churchill Primary School has visited the site, which has also seen a constant stream of visitors from the area, keen to find out what’s going on, including the modern-day resident of the house where Mr Blake lived.

Colin said: “It’s been helpful talking to people with their local knowledge. For example, the hospital records of the day showed Mr Blake as living at number 89, which always sounded a bit wrong as that is some distance from the blast.

“But it seems he was at number 80, and 89 was a 1940s’ typo.”

The brothers have promised to return to Westerham after everything has been carefully restored to give an exhibition of their finds.

Colin said: “Sometimes people question whether our form of ‘modern archaeology’ is proper archaeology.

“It certainly is. We are meticulous in preparing a thorough project design for the dig, an interim post-excavation report and a final report which is issued to Kent County Council’s Historic Environment Record Manager for inclusion on the Historic Environment Record database.

“The finds from our study will be conserved, formally recorded, catalogued and cross-referenced with our database of finds with a view to understanding the differences and similarities across the many sites we have excavated.

“Eventually, the finds themselves will be submitted to a museum when we are no longer able to curate the collection ourselves.”

The field is owned by Squerryes Winery.

Research Resource Archaeology is self-funded by the brothers and the dig has only been able to take place because of generous support from plant-hire company HE Services which provided the digger, and Swanley-based Pearson TQ Construction Academy which supplied a skilled driver.

For a history of the Doodlebugs in Kent, click here.

The dig will conclude today (Friday).