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© BarcroftDiver Sabrina Monella explores the wreck of the B24 Tulsamerican bomber in the Adriatic Sea off Vis Island, Croatia.
An American man has found after a 27-year-search the wreckage of a Second World War bomber in which his air force pilot cousin was killed.

Gerald Landry, 73, spent the best part of three decades looking for the bomber pilot shot down by the Luftwaffe in December 1944.

Now, in a remarkable discovery, artefacts recovered from the bottom of the Adriatic Sea near Croatia could confirm the death of First Lt Russell Landry.

Lt Landry was part of an 800-strong force of Allied fighter pilots sent to bomb oil refineries in Blechhammer and Odertal, Germany.

However, Luftwaffe fighters supporting the German army at the Battle of the Bulge fended off the attack, shooting down 22 planes in just ten minutes.

One of the lead bombers, the Tulsamerican, was seriously damaged and crashed into the Adriatic while attempting to return to its Italian base.

Seven of the ten men on board were rescued by local fisherman and picked up by a British rescue ship. The three others were never seen again and the aircraft was lost.

That was until now. Dramatic pictures taken last month reveal the plane, covered in plant life, resting on the seabed where it has been for 66 years.

Darko Bojanic, a keen wreck diver, came across the remains of the unidentified plane in December.

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© BarcroftA B24 Tulsamerican bomber flying in 1944
Croatian conservationists were able to match the serial number from a plate recovered from the plane's control panel to that of the Tulsamerican.

Meanwhile, Mr Landry's investigations which started in 1983, had put him in touch with others interested in the fate of the American bomber.

His search led to Croatia and when news of the discovery of the Tulsamerican became known a local historian contacted Mr Landry.

He and his wife, Carol, will travel to the Isle of Vis, near Croatia in September to hold a ceremony 230ft above the wreckage.

Mr Landry said: "I feel I must be one of the most fortunate people on earth to actually have the opportunity to pay my respects to my cousin who has been hidden from us for so long.

"He held me as a small child, and now I have the chance to do something for him."

Mr Landry, from Azusa, California, hopes that DNA on the plane will match that of his cousin's and that one day the Tulsamerican can be recovered and displayed in a museum.