Built from an
80-year search

An open-source geophysical survey platform — born from the search for a missing WWII aircrew, built to make multi-sensor subsurface imaging accessible to everyone.

Read the Story See the Platform
Aerial orthophoto of Bierawa crash site, Poland
TERRASCRY viewer showing 2D heatmap and 3D terrain of Bierawa dataset
Dec 26, 1944 80 years of searching 2024: remains recovered Open-source platform

The Search

Why this exists

1944

B-24 "Butch" lost over Blechhammer

On December 26, 1944, a B-24 Liberator from the 485th Bomb Group received a direct flak hit during a bombing raid on the Blechhammer South synthetic oil refinery. The aircraft broke in two over what is now Bierawa, Poland. Nine crew members were trapped onboard. All nine were listed as missing in action.

Lindell and Duke families
2008

A family begins to search

Chad Lindell, an Army veteran and software engineer, learned that his great-uncle Art's fiancée — Georgia Hendrickson — was living about a mile from his home in Virginia. She was 83 and wanted to share Art's story before it was lost. Chad wrote his first research email on October 20, 2008. An 18-year investigation began.

First visit to the Bierawa crash site, Poland — 2009
2009

First trip to the crash site

Chad traveled to Bierawa and connected with Polish researchers who had been investigating Blechhammer crash sites since the late 1990s. He recovered aluminum fragments from the wreckage field and met the "Blechhammer 44" association, which had built a museum around the missing crew.

2024

Remains recovered

The University of Silesia conducted GPR and ERT surveys at the crash site, identifying two bomb craters and significant subsurface anomalies. In summer 2024, a DPAA excavation team recovered skull and bone fragments — the first biological evidence in 80 years. The 80th anniversary was marked on December 26, 2024, with candles lit at the crash site.

Geophysical fieldwork at the Bierawa crash site

The Barrier

Why it took 80 years

The science to find buried remains and wreckage has existed for decades. Ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, electrical resistivity tomography, electromagnetic induction — these methods work. The University of Silesia proved it at Bierawa. But every instrument speaks a different language, runs different proprietary software, and costs $50,000 or more.

A typical recovery site requires multiple sensors to reduce ambiguity. Data from each must be manually exported, reformatted, and stitched together in GIS software. A university field school or a humanitarian recovery team can rarely afford the instruments, let alone the software licenses to interpret them. The teams who need subsurface imaging the most are priced out.

TERRASCRY was built to close that gap — open hardware anyone can build, open software anyone can extend, and a single platform that fuses multi-sensor data into one coherent picture of what lies beneath the surface.

Case Study

Bierawa through TERRASCRY

The same crash site from the story above — rendered in the platform. Real data, collected by the University of Silesia.

01

2D Survey Heatmap

Raw magnetic gradient data draped over terrain hillshade. The Bierawa dataset shows clear anomalies at the crash site — high-amplitude magnetic signatures consistent with buried ferrous material.

TERRASCRY 2D heatmap showing magnetic anomalies at Bierawa crash site
02

Working Area Selection

Draw a region of interest directly on the map. The viewer crops the dataset and requests high-resolution DEM data for the selected area, preparing it for 3D visualization.

Working area selection on the Bierawa dataset
03

3D Terrain + Volume

The selected area renders as a 3D terrain surface with survey data draped as a volumetric overlay. Navigate the scene to understand how magnetic anomalies relate to terrain features.

3D terrain rendering of Bierawa crash site with magnetic data overlay
04

Volume Clipping

Clip planes slice through the volumetric data to reveal subsurface structure at specific depths. Combined with the terrain surface, this provides an integrated view of surface-to-subsurface relationships.

Volume clipping view showing subsurface anomalies

The Instruments

Three instruments, one system

Each instrument is open-source hardware (CERN-OHL-S v2.0), designed to be built, modified, and improved by the community.

Pathfinder gradiometer deployment diagram

Pathfinder

Prototype

Surface Reconnaissance

Handheld multi-sensor fluxgate gradiometer for rapid magnetic survey at 10 Hz. ESP32-based, GPS-synchronized, with real-time anomaly detection.

Fluxgate Gradiometer EMI Conductivity RTK GPS IMU Tilt Correction

HIRT

Design Phase

Subsurface Tomography

Crosshole dual-channel system for 3D subsurface imaging. Combines magnetic induction tomography and electrical resistivity in a single deployment.

MIT-3D ERT-Lite Crosshole Arrays Joint Inversion

GeoSim

Active Development

Physics Simulation

Python physics engine for magnetic dipole forward modeling, gradiometer simulation, and multi-physics joint inversion via SimPEG.

Dipole Magnetics Gradiometer Sim Scenario Modeling SimPEG Integration

Open Ecosystem

Built to be shared

TERRASCRY is not a product to purchase. It's a platform to participate in.

Open Hardware

All hardware designs published under CERN-OHL-S v2.0. Build your own Pathfinder from off-the-shelf sensor modules. Modify the design for your specific survey requirements.

Open Software

Firmware, simulation engine, web platform, and viewer — all MIT licensed. Inspect the code, extend the physics, publish with confidence.

Embeddable Viewer

Share survey data through the public viewer — no authentication required. Embed in reports, publications, or grant proposals.

University Collaboration

Built alongside the University of Silesia's geophysics program. Designed for field schools, research groups, and interdisciplinary teams.

Join the search

If you work in geophysics, archaeology, forensic recovery, or field education — TERRASCRY was built for your mission. We're looking for collaborators, field testers, and university partners.

Get in Touch Try the Viewer