In a search for lost heroes, a team of US military veterans and archaeologists have uncovered traces of a lost World War II US heavy bomber in Sicily that has been missing since 1943.

The North American B-25 Mitchell heavy bomber was manned by six airmen when it was shot down on July 10, 1943 as it targeted a camouflaged German airstrip amid olive groves and pastureland.

Possible human remains have also been found at the site that could lead to identification of airmen whose bodies were never recovered.

However, the Pentagon's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which was involved in the dig, told DailyMail.com 'Many said we found remains of 5 pilots, but that's not true.

'We did find possible human remains as well as other material evidence, but we won't know for sure until our forensic scientists have the chance to thoroughly examine what was found.

The dig is near Sciacca on the southwestern coast of Sicily and was first identified in 2017 as a potentially crash site of the bomber.

On the evening of July 9, 1943, the US and Great Britain, which were leading the Allied powers, launched the Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky.

Operation Husky, was a massive assault on the southern shores of Sicily that lasted for a total of 38 days until August 17, but July 10 was when the battle officially begun.

It was the second largest attack of Allied forces, the first being D-Day, against German and Italian troops.

The attacked involved more than 3,000 ships landing over 150,000 ground troops, covered by more than 4,000 aircraft.

They were opposed on the island by only two German divisions, as Nazi leadership continued to believe the main assault would come at Sardinia and Corsica.

On the night of August 11, the Germans began a well-executed withdrawal that saw 40,000 German and 60,000 Italian troops cross over to the mainland with minimal hindrance from the Allies.

However, the North American B-25 Mitchell heavy bomber was lost in the fight.

The dig was led by a team from the Pentagon's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which locates and identifies missing US military personnel around the world.

This group is also made up of veterans who volunteer their time to not only find lost vessels and remains of those who died in battle with the hopes of giving their family peace once and for all.

The team spent November and December at the site, clearing away clay and mud in near freezing temperatures with the hopes of finding the plane and its fallen airmen.

Archaeologist Clive Vella, the scientific director of the expedition, told AP: 'We owe (their) families accurate answers.'

The North American B-25 Mitchell heavy bomber with a crew of six was one of 52 air losses with missing personnel in the area during WWII, mostly during 1943 as the Allies pushed into southeastern Sicily.

One crew member was located immediately and buried in the town's cemetery.

The body was claimed in 1944 by US military officials, but the other five airmen remained missing.

In the intervening decades, the crash site 'like most others in the Mediterranean region, was scavenged for metal, the land restored to its original use,' Vella said. '

The scars of a crash were mostly gone.'

The evidence, which includes possible human bones as well as potential remnants of the aircraft, has been transported to a laboratory in the U.S. for examination.

Worldwide, there are more than 81,600 missing US military personnel, including 72,350 from World War II, 7,550 from the Korean War and 1,584 from the Vietnam War.

And over 41,000 of the total are presumed lost at sea.

The North American B-25 Mitchell is a twin-engine bomber that became standard equipment for the Allied air forces in World War II.

It became the most heavily armed airplane in the world, was used for high- and low-level bombing, strafing, photoreconnaissance, submarine patrol, and even as a fighter and was distinguished as the aircraft that completed the historic raid over Tokyo in 1942.

It required 8,500 original drawings and 195,000 engineering man-hours to produce the first one, but nearly 10,000 were produced from late 1939, when the contract was awarded to North American Aviation, through 1945.

Named for famed airpower pioneer Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, it was a twin-tail, mid-wing land monoplane powered by two 1,700-horsepower Wright Cyclone engines.