In 2008 I chanced upon two related memorials, discovered within a week of one another. The memorials were to bomber crews, lost in crashes in Yorkshire during the Second World War.
There's something particularly moving about finding a memorial, by chance, in a place you wouldn't expect. We were out in the car heading for a village off the A166. We missed the turning and had to turn round in a layby. At the edge of the layby, in front of a cornfield, was this memorial, erected by Alun Emlyn-Jones, remembering his comrades.
The inscription states that the memorial marks the location where, on 7 February 1944, at 10am, Halifax bomber DK192 from RAF Rufforth crashed in 10/10ths cloud during a training flight, killing all the crew. The driver of a milk lorry, Mr Arthur Wood Kirkby, who was passing on the road, was also killed.
I realised that there were many aspects of the Second World War that I had little awareness of, like the many airfields in Yorkshire, and the training flights that went from them.
This memorial was discovered just a week later, again unexpected, in the centre of Aldborough, where we'd taken a walk, starting at nearby Boroughbridge. The villagers of Aldborough erected this memorial in 1994, to mark the 50th anniversary of another Second World War crash, which occurred on 2 February 1944.
The Lancaster bomber, of 432 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, was another bomber on a training flight. The inscription records that the plane had caught fire, and was losing height, but the pilot 'with great skill, managed to avoid the village and instead came down on Studforth Hill, a short distance to the south.'
It is clear, as you read these details, why the memorial was erected not just 'in memory of', but 'in grateful memory of'.
It's rather odd, compiling this page, seeing connections. I don't recall, in many years of wandering around Yorkshire, previously noticing any memorials specifically devoted to the crews of Second World War bombers. Then I found two, not looked for, just chanced upon, within a week of one another, and with some obvious similarities. Both aircraft were on training flights, and both crashed within a week of one another. The Aldborough crash occurred on 2 February 1944, the Garrowby Hill crash on 7 February 1944.
I didn't realise, until I read about it, on these memorials, and in books later, that more than 18,000 airmen died flying from the Yorkshire airfields. Most served in Bomber Command. During the war, Yorkshire had around 40 airfields. I wondered why, until I realised it was one of those obvious things, obvious if you think about it, and to do with our geographical location - near to the east coast. Nearby Lincolnshire was home to an even greater number of squadrons. Most of the Yorkshire airfields were concentrated in the flat areas around the river Ouse.
I don't have a picture for this page, but I know there's another memorial at Little Ouseburn church. We visited the church on an open day a couple of years ago, and a gentleman there told us about the bomber that came down near the church, in 1945.
Just three incidents I know of. There were, of course, many many more.
I'm indebted to the book Yorkshire Airfields in the Second World War, by Patrick Otter (Countryside Books, 1998), for the background information above. Buy from Amazon: Yorkshire Airfields in the Second World War
www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk - containing information regarding the many aircraft accidents in Yorkshire.
The searchable online database www.lostbombers.co.uk includes details of many of the lost aircraft and crew.
There's a photo of the memorial at Little Ouseburn on the flickr.com site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/treadondreams/839315917/