Memorial for WW2 crash airmen is unveiled

The memorial bears the RAF motto Per Ardua ad Astra - 'Through Adversity to the Stars'

A memorial honouring the crew of an RAF bomber which crashed in Derbyshire has been officially unveiled – 81 years to the day since the tragedy occurred.

The plane came down in a field near Stanton-by-Dale, near Ilkeston, on the night of 31 August 1944, killing all seven men on board during a training flight from Nottinghamshire in severe weather.

The 2.5m (8.2ft) memorial is the culmination of a near 10-year community campaign to create a lasting tribute near the site of the disaster.

Paul Harvey, one of the memorial's campaigners, said: "We are delighted to finally achieve what we set out to do and honour those brave young men who died in the service of their country."

The pilot and the trainee crew based at RAF Wigsley in Nottinghamshire, were on the last leg of a cross-country training flight when they encountered a severe thunderstorm which resulted in one of the plane's four engines catching fire.

Rapidly losing altitude, the plane managed to clear a ridge on one side of Dale Road but crashed at the bottom of a field next to Grove Farm.

Historians said it exploded with a huge flash, killing the crew, setting fire to nearby trees and scattering wreckage over a wide area.

People from the village and Stanton Ironworks rushed to the scene of the crash – believed to have been caused by lightning striking the aircraft – but there was nothing they could do for the young airmen.

The airmen were flying in an RAF Short Stirling heavy bomber like this one

The fallen crew

The crew of the Short Stirling heavy bomber were:

• Pilot Officer Bruce Gordon Wilkinson, Royal Australian Air Force, 28

• Flt Sgt Paul Druce Arthur, Royal Australian Air Force, 22

• Flt Sgt William Edwin John Cox, 21

• Sgt Aeron Hughes, 20

• Sgt James Lambell, 36

• Sgt Thomas Henry Westhead, 25

• Sgt Raymond George Alexander, 27

Mary Main's father died in the crash and she can remember her family crying at the news

Mary Main, 89, was eight years old when her father Sgt James Lambell died in the crash.

She travelled from the north-east of England to attend the ceremony on Sunday.

Recalling the news of her father's death, she told the BBC: "I remember my mam crying and going down to grandma's, we were all crying.

"I heard there had been an accident and the plane had been hit by lightning and had gone down."

She added the family only found out where the plane went down in 2018 and had no idea a service for the airmen was held in the village each year at St Michael & All Angels church.

"I just wanted to live until this memorial was unveiled and I've made it."

Paul Harvey said it was important to mark the event before it slipped from living memory

The idea for the memorial came when a former RAF officer approached Stanton-by-Dale Parish Council in 2015 and asked for help in securing an on-site memorial.

Two councillors, Paul Harvey and Chris Coates, were so moved that they decided to take on the task of raising money for a memorial because the parish council was not allowed under regulations to do so.

Following lengthy fundraising campaign, the finished memorial was officially unveiled on Sunday in the presence of relatives of the airmen.

Mr Harvey, who ended up as a leading campaigner for memorial, said: "This means so much to so many people and our first thoughts are with the family.

"It's taken us nearly 10 years to get this memorial out there... over the years we've become very familiar with these young chaps.

"We felt we needed something here before it passed into memory."