Freckleton Air Disaster marked 80 years on

Ruby Currell survived by hiding under a desk

Memorial services are being held to mark the 80th anniversary of an aeroplane crash on a Lancashire village that killed 61 people.

Thirty-eight children were among those killed when the US Liberator heavy bomber crashed into Freckleton village in 1944 during World War Two.

Part of the plane crashed on the infants' wing of Holy Trinity School and the wreckage partly demolished three houses and a snack bar, as it crashed in flames along Lytham Road.

Ruby Currell - who is now 85 - was one of three children who survived by hiding under her desk.

Remembering the Freckleton air disaster of 1944

"I remember it went very, very dark and there was a big bang. I turned round, saw a drawer fall out of a desk and I went underneath my desk and I stayed there," she said. " And I wasn't going to move for anybody."

"And then an American airman came in over all the rubble and picked me out.

"You can't fault what the Americans did because they were literally picking up burning rubble. They must have got terribly burned hands."

She added: "They took us to hospital and the staff were wonderful. If it wasn't for their care I don't think I would be here now."

A report into the crash found the cause was unknown, and the bomber was destroyed to such an extent that it was impossible to find out how the tragedy happened.

A report into the crash found the cause was unknown