Village pays tribute to French bomber squadrons

Thousands of service personnel were stationed at RAF Elvington during World War Two

A village has honoured thousands of service personnel who were stationed there during World War Two.

Two French bomber squadrons were based at RAF Elvington, near York, for almost two years from 1944.

A service was held on Remembrance Sunday in the village to honour the 2,500 air crew from squadrons No 346 (Guyenne) and No 347 (Tunisie), with another held at the Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial in the afternoon.

Museum spokesman Jerry Ibbotson told the BBC the airmen were "ordinary guys who did an extraordinary thing".

'Very special'

Representatives from the French and Canadian defence attachés and the Australian and New Zealand defence forces attended Sunday's ceremonies along with members of the RAF.

Mr Ibbotson said it was "very special" to see people from different countries coming together to pay their respects.

The museum site was an RAF base staffed entirely by foreign personnel during World War Two.

The French crews arrived at Elvington in May 1944.

Weeks later, on the eve of the D-Day landings, they were in action - flying Halifax bombers for a strike on a German gun battery at Grandcamp Maisy in Normandy.

The landings, on 6 June, marked the start of the campaign to free north-west Europe from the Nazis.

During the 18-month period when the French aircrews were stationed at Elvington almost half the crew members were killed in action.

Mr Ibbotson said the crews had to complete "at least 30 operations", but on average they would complete "eight or nine operations before going down".

"It's a grim figure," he added.

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