Memorial for pilot after WW2 Caerphilly mountain crash

Mr Ferris tracked down Sgt Pilot Trafford's family in Canada to tell them about the memorial

A memorial to mark the death of a Canadian pilot whose plane crashed on Caerphilly mountain during World War Two has been unveiled 74 years on.

Sgt Pilot Ivan Raymond Trafford, 20, died on 7 November 1941, when his plane came down during a training flight.

Now, thanks to a campaign by two friends, a plaque stands on the flight path his plane took before the crash.

Organiser Matthew Ferris said: "Ivan may be far from home, but he most certainly has not been forgotten."

Sgt Pilot Trafford, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1939 after Canada declared war on Germany.

He undertook training in England before being posted to the Royal Air Force's 53rd Operational Training Squadron at Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan.

Sgt Pilot Trafford was flying a Supermarine Spitfire, similar to this one, when he crashed

Shortly after, the fighter pilot was on a training exercise in a Supermarine Spitfire when it crashed at Coed Cae Field, Cefncarnau, Caerphilly mountain during poor visibility.

The plane was quickly removed and Mr Trafford was buried at Llanwit Major cemetery where he was interred with full military honours.

Few details were publically available at the time due to censorship and press restrictions, but decades later Harry Lewis, who was a boy at the time of the crash, and his history teacher friend Mr Ferris decided to find out more.

The pair unearthed a police report at Glamorgan Archives and pledged to erect a memorial in Sgt Pilot Trafford's honour.

Mr Lewis died aged 72 in 2010, but Mr Ferris promised he would complete it.

Now, five years on and thanks to donations from local tradesman and businesses for materials and labour, the propeller-shaped memorial was officially dedicated to the pilot on Friday.

Mr Ferris, who teaches at the town's St Martin's School, said it was a fitting tribute to both Sgt Pilot Trafford and Mr Lewis who unearthed his story.

"Harry said to me, 'we will claim the Canadian as one of our own'.

"Now his memory will be forever enshrined on Caerphilly mountain," he added.