Memorial to those killed by a Stirling Bomber crash at Cliffe in 1942

Image: © Marathon Taken: 24 Apr 2014

This memorial is close to the south wall of St Helen's Churchyard, Cliffe towards the west of the churchyard. It was unveiled about 2008. On October 24th 1942 the Short Stirling W7628 coded OJ-B based at Lakenheath, Suffolk ran out of fuel after the long haul to Italy over the Alps, where Bomber Command had been called upon to attack Northern Italian ports in support of the Allied Landings on North Africa - Operation Torch. The aircraft hit a cottage and adjacent farmhouse only a few yards from the wide open flat fields and marshes of the Thames Estuary. All the crew lost their lives as well as a young mother of a 10-day-old baby in the house. The young baby survived and was present at the Dedication together with a lady from the farm who was a young girl at the time of the tragedy. This is an extract from the Bomber Command losses book of 1942: "Aware that the crew were in difficulties, a local searchlight battery switched on its lights directing the beams towards nearby marshes, but to no avail. At least two cottages bore the brunt of the impact; Miss Delia Batchelor woke to find pieces from her bedroom ceiling on her bed and was then shocked to discover that the outside wall of the room had disappeared. Already, local inhabitants were trying to help but for Mrs Lilian May McPherson, just 21 and the mother of a two-month old baby girl, Diana, it was already too late. Taken from what was left of 3 Rye Street Cottages, to an army medical facility at Cooling Castle she was pronounced dead soon after being admitted. Miraculously, her little girl was found in an alcove, still in her crib, and completely unscathed. Both Canadians were taken to Brookwood Military Cemetery, as was Sgt Blake, their four companions being claimed by their next of kin."

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