Memorial to the crew of Stirling LJ450, 12 April 1944
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Memorial to the crew of Stirling LJ450, 12 April 1944 by Adrian S Pye as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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Memorial to the crew of Stirling LJ450, 12 April 1944
Image: © Adrian S Pye Taken: 8 Jun 2020
1654 HCU. (Heavy Conversion Unit), Stirling LJ450 UG-F, had departed RAF Wigsley for a long-range night Navex, (Navigation Exercise) on 12/04/1944, combined with some bombing practise on Bassingham Fen range. Whilst operating over the range it was intercepted by a Luftwaffe Me410 intruder and shot down. The aircraft crashed at Caythorpe Heath at 0125hrs. Four of the eight-man crew were killed, the others were injured but survived. The crew who died were: Pilot; Flt Sgt. Joseph John Gordon NICHOLSON, RAFVR, age 28 Navigator; Sgt. John Ernest LOWE, RAFVR, age 22 Bomb Aimer; Sgt. Gwilym John LEWIS, RAFVR, age 20 Air Gunner; Sgt. Kenneth Lowe MacFARLANE, RAFVR, age 20 Crew who managed to bail out: Sgt. DURHAM, Sgt. HOWELL, Sgt. ROWLAND, Sgt. HAMILTON The copse in which the memorial is situated has been allowed to grow up around the crash site as a memorial by the Theaker family who witnessed the crash and "in respect for those who sacrificed so much."
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
53.026082
Longitude
-0.577117