Plaque Wellington Bomber X3171 crash 1943 Hollybush Inn

Hollybush Inn

1939-45

Unveiled 4th November 2006 by Aidan Donnelly and Len Lambert.

Brass

Air Crash Investigation and Archaeology Group.

£270

Charitable donations from surviving family members and people visiting during the recovery of the wreck, plus A.C.I.A. members.

Designed by Russell Gray;
Made by Alan Doyle.

In memory of
(Names)
who gave their lives at
Comb Moor, Greenhaugh, Northumberland on
1st March 1943
whilst flying a
Vickers Armstrong Wellington 1C Serial No. X3171
of 15 Operational Training Unit, R.A.F. Harwell, Berkshire.

“….wherever and for as long as freedom
flourishes on the earth, the men and
women who possess it will thank them
and will say they did not die in vain.”

Plaque presented by the Air Crash Investigation and Archaeology Group.

Plaque, 17 inches high x 12 inches wide (420mm x  297mm), set on narrow wood pattress.

At centre top is the R.A.F. badge.

Names are listed in a single column.

Lettering is in Roman lower case with the quotation in italics.

1. The men were serving with 15 OTU. The aircraft had taken off on a training flight from Harwell on a cross-country training flight. Control of the aircraft was lost in cloud and dived almost vertically. No crew members survived.

2. Gleaned from the Evening Chronicle 02/11/2006

• Sgt. William Stanley Gibson was from Newcastle. Son of William and Violet Gibson, he was buried in Stamfordham Churchyard. Len Lambert was a friend of Billy Gibson who died in the crash. Mr. Lambert survived a crash in a Lancaster bomber around a year after this crash which killed his friend. He spent the rest of the war in a German prisoner of war camp.
• Sgt. George Marshall, air gunner, was from Trimdon, Co .Durham. Son of James and Alice Marshall, he is buried in Trimdon Grange Cemetery.
• Joseph Donnelly was a bomb-aimer from Ayrshire. He was aged 20. Aidan Donnelly is a great nephew of Joseph Donnelly of one of the crew who was killed.

The ACIA website

Photos: J. Brown; Russell Gray

Evening Chronicle
02/11/2006 reports unveiling the coming weekend.

Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses: Vol.7: Operational Training Units 1940-1947. W.R. Chorley, Midland Publishing 2002 ISBN 1 85780 132 6

Air Crash Northumberland Gray, Corbett, Shipley & Anderson, 2008, Countryside Books, ISBN 978 1 84674 112 8 tells the story.

Source of quotation:
“….wherever and for as long as freedom . . .” Part of Queen Elizabeth II’s address at the dedication of the Royal Air Force Memorial at Runnymede on 17th October 1953.

Russell Gray (A.C.I.A.);
Jim Corbett (A.C.I.A.)

If you are researching this memorial please contact 2014@newmp.org.uk