Plaque tribute to World War II airmen

Five wartime airmen who died when their bomber crashed into a Shropshire hillside have been commemorated with the unveiling of a memorial in a small, simple ceremony.

Service personnel, the Royal British Legion, and local residents whose work and fundraising made the memorial possible attended the event at Stiperstones yesterday, writes Toby Neal.

The memorial plaque stands at the entrance to Mytton Dingle where, on February 15, 1944, a Whitley bomber based at RAF Sleap, near Wem, came down, killing all aboard. A glider it was towing cast off and landed safely.

The idea of a memorial plaque was initiated by local historian Peter Francis of Snailbeach and his wife Julia, and a successful fundraising effort was launched locally.

With the permission of Natural England, the plaque has been attached to a stone cairn which already holds an information board.

It bears brief details of the tragedy, including the names of the five airmen, and the words: "Remember them as you walk these hills."

Mr Francis said: "It is not where the crash happened, but where walkers enter the valley, and the idea is that as they are walking around they will have these people in mind."

Among the victims was 21-year-old Sergeant Jack Brownhill, whose fiancee Mrs Constance Hall - back then Miss Constance Edmondson - was invited to the ceremony, but was not up to the travelling from Hampshire.

She had received Valentine's Day flowers from Sergeant Brownhill, only to be told the following day that he had been killed.