New light on wartime tragedy

Rob Davis, who has drawn up huge databases cataloguing wartime Bomber Command losses, had been seeking local knowledge about a crash in which a Wellington bomber was caught up in a thunderstorm on the afternoon of September 13, 1943, and flew into high ground near Aston-on-Clun.

The aircraft was based at RAF Chipping Warden and was on a training flight. All eight on board were killed.

Among those to contact Rob with more information has been Paul Harris of Shrewsbury, who was brought up at Kempton, between Craven Arms and Bishop's Castle.

Paul told Rob in an email: "My father was a forestry worker during World War Two and when I was a young lad I remember him telling me of the Wellington bomber which crashed into the side of Burrow, which is the higher of two adjoining hills just west of Aston-on-Clun."

Paul said his father would have been at work on the afternoon of the crash in one of the adjacent wooded areas.

"I remember him telling me that the plane was struck by lightning near the village of Lydbury North and they watched it losing height while being on fire before it crashed into Burrow just below the summit."

He and other workmen went straight to the site, but were unable to do anything.

Paul said he would have been somewhere around 10 to 12 when his father told him about the crash – that would be 1964 to 1966 – and he and a friend used to walk to Burrow to explore the site, and although there were no large pieces left, they found many .303 calibre bullets.

"We found lots of small bits of twisted metal but nothing of any size, although I did find what could be a lever of some kind which is about 12 inches long. I still have this."

Also giving Rob information was Geoff Pritchard of Bucknell who told him that he was aged 10 and was getting off the school bus when he saw a trail of smoke coming down from the sky.

David Morris, of Shrewsbury, a former head of Shropshire County Council's countryside service, said that some time between 1983 and 1987 there was a team of workers based in Ludlow carrying out environmental work in and around Aston-on-Clun.

David said: "One day we had to meet one of the landowners in relation to one particular field. It ran between the main road and was very steep-sided. At the top was a very high crest of woodland.

"The owner told me that the field was a real pain to work on as he was forever finding bits of crashed airplane.

"My ears pricked up at this, as my father was a Lancaster aircrew man. He said he thought that the plane got 'lost' and the wings had just touched the edge of the trees and the plane then crashed into the open and very steep field.

"He told me that when he found bits there, he just threw them to the side of the field."