These are parts of the Halifax Bomber
HALIFAX BOMBER CRASHES AT CROSS
INN
On February 24th, 1944, a Halifax BIII
Bomber on a training mission from Thorpe, near York, came down
at Hafod Fawr Farm, Cross Inn.
My mother, Mrs. Lewis, of Hendre, Cross
Inn, saw the plane crashing to the ground. She had seen it circling
around and around as it descended to the earth - and she had seen
parachutes coming out as it fell.
Many people from the area went to see
the crash site.
The grim tragedy of the crash was brought
home to everybody when an arm in an RAF sergeant's sleeve was
found at the top of the lane leading to the farm.
I remember, in the 1960s when the field
was ploughed, finding a load of .303 armour piercing bullets -
as well as a stainless steel tracking aerial with lead weights
on it - and a
lot of fuselage parts. When my mother found out that I had bullets,
she took them and threw them away!
The crew of seven were mostly Canadian
Airmen - only two of them survived. Few people to-day know that
five airmen lost their lives in Cross Inn during the war.
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Excellent accounts of this incident are recorded in two books
by Terence Hill - both published by Carreg Gwalch, 12 Iard Yr
Orsaf, Llanrwst, LL2 0EH
"Down In Wales -visits to some wartime crash sites"
- published 1994 (page 80)
"Down in Wales - visits to some more wartime crash sites"
published 1996 (page 14)
Gareth Lewis
Cross Inn
2007
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