FOUR airmen who died when their bomber crashed in a North-East forest during the Second World War will have a new cross unveiled in their memory.

Three members of crew managed to bail out of the Handley Page Halifax MK V bomber, registration DK116, after a fire started in one of its engines, but those that remained to help a trapped gunner were killed instantly as the plane crashed into Kielder Forest.

The seven-strong crew were on a training mission on October 15, 1944, when the blaze broke out in one of the Halifax’s four engines.

The plane was put into a nose dive to extinguish the flames, but Pilot Officer Herbert George Haddrell aged 30, could not regain control and the Halifax, which had been based at RAF Sandtoft in Lincolnshire, nosedived into the ground at Glendhu Hill. (CORR)

Debris from the crash has been left where it landed and now a new memorial put together by volunteers from the Weardale Railway in County Durham is to be unveiled.

A plaque sporting the names of the four killed airmen was rescued by Richard and Alison Maughan from a previous memorial cross which was falling apart, while British American Railways, owners of the Weardale Railway, donated a new sleeper to be turned into a cross.

Steve Race from the railway is a keen historian who has gathered information on several air crashes in the area and built the new cross.

He said: “These men paid the ultimate price and they deserve to be remembered.

“Hundreds of bombers were killed, many of them while on training missions and they all deserve to be properly recognised for their brave actions.

“The Forestry Commission have been brilliant and are very respectful of the site and I would like to thank everyone who has helped.”

The four who died included the pilot, flight engineer Sergeant John Neilson, and the two gunners Warrant Officers Maurice Frederick James, 22, and Geoffrey Symonds, 21.

The unveiling, which has been delayed so as to not disturb nearby nesting ospreys, will take place on Monday. (NOV 5)