A CAMPAIGN to commemorate eight men who died when their planes collided over a village is under way.

John Ward, chairman of the Richmond Swale Valley Community Initiative, says he is shocked that the story of the 1951 Hudswell air crash, in North Yorskhire, is all but forgotten.

The tragedy happened when a Wellington bomber and a Martinet training plane collided in mid-air, when an RAF Leeming training exercise went horribly wrong.

All on board died except 16- year-old cadet Derek Coates, from Middlesbrough.

Mr Ward said: “This is a story that deserves to be remembered.

There should be a lasting tribute to recognise the tragic events which took place that day.”

Mike Porter, then a 17-yearold Richmond cadet, was one of the first on the scene.

On August 13, 1951, he was riding his bike along Reeth Road when he heard the sound of a plane in trouble.

Mr Porter, now 75 and still living in Richmond, said: “I looked up and saw half a plane emerging from behind the cloud.

“I ran up the steps near the waterworks to where I thought I saw it land, and there was all sorts of debris falling from the sky.

“When I found the Wellington wreckage, I looked in the cockpit window and saw two men slumped over the controls.

“I recognised one of them, Flight Lieutenant Quinton, who I knew from RAF Leeming.

“I don’t know where the other half of the Wellington landed, or the Martinet.”

As Mr Porter was leaving the scene, he was approached by cadet Derek Coates, who was covered in blood and wandering aimlessly, clutching his parachute.

“I asked him if he was all right,” said Mr Porter. “He said he was, but that he didn’t know what to do with his parachute.

“I was so calm at the time and it didn’t really sink in until afterwards.

“I wholeheartedly support Mr Ward’s efforts to have the tragedy commemorated.”

Mr Ward said he would work with Hudswell Parish Council to decide what sort of tribute would be fitting.