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Village that went to war
Flying Officer Jimmy Harrison was 4,500 miles from home when the stricken Halifax bomber he was piloting crashed on a village green in North Yorkshire. What is striking, 65 years later, are the similarities between his small town in Canada, and the place where he was killed.
Crossfield, Alberta, is farming country. The fertile soil yields bountiful harvests of corn and the North American variety of oilseed rape. It's also renowned for poultry, pork and dairy products.
The scene is much the same around Skipton-on-Swale, near Thirsk. Maurice Sanderson can vouch for that. On the family's land they keep pigs, there's a turkey producer, and wheat and rape crops flourish. Amid the yellow fields there is also something poignant – red splashes of poppies next to the remains of runways where four squadrons of the Royal Canadian Air Force were based during the Second World War.
By its end, 98 aircraft – 11 Lancasters, 21 Wellingtons, and 66 Halifaxes – had been lost in operations flown from Skipton. Tomorrow, a memorial service is being held on the site in honour of all who served there. Survivors are few now but it's hoped that one or two from Canada will be present, together with their relatives and those of lost comrades.Weather permitting, a lone Spitfire will pay its tribute.
Skipton was one of several bomber stations built in the Vale of York, claiming 180 acres of the Sandersons' farm in the process. Its impact was dramatic. In all, 1,800 personnel were based at the hamlet, many of them still only teenagers from a distant land. The rhythms of country life have long been re-established, but those who travel the A61 and pause here can find numerous reminders of an exceptional time, not least on the green.
The parish notice board reflects the present – "Need help with the internet? Friendly free sessions at the Old Courthouse, Thirsk, every Monday" – but almost next to it a cairn whose stones came, symbolically, from the Halifax area, recalls the past.
At teatime on August 5, 1944, Flying Officer Harrison's disabled Halifax of 433 Squadron was returning from a raid on a German V-1 rocket site in Normandy when an engine failed as it prepared to land. The pilot managed to avoid houses but struck an elm tree and the plane crashed on the green and broke up.
Five members of the crew survived, but Harrison was killed along with his British flight engineer, Sgt Dennis Whitbread. A third victim was five-year-old Kenneth Battensby. His family was from Middlesbrough, but he'd been living at Skipton Hall where his mother was housekeeper to the local GP.
Kenneth had just gone out to tell one of the doctor's sons that tea was ready when he was struck by a tree branch that was severed as the plane came down. His grave is nearby, in the churchyard of
St John's.
Maurice Sanderson thought he was going to die, too, that afternoon. He witnessed the crash from the family's orchard just across the road. He and a friend were as usual watching aircraft coming and going from the base. "During those years we'd seen where other planes had crashed in the area. With so much activity you expected it from time to time, but this Halifax was particularly unlucky.
"It had been hit by enemy fire but had managed to get home, or at least over the airfield. It was low on fuel and had to circle because another plane was on the runway. Then, suddenly, the engines cut out and it came towards the village. It seemed to be heading straight for me and I remember thinking 'this is it'."
There were miraculous escapes, the more so when it was discovered that the plane was still carrying a 500lb bomb. "The scene was mayhem. The rear gunner was suspended by his parachute harness near the front door of the hall, and crewmates were laid out on the green.
"It was thought that at least another one was dead and he was covered with a parachute until someone saw a flicker of life. Believe it or not, that chap was flying operations again a few weeks later."
Later, Maurice retrieved a small piece of the Halifax's wreckage and it's on the wall of his conservatory. Nowadays he's more anxious to preserve friendships from the time and larger examples of wartime history which the family acquired when their land was returned to them by the Ministry of Defence in the 1960s.
Maurice is still in touch with one or two fliers who were stationed at Skipton. He sold rabbits to them for pocket money and volunteered to be a projectionist at the base's cinema.
"I did it for fun, and because it was a chance to see the new films."
Over the years several veterans have returned and Maurice says he's felt privileged to share memories with them, their children and grandchildren. There's much to recall. The A61 bridge over the Swale was mined at the height of fears of a German invasion, and Glenn Miller and his band played at the base a few weeks before he disappeared during a flight over the English Channel.
Maurice points out the Nissen huts which were part of a military hospital, the remains of the wash house, sergeants' mess, and briefing room. He has saved as much as he can, and left it how he found it, saying: "I feel it's the least I can do for those who come back. There are usually tears in their eyes."
The atmosphere, when birdsong is the only sound, is intensely moving, particularly around the old control tower which was machine-gunned in one of the last German air attacks of the war.
Next to the tower is a maple tree, Canada's national emblem, grown from a cutting brought by a visitor. There is also an apple tree of a Canadian variety which seeded from discarded cores. On a wall are plaques commemorating a couple of British aircrew who flew with the Canadians and had their ashes scattered at the site. The remains of another were placed by the river bridge because that's where he met his wife. The individual stories are endless. Seeing the remains of the parachute-packing shed prompts another. The chutes were packed by WAAFs and years later a senior officer revealed how, during a spot check, it was discovered that the parachutes packed by one of the girls would not have opened.
She was found to have German origins. "I was told she was removed quickly from the station, but I don't know what happened to her then," said Maurice.
He has lived at Skipton-on-Swale for nearly all his 80 years. Mostly it's been a tranquil, blink-and-you're-through-it place, adapting to the seasons, changes in agriculture and other trends – it even has a pet and equine crematorium called Ashes. But for a relatively brief period in between, the village played its part in determining the future of the world.
Maurice puts it this way: "I was a child when the war started and an adult by the end because of what I saw and heard here."
Tomorrow's service (June 21) at Skipton-on-Swale begins at 12.15pm. There will be a wreath-laying at the old control tower and those taking part include air cadets from local units, the Royal British Legion and other ex-Service organisations, and the band of the Royal Air Force Regiment. In the evening, the band is giving a concert at the Hambleton Forum, Northallerton. It's in aid of the RAF Benevolent Fund which this year celebrates its 90th anniversary.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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