Map showing the crash site - Halifax Bomber 22 October, 1943

This is the link to the map showing the place where my uncle Raymond and his comrades died on 22 October, 1943

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1SN__eh0110FUsZG94y0MN80AEYg&hl=en

Darlington and Stockport Times and the Northern Echo report the Commemoration ceremony at Atley Hill, South Cowton, North Yorkshire

The story of the commemoration of the air crash and death of the crew written by Mark Foster was printed in the on 30 August 2016

A FORGOTTEN tragedy of war has finally been remembered at a simple but moving ceremony by the edge of a North Yorkshire field.

At the very spot where a Halifax bomber ploughed into the ground, killing all six of its young crew, a plaque has been installed to mark the scene of their sacrifice.

It was the culmination of four years of work by 66-year-old Ray Harris, a retired social worker from near Edinburgh who is now studying for a degree in art.

His uncle was Sergeant Raymond Albert Harris, a newly-promoted 19-year-old flight engineer, who was among those who died when the aircraft crashed on October 22, 1943, at about 1.30am.

The Halifax, Eb 199 ZU-H, had earlier taken off from Croft near Darlington on a routine training patrol, but its outside port engine cut out and the bomber, with its inexperienced crew, spiralled to the ground out of control.

It hit a tree and a hedgerow by the edge of a field at Atley Hill, South Cowton, between Scotch Corner and Northallerton. Four of those on board died in the impact, the two others shortly afterwards.

Ray was named after his uncle and after inheriting treasured letters that his relative wrote before his death, decided to look more closely into Sgt Harris’ life.

The airman was one of four brothers and his family moved to Barnoldswick in Lancashire following the blitz on their original home city of Coventry.

A bright boy at school who had been first in his class, he joined the RAF as an 18-year-old recruit in December 1942 and kept in constant touch with his family through a stream of letters.

Using those wartime letters Ray launched an online blog and during his subsequent investigations was able to pinpoint the exact site of the crash.

He even found the hedgerow into which the Halifax crashed was a living reminder - as it is still much lower than those around it.

And the farmer who now tends the land was able bring the reality of the crash into sharp focus - by providing him with some wreckage from the aircraft which has emerged from the ground over the years.

“This has been quite a journey for me,” said Ray.

“My grandmother mourned for Raymond for the rest of her life. I was named after him and I’d always known the basics of his story.

“But now I feel very, very close to it all. I think I know my Uncle Ray much better – and I feel that he and those who died alongside him should be remembered.”

Ray now plans to expand his blog still further, and possibly even write a book. He hopes to hear from others who know something about the tragedy – or had connections to those who died.

He can be contacted via his blog at http://sgtraymondalbertharris.blogspot.co.uk/p/sgt-raymond-albert-harris.html

Commemorative plaque unveiled at a field in South Cowton, North Yorkshire, where six men died on 22 October, 1943

On 29 August 2016, I travelled down the A1 with a memorial plaque I had made the previous week at Minto House, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, part of Edinburgh University. My friend Rob Mulholland had given me a piece of aluminium to make it from. I thought this was very appropriate as a lot of the fuselage of the Halifax bomber was made of the same metal.

South Cowton is quite near Scotch Corner on the A1 and you go through a pretty village called Scorton to get to it. Atley hill farm is signposted off the main road and I met the farmer who owns the land around there, Andrew Donovan, at his bungalow, directly opposite the field where the crash happened.
Andrew had picked a suitable tree (Ash) at the corner of the Atley hill field where the crash occurred.
The area has quite a bit of history to it. There are several Roman archaeological sites nearby. On the far side of the field stands a small castle. One of the men who rescued F/O S H Martin RCAF,  lived in the castle ( Mr, Severs or Mr Clark are noted on the report as rescuing the airman, who sadly died a few days later.) Further down the hill and surrounded by trees is a picturesque, medieval church.
I attached the plaque on its hardwood surround onto the tree and Andrew and I remembered the men who died that night.
The previous week, the plaque was blessed by a Buddhist nun, Sister Candasiri at Miltuim hermitage, Glenartney, Comrie, Scotland. The string and and pine branch shown on the photo are taken from the blessing ceremony.

The next part of my pilgrimage was a trip over the Pennines to the small town of Barnoldswick, where my Uncles Raymond and Theo and my grandparents were moved to after the blitz in Coventry. I knew the address they lived at from the envelopes of the letters that Uncle Raymond had sent to my Grandma, 6 East Parade. The house is still standing and is quite similar to the place where the family moved back to Coventry after the war. (73 Coronation Road, Hillfields, Coventry.) I put a realistic copy of an envelope to that address, dated July, 1943, through the door with an explanation that my family had once lived there.

In memory of the men who died on 22 October, 1943 at Atley Hill, South Cowton, Yorkshire

Here is a commemorative plaque I made to remember my Uncle Sgt Raymond Albert Harris and his comrades who died on a training exercise as noted on the plaque. My plan is to take this to the crash site on 29 August 2016 and dedicate it to the memory of the men who died that night

28 February 1943: Uncle Raymond explains what a Spigot mortar is

24 February 1943

This is a really nice letter from Uncle Ray to my dad, John

23 February, 1943

The Harris Family, 18 Queen Street, Coventry in 1933

                                          Olive    Raymond   Sidney   Theodore   John   Amos

Here are my grandma, Uncles, Dad and Grandpa posing for a photo while they were still  a young family. In 1933 they were living in Coventry, it was three years before Uncle Ray went to Corley Open Air School and seven years before the blitz. They moved to Barnoldswick which Uncle Ray called Barlick

Uncle Ray was a war poet

To Warrington for photos