New memorials in Peterborough village commemorates lives of 39 airmen lost in aircraft crashes

A new memorial has been unveiled in Thorney to remember 21 airmen who lost their lives in air crashes over the village.

The men lost their lives over the the skies of Thorney in seven separate incidents since 1941.

A special event- organised by the Thorney Society- was held on Saturday (March 29) on the 80th anniversary on one of the incidents, which took place on March 29, 1945. On that day, eight lost their lives when Corporal Robert Louis Phillippe de Bienkiewicz from the French Airforce saw his training aircraft- a Miles Master MK II, flying from RAF Westwood in Peterborough- collide with a Stirling Bomber from RAF Matching, carrying seven crew members.

Corporal Bienkiewicz had royal connections being the grandson three generations removed of the last king of France, Louis XVI.

All involved lost their lives, the casualties aboard the Stirling Bomber were Walter Howes, Frederick Aldersley, John Hardy, Kenneth Inger, Robert McAlpine, Frederick Rees and Kenneth Slee.

The newly-unveiled memorial also pays tribute, and includes the names of, victims of disasters in 1941, 1942, 1944 and most recently in 1983 when two airmen from RAF Wittering lost their lives after two Harrier Jump jets collided over the village with the planes crashing a short distance away in Eye.

The memorial was unveiled by landowner James Hemmant as well as Arthur Gee, whose family farm it was where the crash happened in 1945 from underneath a Fenland flag.

The special service also saw the rededication of an existing memorial to 18 airmen from the United States Air Force who died when a Starlifter aircraft crashed due to bad weather on August 28, 1976, taking the total number of airmen honoured to 39.

The memorials now stand side by side with the memorial to the US airmen being rededicated as part of the service.

Two of the firemen who attended the crash that day in 1976, Brian Moorhen and Brian Payne, attended the memorial at the weekend.

The service was carried out by Bishop of Peterborough, the Right Reverend Debbie Sellin, supported by Reverends Hayley Hobbs and Ann Ballard and was attended by a number of dignitaries, including Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes, the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire Julie Spence as well as representatives from the French Air Force; namely Colonel Emmanuel Emond from the French Embassy.

There were also US Air Force representatives from RAF Lakenheath, RAF Fairford, Molesworth and well as representation from RAF Cranwell and RAF Waddington.

A guard of honour to the wreath laying was presented by the 115 (Peterborough) Squadron Air Training Corps, who are based on the site of the former RAF Westwood.

At the site of the memorials, a bench was also dedicated to a farmer named Peter Stuffins, who helped to keep the memory of all of the victims of the crashes alive.

Thorney Society Chairman Michael Sly said: “It was a very moving day. There was a beautiful weather, the birds were singing and it was tranquil.

"We rounded off by singing ‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven’ with the help of a keyboard organist and then the ‘Last Post’ was played. It was spine-tingling.”