Memorial stone laid for WW2 bomber crew

A dedicated group of school pupils from Foyle College had promised the relatives of the crew they would find and mark the site where the aircraft crashed during a test flight during WW2.

Last weekend, the Foyle College Aviation Team gathered at the site along with relatives of F/L Archibald Duncan Livingstone (22), F/L Richard William Gilbert Holdsworth (31) and F/S Stanley Frederick Chadwick (22) to commemorate their wartime service.

The pupils were accompanied by members of the multi-disciplinary team who assisted them to undertake the licensed excavation of Bristol Beaufort AW 271 in May of this year.

During the event, prayers were read by the FCAT pupils and favourite poems of the crew were recited by their relatives.

A Spitfire from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight also performed a flypast, following the same circuit that the crew were to follow nearly 80 years ago.

The FCAT pupils began their search for the Beaufort Bomber after a relative of one of the crew contacted NI aviation archaeologist Jonny McNee in 2019.

They had seen Jonny and the FCAT pupils’ previous digs feature on the BBC series ‘Digging for Britain’.

There were a few unsuccessful searches before the exact site of the aircraft was pinpointed in 2020 and the dig team were later granted a rare MOD licence to undertake the recovery of the small amount of aircraft wreckage that remained in a church field.

The Foyle College Aviation Team (FCAT) pupils are extremely passionate about local aviation history and this dig was their most emotional yet, as they promised the crew’s relatives that they would arrange a memorial service and a permanent marker at the site.

The pupils, who have worked with experienced aviation archeologists and university experts, successfully fundraised to cover all the costs of the dig, the memorial stone and a Copper Beech tree that now stand on the site where AW 271 fell.

The FCAT pupils said: “We want to ensure that the names and service of the crew of Beaufort AW271 are remembered and that their relatives know their valuable contribution to the war effort is not forgotten and that there is a permanent memorial, erected by a younger generation, where they can pay their respects.”

Rev Di Hervey, the daughter of F/L Holdsworth, who was visiting the site for a second time, said: “I am delighted that my father and the rest of the crew are now permanently remembered at this location where they so tragically died doing what they loved.

“Everyone involved in this project has made us all feel so welcome and I thank them all.”

Ron Chadwick, the son of F/S Chadwick, added: “I can hardly express what it means to me to see what these pupils have achieved. They have fundraised to pay for so much of this and their prayers and the way they have looked after us has really moved me.”