75TH ANNIVERSARY SERVICE FOR THE CREW OF A LANCASTER BOMBER WHO CRASHED IN SALFORD

In honour of these brave men, the Friends of Salford Cemeteries Trust would like to invite members of the public to the 75th anniversary Remembrance Service for the seven man crew and two civilians.

The event will take place at 11:00 am on Sunday the 28th July 2019 at Agecroft Cemetery, Langley Road, Pendlebury, M27 8SS.

The brand new Lancaster had been on a bombing raid on German positions at Cahagnes in Normandy in support of British troops on the ground taking part in the Allied, D-Day invasion of Europe. The attacking force comprised 462 Lancasters, 200 Halifax bombers and 30 Mosquitos but due to cloud covering the target area many were not ordered down through the cloud to bomb at low level and returned to base in Lincolnshire whilst still carrying its full compliment of bombs. Moreover, the returning crews could not ditch their bombs in the English Channel due to all the Allied shipping supplying the invading forces. En-route back home they had to fly in a wide arc via Blackpool.

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As it flew over Salford it lost height and crashed on the Irwell riverbank, close to Agecroft Cemetery after clipping the roofs of houses on Regatta Street (above) on the 30th July 1944.

Barnes, Raymond - RAF Crew of Lancaster Bomber PB304 

Davenport, John Bruce Thornley - RAF Crew of Lancaster Bomber PB304 

Lines, Peter - RAF Crew of Lancaster Bomber PB304 

Reid, Harry - RAF Crew of Lancaster Bomber PB304 

Singh, Mohand - RAF Crew of Lancaster Bomber PB304 

Steele, John - RAF Crew of Lancaster Bomber PB304 

Young, Arthur - RAF Crew of Lancaster Bomber PB304 

The above crew were all aboard the plane when it crashed, additionally 2 civilians were also killed on the ground.

45 year old ARP warden, Mr George Morris and 72 years old Mrs Lucy Bamford, both of Pendleton, it was reported in local news at the time that up to eighty others were injured as a result of the ensuing explosion.