The last of the day’s sunlight is filtering through the trees in woodland outside the small village of Mattexey, in northeastern France.
It is the heart of farming country, where the quiet is punctuated only by occasional birdsong and the crunch of twigs underfoot.
Today’s calm belies the tragic events of 80 years ago, when a doomed RAF Lancaster met a devastating end, claiming the lives of all seven crew members.
But to the trained eye, the clues are there.
Almost a century later, four craters remain, likely carved into the ground during the massive impact of each of its Rolls-Royce engines.
The Daily Mail’s Kate Pickles places a poppy on the grave of her great-uncle ‘Billy’ at Choloy War Cemetery, in north-eastern France exactly 80 years after his death
The crew of Lancaster NG176 outside Bates Avenue, Darlington, Co Durham, on Sgt William Raine’s wedding day. Left to right, they are Flight Engineer, Sgt Edward Brunskill, 22, Pilot, Flying officer Ian Graham, 30, Wireless Operator, Flying Officer John McFarlane, 23, Navigator, Sgt William Raine, 22, Mid-Upper Gunner, Sgt Henry Sumner (age unknown) Rear Gunner, Sgt Frank Evans, 24, Bomb Aimer, Flying Officer John Frees, 26. They were all killed exactly one month later on October 19, 1944, when returning from a bombing mission over Germany
Little is growing in the holes, tellingly surrounded by young trees, sprung in the decades following the fateful night which also claimed their oak ancestors.
Those who perished on board include its navigator and my great-uncle, Sgt William Raine, whose memorial scroll was proudly displayed on my grandad’s living room wall until his death four years ago, at 92.
Until now, reports had been unclear as to where exactly NG176 crashed when returning from a bombing raid on a Bosch factory in Stuttgart, Germany, on October 19, 1944.
Benoit Howson with remnants of the Lancaster NG176 he collected when determining this was the crash site, including parachute, plexiglass, and bullets used by Lancaster gunners
Initially, six of the airmen from the No. 186 Squadron were buried in nearby Lunéville before being transferred to the temporary American cemetery nearly 200 miles away in Andilly.
They were eventually joined by the seventh, Sgt Henry Sumner (whose body was presumably found later) at Choloy War Cemetery, near Toul, in 1947 where in the words of poet Lawrence Binyon they now ‘sleep beyond England’s foam.’
In the confusion of war, some reports had pointed to a crash site further south in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, while others closer to their original interment site here in Meurthe-et-Moselle.
The riddle was finally solved by aviation enthusiast Benoit Howson whose research led him here, a wooded area outside a small village he mused they ‘never even knew existed’.
An earlier visit had unearthed bits of fuselage, plexiglass from the windscreen and gunner windows, and other twisted remnants from the 18-ton aircraft.
Pieces off parachute, poignantly still folded as they had never been deployed, had themselves become blanketed by a tapestry of fallen leaves and ivy.
The telegram delivered to his wife Betty on 18 February 1945 informing her of Sgt William¿s suspected death 19 October 1944 alongside the rest of the crew
A piece of fuselage found at the crash site on the 80th anniversary (left) and remnants of folded parachute gifted to the family of Sgt Raine in a purse with the RAF motto, Latin for ‘Through adversity to the stars
The nieces of Sgt William Raine including the Daily Mail’s Kate Pickles standing next to one of the craters at the crash site of the Lancaster NG176 in a forest close to Mattexey. Until now, the crash site had never been confirmed but the marks are still visible 80 years later
Most tellingly of all, his foraging uncovered bullets used by the RAF and specifically Browning machine guns fitted onto Lancasters.
There were three, 303 rounds. One was an armour piercing round dating back to 1944 and manufactured at the Royal Ordnance factory in Spennymoor, County Durham.
‘The fact that one hadn’t been fired proves that it was onboard the plane that crashed,’ he explains.
Benoit, a 46-year-old English teacher at a technical college, has been quietly commemorating the fallen for more than a decade, both in his native France and the UK.
His interest in military history was forged by his French-American heritage, with his great-uncle a US fighter pilot during World War II and second cousin the co-pilot of a B26 bomber.
When he and wife Coralie, 45, moved to the picturesque town of Epinal, in the Vosges, they discovered their home was close another RAF Lancaster crash site, downed in July 1944.
The coincidence sparked a project that would span a decade and immerse him into a hobby that may well last a lifetime.
His research took him to the local American war cemetery, where the crew are buried. There he would strike up a friendship with the superintendent, who he’d watched taking photographs of each of the 5,000 US graves.
Benoit decided to do the same with Bomber Command crews buried there, uploading them to a Find a Grave website for relatives to trace.
After consulting the mayor, he replaced the torn flags flying above the graves, perhaps since the cemetery’s inception.
These were carefully folded and sent to Canadian and British relatives of the PB253 crew he had traced and contacted, in what would become a frequent ritual.
Billy posing with a banana during training in Canada in July 1943, when the fruit was scarce in the UK (left), and showing his navigator wings (right)
William ‘Billy’ Raine, front row third from left, at his passing out parade, thought to be June 1942. His total qualified service was 2 years 115 days before he was killed in action on 19/10/44
The more flags that were retired, the more families he found until he eventually gathered pictures of each of the men, leading to the creation of a new memorial.
It is now one of dozens of commemorative plaques and information boards he has researched, commissioned and often funded himself, to remember those to which he says he owes his ‘liberté’.
‘My first goal was to make sure that every bomber command that crashed in the Vosges had a memorial. Some did and some didn’t, so I started doing that.
‘Now that they all do, I’ve started having plaques made for crews whose planes were shot down in northeastern France.’
Today, is the turn of my great-uncle’s crew, who he had seen details for on the memorial website, aircrew.remembered.com, supplied by my late uncle and fellow aviation enthusiast, Ian Raine.
We meet at Choloy to visit the graves and lay poppies, ahead of the planned inauguration of a memorial at Luneville Airfield to mark the 80th anniversary.
Unbeknown to us, a small ceremony has been planned. His children Aaron, 13, and Hannah, 11, take turns to read ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brook, before performing The Last Post and the National Anthem on the melodica and oboe, respectively.
Colonel Pierre-Alain Antoine, a highly decorated fighter pilot and the former director of the Patrouille acrobatique de la France, their equivalent of the Red Arrows, stands and salutes.
The gathering is the culmination of more than a year of Benoit’s diligent efforts, tracing historical records including mission details and casualty investigation reports which unequivocally determine the crash site.
Sgt Raine, seen practicing his navigation skills on board a Lancaster in 1943, did not survive
Aaron Howson, 13, flanked by sister Hannah, 11, reads the poem ‘The Soldier’ written by Rupert Brooke (left) in remembrance of the crew of the NG176 fatally shot down 80 years ago at Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) Choloy War Cemetery, near Toul
His interest was captured by the photograph of the seven airmen beaming in their full military fatigues, apparently a rare occurrence as it was considered bad luck.
It was taken on Billy’s wedding day outside the family home on Bates Avenue, Darlington, as he prepared to marry childhood sweetheart, Betty Robson. Exactly one month later, she would become a widow at 18.
Born in the village of Eggleston, Co Durham, the family had a bottling factory called the ‘Old Pop Shop’, which produced drinks including lemonade and tonic water.
The eldest son of Hannah and John William Raine, his brother Tom, would serve in the merchant navy, while my grandad Jack who was too young to enlist, would become a carpenter.
When there was insufficient work, the family moved 20 miles away to Darlington where John started working for Royal London Insurance.
Billy attended Darlington Grammar School for boys before getting a job at the accountancy firm Chipchase Wood, prior to war breaking out.
He was a member of the Local Defence Volunteers, later known as the Home Guard, and was enlisted in December 1941, before joining the RAF the following year.
Like all of the 125,000 who served in Bomber Command, Billy volunteered to become aircrew, which at 44 per cent, had the highest rate of attrition of any Allied unit.
Training took the crew to Canada in April 1943, where he sent photographs home including one he captioned ‘A scruffy guy and a banana’, when the fruit had become scarce in England.
He would send letters home every few days, including one in the days before his wedding on September 19, 1944, at St Paul’s Church, Darlington, asking if someone had bought brylcreem as he ‘needed it’.
He writes: ‘Everything is now arranged for the 19th. I saw the CO (commanding officer) and told him the new date. He said that would be ok. I have to go over and see him to see what time we can get away.’
William Raine 22, and Betty Robson, who were married in St Paul’s Church, Darlington, on September 19, 1944. He was shot down and killed exactly one month later making her a widow at just 18
In another, he describes how neighbour Sgt Edward Brunskill, his pal and flight engineer on NG176, offered to house fellow crew on his big day.
‘Wedding getting close. I said I’d put everyone up. Eddie said some could stay with him. But if you’ve got any beds to move leave them until we all come up.’
His first taste of action came on October 18, 1944 in a daytime operation involving 12 Lancasters in a bombing raid over Bonn.
Their Lancaster took off at 7.59am and dropped its bombs on the target at 11.00am. The attack was a success, with the crew reporting seeing numerous fires on the ground caused by the incendiary bombs.
The pilot, Flying Officer Ian Dundee Graham, from Auckland, New Zealand, safely guided them back to RAF Tuddenham at 1pm.
It was to be their first and last successful mission of a 30-operation tour.
The following day, the crew boarded NG176 to take part in the first of a two-wave attack on the Bosch factory, a key supplier of German military vehicles.
One of 583 bombers from air bases across England, it took off at 5.55pm loaded with a 4,000lb. bomb and numerous incendiary bombs.
The factory was heavily damaged but theirs was one of seven shot down that night and the only of the 12, 186-squadron aircraft taking part in the operation not to return to the air base.
Former fighter pilot and director of the Patrouille acrobatique de la France (French equivalent of the Red Arrows), Colonel Pierre-Alain Antoine, pays his respects at the grave of Sgt Raine
Aaron Howson, 13, plays the last post at Choloy War Cemetery to commemorate the crew of the NG176 Lancaster, fatally shot down 80 years ago (LtoR) Hannah, Aaron and father Benoit Howson, Kate Pickles, David I’Anson, Patricia I’Anson, Gillian Pickles, David Dixon, Colonel Pierre-Alain Antoine and Coralie Lagrange
My grandad would later recall how the family dog Spot had refused to settle that night, instead pacing the hallway and kitchen for hours.
After being reported missing, it would be another four months before a telegraph boy visited his new wife Betty, only weeks after they had returned from honeymoon in Edinburgh.
Hers would be the fate of thousands of wives whose loved ones served with Bomber Command during the Second World War.
Some 55,573 young men died flying with Bomber Command during World War Two; more than those who serve in the entire Royal Air Force today.
An estimated 12,000 planes, mostly RAF and US Army Airforce as it was then (the USAF only formed in 1947), were downed over France during this time.
Only 15 per cent – fewer than one in seven – survived when Lancaster’s were critically damaged.
While always told the targets were industrial and military sites, it is estimated between 300,000 and 600,000 civilians died during large-scale bombing raids on German cities.
This uncomfortable history means their vital role in winning the war has, until recently been overlooked, with those who survived never receiving a campaign medal.
This injustice is partly what drives Benoit’s acts of benevolence towards these men from the UK and Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and Australia.
The lava-stone memorial plaque designed and commissioned by Benoit Howson on behalf of the airmen. It is one of more than a dozen he has organised for Bomber Command to remember their role in liberating France in WW2
Benoit Howson shares his research into the Lancaster NG176 crew at the inauguration of a memorial plaque in their honour the Aérodrome de Lunéville, Croismare, close the crash site
The crash site of the NG176 was located by Benoit Howson, (left) who is pictured next to wife Coralie Lagrange, Sgt Raine’s family members David Dixon, Gillian Pickles, Kate Pickles, Colonel Pierre-Alain Antoine, Patricia I’Anson, David I’Anson, and his children Hannah Howson and Aaron Howson
‘I think that we owe them,’ he reflects.
‘They would sleep in their own beds in England, relatively safe, and then a few hours later they would be through flak, then fighters over Berlin or other cities, and then back. It was like a rollercoaster. I don’t know how they did it.
‘After the war, I feel people did not want to mention bomber crews. It took a very long time for people to recognise that they had a big impact on the war.
‘For me it is just an honour to supply the flags or have a plaque made. I am happy to do it because it is the least we can do, to remember what they did.’
It’s sentiment echoed on great-uncle Billy’s headstone – ‘Love’s last gift… remembrance’.
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