Near Thorgill Bank Poem by Christopher Tye

Near Thorgill Bank

Near Thorgill Bank a doomed Wellington bomber crash landed,
After it's bombing of Stavenger Airfield was completed it headed home,
It's crew hoping to land back at RAF Marham in Norfolk,
But fate had a different ending it store for R3154 KO-Q.

After the raid R3154 and it's companions from No.115 Squadron,
Started the long journey back to England all being thankful,
For over the target three of the thirty-five aircraft were lost,
But for Wellington Mk.Ic R3154 KO-Q it's luck was about to run out.

R3154 lost all it's electrics including all navigational and wireless equipment,
It's flight crew managed to follow another 115 Squadron Wellington,
But as visibility worsened and low cloud built up they became separated.

Now hopelessly lost and drifting unknowingly northwards,
R3154 finally crossed the English coast over North Yorkshire,
The crew thought they were over East Anglia and near their home-base.

Flying at an altitude of a thousand foot sealed R3154's fate,
Near Thorgill Bank in the North Yorkshire Moors,
At 3: 15am May 1st 1940 R3154 crash landed here north of Lastingham.

After the crash four of the six crew members escaped,
But the second pilot and the front gunner weren't so lucky,
In the pitch black of the moorland the survivors searched,
Finally searching the area four times they found the missing crew's bodies.

By Christopher Tye