Stirling LK517 Memorial, Shildon Cricket Club

LK517 took off from RAF Wigsley on the afternoon of 31 May 1944 on a routine navigational and bombing exercise. At approximately 16:45 a prisoner-of-war camp garrison engineer near Darlington heard the aircraft and noted from its sounds that it appeared to be in difficulties.

The aircraft crashed between Middridge and Shildon in Store Fields, off Spout Lane, at West Thickley. The Court of Inquiry concluded that the pilot had most likely lost control in storm clouds and entered an uncontrolled dive. The subsequent violent recovery attempt overstressed the airframe and the tail assembly failed in the air. The aircraft broke up before impact, scattering wreckage across the fields. All seven men were killed.

Pilot P/O Stanley Raymond Wilson was from Heaton, Newcastle. The Housman verse on the memorial — from A Shropshire Lad — is a spare and appropriate choice for men who died in training, far from any enemy, while preparing to defend the country.

Memorial researched and erected by Keith Robson, a local man. Shildon Cricket Club hosts the memorial at their ground boundary on Hackworth Road.

Do you know of any commemorative events or annual services held at this memorial? We would love to hear from local communities who remember.