- Contributed by听
- North Yorkshire County Record Office
- People in story:听
- William Henry Hunter, Bob Hunter, Daisy Hunter, Joyce Hunter, Billy Hunter, Sylvia Hunter, Steve Walker, Elizabeth Walker
- Location of story:听
- Grimescar Farmhouse, near Leeming Airfield, North Yorkshire
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A7911812
- Contributed on:听
- 20 December 2005
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By William Henry Hunter.
Friday 13 March 1942. Early Morning. A Whitley bomber after operations over Boulogne was coming home to land at Leeming had engine failure and took the roof off Grimescar Farmhouse as the Hunter family, Bob and Daisy, their three children Joyce, Billy and Sylvia, also an auntie and Uncle Steve and Elizabeth Walker were sleeping. With the bomber on fire ceilings falling in we were struggling to get down stairs. RAF wireless operators in station nearby came to our rescue knocking the back door in. We all escaped unscathed. The bedroom no one was sleeping in and granary at the end of the house was flattened. We were very lucky. You could hear the cry for help from the crew but the fire was so intense none of the five crew survived. One of the airmen got out but sadly died the next day. Four of the crew rest in Leeming churchyard. A tarpaulin sheet was placed over the house then replaced with asbestos sheets but the house being close to the east end runway was found too dangerous and was later demolished with the Hunter family going to live in Scruton village.
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