Halifax LW579 crashed at Cowleaze Wood near Stokenchurch Bucks at 0550hrs 31st March 1944 returning from the ill-fated Nuremburg raid 30th/31st March 1944 the 102nd aircraft lost that night of a total of 107 aircraft lost. All 7 crew members were sadly killed.

The site was investigated by members of C.H.A.P.S., and the Booker Aircraft Museum many times throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, when numerous parts were recovered. During the late 1990’s I made contact with relatives who expressed a wish to visit the site, I was able to take them to the location and pinpoint the main impact point were the remains of one of the main ‘Messier’ undercarriage legs still remains to this day. It was here that in 1994 a large stone memorial to the crew was placed, commemorated on the 3rd March 1994, the 50th anniversary of the crash which I was privileged to attend.

Some years later we were also able to visit the airfield, R.A.F. Snaith where the aircraft took-off from, and where there is a remembrance garden to 51 Sqdn crews. Here there are many memorial plaques including a number for the crew of LW579.(David King)

Aircrew Remembrance Society Aviation Heritage Collection