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If anyone recognises the girl in this photograph please contact me.

 

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The enclosed photo was found at a crash site near to what is locally known as Crockle Pit, near Methwold Hythe. My Great Uncle Wes Wortley picked it up a short time after the crash. He has been dead 20 years now but the photo only came to me 2 years ago after his wife's death. I remember Uncle Wes telling me how the plane came over his house at Methwold Hythe a complete ball of flame very low, losing height, before crashing near Crockle Pit. Some of the crash site he told me was lost when the cut-off channel was dug out in the 1960's. The only aircraft I can find that crashed near this area is I believe a Ventura of 21 Squadron on 10th December 1942, details follow:

Ventura 21 Sqn AE759 YH-H
F/S G. H. Turcotte RCAF
Sgt J.R.D. Jones
Sgt G.W. Hatton
Sgt R.W. Dickson
Sgt O.W. Woodhead
LAC T. Rutherford.

The aircraft at the time was being ferried from Feltwell back to Methwold and someone did tell me that an airman had been to Feltwell to collect a pair of shoes which he had had repaired and so got a lift back on the stricken plane to Methwold. This would be why LAC Rutherford was on board, I guess. It would be unusual for a Leading Aircraftman to be among flight crew otherwise. Also it appears that the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton, near Bungay, have some pieces of wreckage in their collection.

So, I guess if I have the correct crash details, the photo of the young girl must have belonged to one of the aircrew listed. Turcotte was serving with the Canadian Air Force and I believe some are buried at St. Nicholas. It would be great to unite the photo with the subject. I guess she would be in her 60s now.

Regards,  Chris Cock.