Fatal Lancaster crash remembered on 75th anniversary

At 6am on October 14, 1944 a crew from the Royal Canadian Air Force, took off from RAF Kelstern, near Binbrook,to take part in a bombing mission to Duisberg in Germany.

Immediately, Q-Queenie, as it was known, became a stricken plane as an engine caught fire, quickly spreading to the wing.

The pilot struggled to gain height to allow most of his crew to parachute to safety and it must have become obvious to him the plane was going to crash and the villages of Fotherby and Little Grimsby were in his flightpath, but with great skill he managed to avoid them.

Flying Officer Lloyd Albert Hannah, the pilot, died when the plane crashed and Flight Sergeant Lloyd Douglas Bennett died when his parachute failed to open.

On October 14, 2019 a service will be held in St Edith’s Church, Little Grimsby, followed by a walk to the crash site, where an act of remembrance will be held, with a flypast by Typhoons planned.