My name is Richard Hubbard. In 1953 I was a 13 year old Spalding Grammar Schoolboy mad about aircraft and a committed plane spotter. The skies over South Lincolnshire were full of low flying military aircraft in those days. That summer we had seen a formation of up to 40 Lancaster Bombers flying so low over the centre of Spalding that you see the crews waving at us from the open doors. This continued for nearly a fortnight. They were practising for the Coronation Fly Past for the new Queen Elisabeth. On the afternoon of the 27th September I heard the sound of a Gloster Meteor jet fighter. They had a unique and distinctive sound. I looked up and saw the aeroplane very low about half a mile away. Then I saw the pilot eject and a few seconds later the sound of the crash in a field next to Two Plank Bridge.
The next day I was hauled out of a class at school to be interviewed by the Lincolnshire Free Press. Here below is the cutting of what was published
Following the crash I wrote to the C.O. of RAF 616 Squadron and he told me the aircraft number was WE912 and he sent me the following photograph of Meteors ready for take off at RAF Finningley
The Air Force sealed off the area and spent some months removing every last piece of the wreckage. When they left all that remained was a hole in the field
So 70 years later it is nice to know that there is a proper memorial to a very brave hero pilot
One Response
In the Spring of 2019 I responded to an appeal for information on the crash via The Heritage South Holland website as it was then. This lead to a chain of events instigated by myself which eventually lead to a memorial in remembrance of the pilot.
Having had prior involvement with a
Lincolnshire WW2 crash memorial a few years earlier this enabled me to do what was required in this situation, I undertook a degree of research as well talking with individuals who remembered that sad day. Next I approached the late Angela Newton MBE a District and County Councillor with the seed of an idea I had for a permanent memorial to the pilot, without hesitation she came on board and did what was required to see matters through to a successful conclusion.
Just over two years later on Monday 27th September 2021 a Memorial & Dedication Service took place in close proximity to where Pilot Officer George Furniss lost his life on that fateful day.