A memorial service has taken place to remember airmen killed in a training accident seventy-six years ago.

The service took place in the village of Dorstone in Herefordshire.

Hereford Times: The spitfire flypast. Picture: John Platts The spitfire flypast. Picture: John Platts

The memorial marked the accident which took place a short time before the end of the Second World War, on 29th April 1945, when a Wellington Training aircraft was caught in a sudden snowstorm over Dorstone Hill and plunged into Moccas Park woods, losing all six aircrew.

Full details of this tragic event are available online.

On Sunday 15th August, over seventy invited guests attended a special Memorial Service to dedicate a large, engraved memorial stone, created by local craftsmen, and placed on the edge of the original crash site.

Family members and relatives of the official witnesses had been traced, and the Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force were represented, with their ensigns covering the stone.

Hereford Times: WO Rodney Wallace RAAF lays wreath for G G Minchin Smith RAAF Age 23 who died in the crash. Picture: Sally Corrick WO Rodney Wallace RAAF lays wreath for G G Minchin Smith RAAF Age 23 who died in the crash. Picture: Sally Corrick

The service, led by Revd. Luci Morriss and Revd. Rana Davies-James, was followed by the flypast of a Spitfire courtesy of BBMF which delighted everyone.

A recording of the service can be seen on here.

Hereford Times: The memorial stone. Picture: John Platts The memorial stone. Picture: John Platts

Access to the site of the memorial stone is open to all in the ‘Moccas Park Nature Reserve’ thanks to the kind permission of Natural England.

A donation will be made to the RAF Benevolent Fund.