This weekend the public are invited to attend a service at Agecroft cemetery for the 71st anniversary of the Salford Lancaster Bomber crash: one of the most famous plane crashes in Salford history.
The service, held by the Friends of Salford Cemeteries Trust, will take place from 11am on Sunday 26 July at Agecroft Cemetery on Langley Road.
On Sunday 30 July 1944 all seven crew members of a 106 Squadron PB304 Lancaster Bomber and two people on the ground were killed when the damaged aircraft stuttered in the sky before piling into the banks of the River Irwell near Langley Road in Pendlebury, Salford.
The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Peter Lines, was trying to crash land on the Littleton Road playing fields just beyond the river.
106 Squadron Lancaster Bomber crew – via salfordwarmemorials.co.uk
The wings clipped the top of houses on nearby Regatta Street and buried itself into the riverbank.
It was reported there was a chilling silence of around half a minute before a gigantic explosion ripped through the air.
Its thought the plane may have taken damage earlier that day as it carried out a bombing raid on German targets over Normandy.
Over northern France the sky was thick with cloud and obscuring enemy positions on the ground so many of the 460 Lancaster Bombers involved were ordered back to base with a full complement of bombs.
The Avro Lancaster was Bomber Command’s most famous and devastating aircraft in World War Two.
The Lancaster could carry a maximum load of 14,000lb of bombs, but could also hold one of the largest bombs ever dropped in World War Two, the 22,000lb explosive nicknamed the ‘Grand Slam’.
Aircrew of a 428 Squadron Avro Lancaster Bomber – Wikipedia
Around 80 people were injured when the plane crashed and its hold blew up.
The explosion was heard all over the city.
Regatta Street took heavy damage with windows blown out by the force of the blast, roofs ripped from their walls and bricks raining down on the road.
Along with the crew two people from Pendleton died of their injuries on the ground, 45-year-old ARP warden George Morris and 72-year-old Lucy Bamford.
Ms Bamford’s grandson Joe, author of the book The Salford Lancaster, will be attending the memorial service on Sunday 26 July to highlight the perilous journey of the crew which led to such a tragic end.
