Downham Market: New memorial to bomber crews at Bexwell

The tribute at the church at Bexwell, near Downham Market, is dedicated to those who flew from RAF Downham Market.

It carries two Victoria Crosses, in honour of Flt Sgt Arthur Aaron and Sqn Ian Ldr Bazelgette, who were both awarded the medal posthumously.

The new memorial to the airman who died flying from RAF Downham Market during the Second World War (Image: RAF Marham)

Flt Sgt Aaron was flying a Stirling bomber from Downham on an attack on Turin in August 1943, when the aircraft was hit by machine gun fire.

The navigator was killed and other crew members were wounded, including the 21-year-old pilot, who had been wounded in the face and lung and his right arm rendered useless.

Flt Sgt Aaron helped his crew fly the four-engined aircraft home before he collapsed from exhaustion and died.

Part of the former RAF base at Downham Market (Image: Ian Burt)

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Sqn Ldr Bazelgette, 25, was flying a Lancaster bomber during a raid on a German flying bomb storage dump in northern France when the aircraft was hit by flak and set on fire.

Sqn Ldr Bazalgette was flying a Lancaster bomber (Image: Chris Bishop)

He pressed on with his attack despite the damage, before ordering his crew to bail out.

Two were badly injured, so Sqn Ldr Bazelgette tried to land the aircraft rather than jump to safety, but it exploded killing all three.

During its three years of operations, from 1942 - 45, some 773 airmen were killed flying missions from the base.

A rededication service was held for the new memorial to RAF Downham Market (Image: RAF Marham)

It was the home of the elite Pathfinders, who flew in low ahead of the main bomber force to drop marker flares and incendiaries to illuminate the target, along with other units.

The new memorial, constructed by Downham-based engineer Jonathan Horton, also carried the numbers of the different squadrons which flew Stirlings, Lancasters and Mosquito aircraft from Bexwell.

A Second World War Mosquito aircraft (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Little now remains beyond a few huts, some of which form part of a business park, while the concrete runways the bombers took off from were broken up in the 1980s to provide foundations for the new A10 Downham bypass.

There are also hopes a new memorial may be sited near the end of one of the former runways later this year, bearing the names of all who died.