Flight Sergeant (W.Op./Air Gnr.) 1217084 Derek Arthur Holt

BMD details:
Death of Derek Arthur Holt registered at Northumberland North Second. Vol 10b - Page 554.

Family details:
Son of Mr. and Mrs. A. Holt, of Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

Census details:
1939 Register - Not identified.

[b]Short [/b][b]Stirling[/b][b] III No. EH880 75 Squadron RAF Bomber Command Aircraft. Tragedy at Cliff House Farm, [/b][b]1st December 1943[/b][b], 11 Killed.[/b] Stirling EH880 took off from RAF Mepal, Cambridgeshire at 15.16 hrs, joining 12 Halifaxes and 18 other Stirlings on a sea mine sowing mission off Denmark and the Frisian Islands. On the return home the aircraft was diverted to Acklington due to fog. At 22.00 hrs the aircraft, approaching from the north east descended to land, but due to fog they had misjudged their location by 11/2 miles and tragically flew into the upper floor of Cliff House Farm. [b][u]Extract from 'The Times' Newspaper, published 3rd December 1943:[/u][/b] "Aircraft Crash on Farmhouse. Family of five young children killed. Five children - all their family - of Mr and Mrs W. Robson were killed when an Aircraft crashed into Cliff House, a small dairy farm near Amble, Northumberland, on Wednesday night. The children's ages ranged from one to nine years. They were sleeping in an upstairs room. The mother and father, who with two friends Mr. and Mrs Rowell of Dilston [i][Terrace][/i] Amble, were sitting in a downstairs room, were injured but not seriously. One of the crew of the aircraft, a gunner, was saved by Mr. Rowell. Mr Rowell said last night: 'We did not realize what had happened until the house collapsed above our heads. We managed to stand up, bruised and badly dazed, and, looking upward we saw the sky. Mrs Robson tried to make her way towards the stairs, which had been blown away. My wife called my attention to a burning object outside which was moving about. We rushed over and found it was a gunner with his clothes alight. Mr Rowell rolled the airman on the ground to extinguish the burning clothes. Although badly burned, the gunner was alive. The children's partly charred bodies were recovered later." Children of William and Norah Robson who died at Cliff House Farm: Sylvia Robson, aged 9, Ethel Robson, aged 7, Margery Robson, aged 5. William Matthew Robson, aged 3, Sheila Robson, aged 19 months. [pic]imgs/S1PWHYAOTV/5_Robson_Children_died.jpg[/pic][caption]The children of William and Norah Robson who died at Cliff House Farm[/pic] [b][br][/b] [b][br][/b] [pic]imgs/S1PWHYAOTV/1217084HoltDA.jpg[/pic] [pic]imgs/S1PWHYAOTV/1217084HoltDA2.jpg[/pic][caption]The headstone of Flight Sergeant (W.Op./Air Gnr.) Derek Arthur Holt at St Helens Cemetery (Photo courtesy of Jeff Keenan)[/caption]