Two communities in England are honouring a Moose Jaw-area pilot who served during the Second World War and died while attempting to keep his plane from crashing into the villages.
Flying Officer (F/O) Lloyd Albert Hannah and seven other airmen were flying in a Lancaster bomber as part of a 31-plane mission on Oct. 14, 1944, to attack the German city of Duisberg.
Hannah was the pilot of the plane. He took off from Kelstern Aerodrome in Lincolnshire, England, but it became immediately apparent that something was wrong. One of the Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 gasoline-fueled engines caught fire just as the plane was taking flight.
Realizing the plane was going to crash, Hannah, 26, ordered the crew to bale out. Six of the eight men did safely; Hannah stayed behind in a successful attempt to avoid hitting the villages of Fotherby and Little Grimsby. He died after the plane — nicknamed Queenie — crashed into a field six minutes after takeoff. A second crewman, Flight Sgt. Lloyd Douglas Bennett, 26, also died after his parachute failed to open.
Both men are buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Commonwealth War Cemetery in North Yorkshire, 26 kilometres north of Leeds in central England.
To honour the sacrifice Hannah and Bennett made, residents of the two villages held a service at St. Edith’s Anglican Church in Little Grimsby on Oct. 14 — 75 years to the day — to give thanks for what the men did, particularly for Hannah’s efforts in keeping the plane from smashing into either community. The residents also laid a wreath at the crash site.
Also in attendance was David Langner, a nephew of Hannah, who flew from Canada to attend the anniversary service.
“They have always been considered heroes because they saved the two villages,” Barbara Chester, churchwarden of St. Edith’s, said in an email, “and a plaque has been placed in Little Grimsby church to that effect.”
Memorial services have been held in the past, but this is the first such service on the actual anniversary of the crash of the Lancaster LL956, she continued. A similar service was held in May 1995 during celebrations in England to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe (V-E Day).
This was when a plaque was installed on the wall of St. Edith’s Church. The residents of Fotherby and Little Grimsby recorded their thanks for Hannah’s efforts during that fateful flight on Oct. 14, 1944.
“It is therefore vital that we honour the two Canadian airmen who died on this date, 75 years later,” Chester added.
For Langner, this was his second trip to England. He, his mother Leone, and his father visited Little Grimsby in 2008 but were unable to find the crash site. They visited Harrogate to see the graves of Leone’s younger brothers Lloyd and Harold, the latter killed in a plane crash just months after Lloyd died. She placed a Canadian flag on each of their graves.
Lloyd Albert Hannah was one of eight children born to Allan and Mary, and was later the husband of Margaret Lorene of Tuxford, Sask. While Lloyd and several of his siblings were born in Avonlea, they grew up on a farm between Marquis and Tuxford. Most of the family later moved to Moose Jaw in 1941 and settled in a home on Alder Avenue at the corner of Ross Street.
Five of the children served in the Second World War. Two boys — Lloyd and his younger brother, Harold Allan Hannah — died while overseas. Both served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and both are buried in Harrogate (Stonefall) Commonwealth War Cemetery.
