A LOCHMABEN born airman who died in a WWII crash has been remembered in a special ceremony.
Flying Officer George William McCartney, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, was the air bomber on the Halifax III MZ311 which crashed in August 1944 on Cleeve Common in Cheltenham.
Along with his crewmates, he was honoured at a recent event there, attended by the High Commission of Canada, the RAF Association, MPs and many relatives of the dead men.
Wreaths were laid and an RAF A400M performed a flypast to salute the fallen comrades.
It was all organised by Cleve Common Trust and a spokesperson said: “The ceremony to dedicate the Memorial on Cleeve Common to the crew of the Halifax bomber that crashed in 1944 marked the culmination of four years of work for the trust. We were contacted in 2020 by a military aviation enthusiast in Australia, who had heard about the incident from friends in Cheltenham and was looking into it. Through the investigation reports from the time and accounts from a few local residents who were children at the time, we were able to narrow down the crash location.
“The Trust decided to erect a monument, designed by Mark Wilks, with a plaque on a piece of stone from one of the quarry faces on the Common, This was unveiled in late 2022.
“It is wonderful to think there is now a permanent tribute to the gallantry and service of the seven young men who lost their lives in this crash, along with many other men and women who died serving their country.”
The Halifax bomber went out on the evening of August 25 1944 to lay sea mines off La Pallice in the Bay of Biscay. Having completed their hazardous mission, they returned towards their home base at RAF Breighton in Yorkshire.
However, they never reached there, perishing in a crash at about 2.20 am the next morning.
George McCartney was just 32 at the time of his death, having been born in Lochmaben in April 1912. He moved with his father and twin sister to Canada in 1931, settling in New Brunswick.
After enlisting in April 1940, George was commissioned on August 6 1943 and joined the 78 Squadron eight months later. He is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey.
