The story of the crash which destroyed the church on 21 December 1939 appears in Brian Pears NE War Diary but basically a Hampden bomber was shot down mistakenly by Spitfires as it was making its way to Acklington, short of fuel. I haven't been able to find a newspaper report (yet) but 2 crew members were killed, Sgt SH Potts (Chevington cemetery) and AC1 E Humphrey. It seems that one local was also killed and one injured. There is another thread on Rootsweb which suggests that local men rescued some of the crew and one received the George Medal.
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