Service for tragic Spitfire pilot

A SPECIAL service of remembrance will take place at Turville Heath on Sunday.

It will commemorate the death of Spitfire pilot Peter Spencer whose plane crashed off Balhams Lane on December 1, 1943.

Rev Sue Morton, of the Hambleden Valley group of churches, will be conducting the Wild Church service.

She researched the tragedy and has been able to piece together the events surrounding it and will share these on the day.

Two of Mr Spencer’s family members will be at the event, which will start at 2pm by the dugout at Turville Heath with permission of Lord and Lady Sainsbury.

Weather permitting, there will also be a flypast by local pilot James Cooling, in a Piper Club or PA28 Warrior. The service will also remember those soldiers who trained at Turville Heath for the
D-Day landings.

Last year, Wild Church held a special service in Fawley to commemorate a secret Second World War flight.

The Halifax DG283 was carrying 15 crates of carrier pigeons to agents behind enemy lines in France when it crashed at the site of Last Cottage in Fawley on March 14, 1943.

The six-man crew from 161 Squadron had taken off from RAF Tempsford, near Sandy, Bedfordshire. Two of them died in the crash and four survived.

About 90 people attended the service, including Wycombe MP Steve Baker, who is a former Royal Air Force engineer, and Lady McAlpine, of Fawley Hill, who allowed people to park on her land.