A MEMORIAL is finally to be placed on a crash site in Canada where an airman from Hale died - nearly seven decades after his death.

On July 14, 1944, Hale’s John William Christopher Reeve and three fellow crew members took off in a B-25 bomber on a navigation training exercise over Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada.

Days later, his parents, John and Ann Reeve, of Hale Road, Altrincham, were told that their 21-year-old son - known as Chris - and his colleagues were missing, presumed lost in the forests of northern Vancouver Island.

The whereabouts of the plane - Mitchell 319 - remained unknown until September, 1960, when a prospector located the aircraft nose and centre section on a mountain slope on Vancouver Island. No bodies were located at the crash site.

Now a Canadian group of former military personnel wants to install a commemorative cairn on the site, as they have already done for other World War Two crash sites in the area .

Brian West, a UK-based member of the group, said they planned to erect the memorial within 18 months - and want to contact family members to let them know.

Brian said: “Over the past decade we have placed cairns at similar crash sites on the island to commemorate aircrew that died in similar circumstances, and plan to erect a cairn on the spot that Mitchell 319 came to rest.”

Chris Reeve was a navigator in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. His crew was on a training course and it is believed they became lost while flying in cloud and hit the mountainside.

He was a former pupil at Altrincham Grammar School, chairman of the Altrincham Youth Association and an employee at Lloyds Bank in Broadheath.

* if you have any details about Chris Reeve contact cgriffin@messengergrp.co.uk *A DUTCH researcher who is investigating a Second World War crash in which a 20-year-old Sale airman died is trying to trace the man’s family.

Richard van de Velde is studying an incident in which an RAF bomber came down on August 28, 1942, near the town of Beusichem.

The crew of seven from 15 Squadron were all killed, including Sgt Marcus Burtt, the son of Victor and May, of Sale. He was a member of Sale Football Club (Sale RUFC) and is listed on their war memorial, pictured.

Anyone who has details about Marcus Burtt can contact Richard at r.velde@hetnet.nl or write to: Bernhardlaan 7, 4112KH, Beusichem.