ON January 13, 1945, Marie Welburn was eight and living with her parents in Byron Road, off Hundens Lane, in Darlington. Her father, Fred Chaytor, had recently been invalided out of the RAF with breathing difficulties.

Shortly after 8.30pm that evening, he heard the noise of a plane and rushed into the room saying: "He's in trouble. He's down."

Moments later, Pilot Officer William McMullen was killed when his Lancaster bomber crashed into fields off Lingfield Lane.

Marie was too young to go out that night. "Next morning," she says, "us kids ran across the fields to Lingy Lane to the crash site. Firemen were still there, and there was white foam all over the plane, and there were strips of silver paper all over the ground.

"I later found out that they would drop these strips to interfere with the enemy radar."

Bill Bartle emails from Barnard Castle about last week's Memories coverage of the crash.

"Just to put the record right, and not to detract in any way from McMullen's bravery, I disagree with your statement that "he could have made to safety".

" At the time, 1,000ft was usually accepted as the minimum altitude for a safe bail out. Lewellin (McMullen's engineer) was extremely lucky to survive jumping at 600ft.

"Like all bomber pilots, McMullen would be aware that the second he let go of the controls, the aircraft would plunge earthwards. The odds on him being able to clamber to the 2ft square escape hatch and jump out in time were virtually zero at that height.

"This was accepted as part of the job. The lives of his crew came first. He made sure they escaped and then tried to make as safe a landing as he could. To me, this emphasises the incredible bravery of these men who knew these grim facts but carried on anyway."