FURTHER details about a wartime plane crash have come to light following an appeal in The Northern Echo.

John Boyes was four years old when a Lancaster bomber crashed in a field near Sedgefield, County Durham.

He has often wondered about the incident and a chance conversation with a work colleague 57 years later revealed the details of the crew and how the accident happened.

All seven crew, six Canadians and an American, died in the training exercise tragedy.

The cause of the crash, near Sands Farm on November 24 1944, was a faulty fuel jettison system.

A tribute day for those who died was organised by Betty Amlin, in 1994.

Relatives of the dead airmen attended, including Mary Warren-Darley, widow of the navigator, who unveiled a plaque on a church wall.

There was also a flypast by F18 fighters from the Canadian Air Force, a parade and a service of remembrance conducted by the Reverend Martin King. A memorial maple tree was planted.

Others who remember the crash include Ronald Smith, who was an 18-year-old apprentice gardener at Sands Hall.

He visited the crash site the next day and found part of the fuselage and a wallet, which he handed to police.

A picture of what may be a wartime plane crash has also come to light.

The picture (left) was among the property of Sedgefield WI.

The president of the WI, Audrey Flanagan, said yesterday that she found the picture among the organisation's belongings and wondered if it was of the crash at Sands Farm.

Anyone with further information about the picture is asked to contact The Northern Echo newsdesk, on (01325) 381313.