During the Second World War, Yorkshire was home to around 40 airfields, many in the flat areas of the Vale of York. Thousands of airmen died flying from the Yorkshire airfields, many lost on training flights, because of weather conditions or aircraft malfunction. In recent decades memorials have been placed at some of these crash sites, and also close to former airfields.
This memorial is a recent addition, dedicated in May 2010. Like the earlier memorials at Tholthorpe, East Moor, Wombleton and other locations in Yorkshire and across the country, it stands as a reminder of a former airfield, constructed in the 1940s as part of a massive war effort. The propellor used in the memorial sculpture was donated by the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington.
More on Skipwith Common, on this site.
Spitfire marks opening on National Nature Reserve (NNR) at Skipwith Common – York Press
England’s newest nature reserve cleared for take-off – Natural England website