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Search forTribute to war hero who died to save lives of innocent boys (with pics and audio)
Friday, July 25, 2008, 08:30
With military standards respectfully lowered, and the hands of RAF officers raised in salute, The Last Post was played for Aston Maurice Cooper-Key.
Sixty-eight years earlier, the 21-year-old pilot was flying a Hurricane fighter when its engine failed and he tried to land in a Normanton park.
But when he spotted a group of boys playing there, he changed course, crashed into a nearby railway embankment and died.
One of those boys was Dennis Tunnicliffe. And yesterday, the 76-year-old gave thanks as he laid a wreath of red, white and blue flowers at the start of the memorial service he had longed for.
Mr Tunnicliffe, of Matlock Road, Chaddesden, appealed through the Evening Telegraph in May for a ceremony to be held, after reading a book that identified the pilot.
He said he never expected so many people to join him for yesterday's service, at Sherwood Recreation Ground, off Osmaston Park Road, close to the site where the pilot crashed.
Mr Tunnicliffe said: “By chance, I picked up a book from the library and in it I saw an article that I didn't know existed about the crash.
“I contacted the Telegraph because I needed a bit of help organising a service.
“I couldn't have done it without the newspaper, which I'm very grateful for.
“After the story appeared in print, my phone never stopped ringing as different people called to tell me they had witnessed the crash too.
“It was a tragic story but nice that it ended up with a day like this, commemorating his brave act.”
A minibus full of people from RAF Digby, in Lincolnshire, where pilot officer Cooper-Key was stationed, came to Derby for the ceremony.
Padre Mark Kennard led the crowd, several of whom had witnessed the crash, in a prayer before reflecting on the heroic sacrifice made by the pilot.
He said: “We stand in amazement because he would only have had a split second to take action.
“He laid down his life defending his country, in order that we might have our freedom.
“How appropriate that we meet in a park to remember that very brave man while children play in the background.”
Representatives from the Derbyshire British Legion brought the standards of two ex-service associations to the ceremony and raised them either side of Padre Kennard as he spoke.
Bernard Page, chairman of the Derbyshire legion, said: “The service was simple but very apt.”
Warrant Officer David Harrington, who works in the museum at RAF Digby, spent weeks researching the career of pilot officer Cooper-Key and putting together an information booklet.
As members of the public assembled, he gave them copies of the log containing details of the tragic flight.
Officer Harrington said: “We started to build up a story that we didn't know had existed.
“It is important to the RAF that we maintain the memory of people who have flown in previous battles, and the service was all about doing that.”
Pilot officer Cooper-Key was engaged in an anti-aircraft exercise, near Rolls-Royce, when his engine failed.
He had been posted to RAF Digby little more than a month before he died and was buried at nearby Scopwick cemetery.
Among those who also witnessed the crash were Dorothy Hill, 85, of Allestree, and Eric Richards, 86, of Millbrook Avenue, Belper.
They shared their memories with Derby's deputy mayor, Councillor Sean Marshall, following the service.
Mr Marshall said: “It's been fantastic speaking to people who saw what happened.
“The pilot was only 21, a child, when he died. What a brave act.”
Peter Kirk and Peter Felix spent 25 years researching and writing The Bombing of Rolls-Royce at Derby – the book which brought Mr Tunnicliffe's memories flooding back.
Mr Kirk said: “We inadvertently triggered this off.
“It's ironic, really, as we only put the details of this flight, which wasn't directly linked to the bombing, in the book because we couldn't think of any other way to get the story across to people. And it did just that.”
in memory: The service conducted by the Rev (Sqd Ldr) Mark Kennard while children play in the background. Far right, the wreckage of Cooper-Key's aircraft against the signal gantry, near Peartree Station. Left, our front page from May 1 this year.
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