AN act of bravery which saved dozens of lives when a pilot sacrificed himself to avoid crashing his plane into rows of houses was remembered by locals.

Two airmen died as a result of the crash at 10am in Pogmoor on January 6, 1942, with 22-year-old Australian pilot Alexander Hollingworth choosing to divert the Whitley bomber toward a quarry, now part of Pogmoor Recreation Ground.

He and Canadian air gunner Alexander Gibson Buchanan, 23, died while three other crew members survived.

The aircraft took off from Dalton airfield at 4am for an operational flight to attack Cherbourg’s docks in France.

The crew were unable to locate the target area because of thick cloud so did not release their bombs and, while over the French target, the starboard engine began to give the crew trouble so they made for home.

On their flight up England the engine over-revved uncontrollably so it was shut down.

The aircraft continued to lose height so the pilot opted to try to restart the failed engine but this resulted in it catching fire.

Mr Hollingworth then ordered his crew to abandon the aircraft but he remained at the controls to try and land it so that it would not crash into the housing.

Residents gathered at the site, on Cresswell Street, to pay their respects on Tuesday to remember its 83rd anniversary.

Organiser Tom Parnham said: “We think we’ve got a responsibility to keep the memory alive - there’s a lot of people who wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for his bravery.

“Anybody who lived around Cresswell Street, or who had grandparents or great-grandparents there, wouldn’t be here today if he hadn’t have done what he did.

“He would be flying north, so would’ve demolished Cresswell Street, Waddington Road, probably a part of Winter Road - all that would’ve been flattened.

“The plane weighed about eight tons and would’ve been doing about 200mph, so would’ve taken a fair amount of houses.

“His sole purpose must’ve been to miss the houses, otherwise he’d have bailed out like his colleagues and just let it crash but he stayed inside.

“We think that’s an immense act of bravery by somebody in their early 20s.

“For a good while since flying back from the coast, they knew the plane was in desperate condition and probably wouldn’t make it all the way back.”

Goff Griffiths, president of the Royal British Legion, praised attendees for braving the icy temperatures to remember the pilot’s heroism.

“We had a great turnout of about 50 people and members of the RAF gave a speech about that fateful day which, if it wasn’t for the pilot, would have resulted in many more lives being lost,” he told the Chronicle.

“It’s important that the community continues coming together every year to mark this anniversary.”