A memorial on the A51, near Bridgemere Garden Centre, was dedicated to the airmen in 2003.

Their Wellington bomber plunged to the ground in bad weather three hours into a training flight on Saturday, October 28, 1944.

One man, Sgt Douglas Stewart Hollis Wilson, aged 22 at the time of the crash and from Sutton Coldfield, was the only survivor. He died during the 1960s.

The plane, which had been built at Chester, was being flown by 20-year-old Flight Sergeant Leonard Joseph Timperley from Stratford. It was intended to be his last training flight before taking over his own aircraft the following week.

He died in the crash along with Pilot Officer Cecil Frank Holmes, 29, from Surrey; Sergeant Lawrence Edwin Harrison, 24, from London; Sergeant James David Milne, 32, from Surrey; Sergeant Ronald Whiteley, 23, from Rochdale; and Sergeant Arthur Frederick Baker, 35, from Wiltshire.

Every year, the Parish Council and others commemorate their loss in a service.