Halling WW2 pilot crash anniversary

On 21 January 1944 a 20-year old RAF pilot, Flying Officer Denis Page, flying out of RAF Gravesend, in a Mustang fighter, died when his plane crashed at the top of Lads Lane, Upper Halling. This coming Sunday 21 January 2024, exactly 80 years to the day, members of his family will travel from Salisbury, Bristol and Oxford to pay their respects at the site and lay a wreath.

Snodland and Halling Historical Societies have assisted the family to contact the farmer for permission to gather at the field. Halling HS has traced an elder, 8 years old at the time and now 88, still living in the village who recalls the crash. It may be that other elder Halling villagers also recall the crash. The family has invited any locals to join them this Sunday at the site at 11am (see location below), and farmer Andrew Lingham has invited the family to toast Denis the pilot at the Court Farm brewery after the visit. If you’d like to join the family in paying respects to a WW2 hero pilot please contact Halling HS at hallinghistorical@gmail.com

The family has produced a wonderful biography of the pilot's short life and agreed this can be available publicly. It shows a tragic waste of a young life as so often the case in WW2. If you would like to read it please request a copy from hallinghistorical@gmail.com