Little is known of the last flight of WW2 airman Sgt John Arthur Edwards.

The closest thing to a record of the Dartford man's last moments is the report of a French policeman, who was woken by the noise of a plane fight in the early hours of May 6, 1942 and looked out to see a plane, lit up by flames, tearing through the sky.

Sgt Edwards was one of seven crew members on their way home on board that Stirling bomber, when they were hit by a German nightfighter above northern France. Below them, officer MdL Devred watched the plane tilt to one side as it became consumed by fire before it plummeted down into the Avesnois farmland.

That their tale - along with those of dozens of other crews - can now be told in part is thanks to the painstaking research of French historian Bernard Feutry, who is now trying to track down the descendants of the men who died. Mr Feutry has spent years compiling information from crash reports, library records and RAF records to in an effort to build a full picture around the crash sites of Northern France.

Having located the site at 'Wallers-Trelon' now Wallers-en-Fagne, he set about researching the plane and crew, who took off from RAF Oakington near Cambirdge at 9.33pm on May 5 1942.

On board was 20-year-old John, son of Frederick and Winifred Edwards from Dartford; together with John Higgins, 22, from Goseberton, Lincolnshire; Jeffrey Lewis, 21, from Nelson, New Zealand; Arthur Sylwood Lush, 22, from Owslebury, Hampshire; Robert Leonard Wootley, 22, from St John's Hill, Battersea; Geoffrey Russell Gahan from Clifton Hill, Victoria, Austrailia; and Geoffrey Sherwood Markland, for whom their are no record available.

The crew were on a mission to Stuttgart, and but little is known of its success. All that can be said is they were heading home in the early hours of the following morning, when they were attacked by a Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 nightfighter piloted by Heinz Martin Hadeball.

Below them, French police officer MdL Devred was woken by the sound of fighting in the sky - and his report records what would have been the last moments of all those on board.

"At 3.30am on May 6 I was woken up by a plane fight," he wrote. "I saw a red dot in the sky, going from south to north. Two flames burst and the aircraft tilted to its right, ignited completely and stung to the ground.

At 7.30am I discovered the debris of the plane in the pasture of Wiame (Gustave) de Wallers, at a place called Les Bouves, 200 metres east of the fortifications of Morenrieux and 100 metres to the south of the rural road known as 'mid-league' connecting Wallers to Trelon, Wallers territory.

The remains of the cabin, still smoking, were sunk into the ground. Two other large parts of the plane, also buried, were 50 and 75 metres away.

Debris from the plane, scraps of flesh, parachutes from the airmen, presumably from the British army were scattered over a radius of more than 100 metres.

It is impossible to determine the number of occupants of the aircraft, there was not a whole body left."

The account is among the more detailed of the 8,000 crashes records on Mr Feutry's website www.francecrashes39-45.net, but the French historian now wants to take his research to the families of the airmen who lost their lives.

"I now know the story of 110 airmen, British, Canadian, New Zealander, Australian, American and French, many of whom rest in our cemeteries," said Mr Feutry. "I would like families to know the location and sometimes the cause of a family member's plane crash.

"I have already found four families in Australia, two in Canada, one in the USA, and one in Great Britain. Families have come to France and I let you imagine the emotion."

Having contacted Dartford Library, Mr Feutry was able to establish John Edwards was a sergeant RAF Observer and a Volunteer Reserve for 7 Squadron.

He was the son of Frederick George born in 1901 and Winifred Ivy Edwards born in 1902 who married in 1921. The 1939 census showed him living with possibly his brother Roy F Edwards who was born in 1926 and who died in 2012.

Mr Feutry said it was important to find and inform families, and thanked everyone who could help in the effort.

If you have any information on John Edwards' family please contact the Dartford Messenger on 01474 564327 or email dartford@thekmgroup.co.uk

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