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Welcome to the website dedicated to the memory of Pilot Officer Robert Anthony Tritton who was tragically killed in 1955 when his Gloster Meteor jet aircraft crashed into farm buildings in Millthorpe, a small hamlet in the Parish of Holmesfield, North East Derbyshire.
On Sunday 18th April 2004, six residents of Holmesfield and Millthorpe (Nick & Jane Wheat, Jim Meggitt, Leann Vaughan, Steve Hewins, Robert Barnes) visited the site of the fatal air crash at Brookside Farm in Millthorpe where a Gloster Meteor piloted by P/O Bob Tritton smashed into farm outbuildings and a nearby site of a non-fatal aircrash in 1970 where an RF-4C Phantom jet crewed by Major Don Tokar and Major Peter Dunn crashed into woodland in nearby Unthank. After visiting the two crash sites, it was recognised that a permanent memorial to the tragic events of 1955 was long overdue and decided to do whatever they could to realise this aim. |
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Out of this desire was formed the Millthorpe Air Crash Memorial Fund which aimed to erect a permanent memorial to P/O Bob Tritton and the dramatic scenes of 1955 near the crash site in Millthorpe.
In additon, it was also recognised that there was a need for a permanent record for future generations of Holmesfield and Millthorpe residents plus the general public to discover more about what happened regarding the dramatic events of 1955 and 1970, events that will never be forgotten by those that witnessed them at first hand.
After over a year of canvassing and hard work, on Thursday 12th May 2005 at 3.25pm - exactly 50 years after the event - Mrs. Marianne Cambridge, sister of P/O Tritton unveiled the memorial at the new Millthorpe Plane Crash Memorial Garden with two brothers, Ralph and Roger Tritton in attendance.
The two air crashes affected the local residents of Millhorpe, Unthank and Holmesfield very deeply at the time and it is intended that the information will be collated into an informative publication that will be a permanent record for future generations to discover will be produced.
An appeal has gone out for the public to donate information in the form of photographs and press cuttings, personal memories, ancedotes and recollections by those that were on hand in 1955 and 1970 and their descendents.
If you are able to offer any such assistance, please contact Nick Wheat on 0114 289 0348.
Please browse this website and read the information that the group have gathered so far.