This sculpture of an airman stands by the side of the Northallerton Road at Dalton-on-Tees.
Per Ardua Ad Astra
In memory of and to honour those who served at Croft during World War II.
Dedicated by the members of 431 Iroquois and 434 Bluenose R.C.A.F Squadrons. 6 Group Bomber Command. 26 September 1987.
The sculptor was Helen Granger Young
RAF Croft Memorial
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57,000 RAF bomber crew members were killed during WW2, that was nearly half of those who served on operations. On average 10% of crews failed to return from an operation. Some raids lost substantially more e.g The 617 Squadron, Dam Buster raid lost 8 aircraft (42%). 53 crew were killed with 3 taken prisoner.
A typical Tour of Duty for Bomber Command was 30 Operations if one was lucky to survive that long. After which a crew was stood down for about 6 months, mainly reassigned to Training Units. On completion of the ‘rest period’ crews would then start a 2nd and final Tour of another 30 operations. Very few Bomber Command aircrew survived that long. The average age of a crew member was 22. Guy Gibson, leader of 617 Squadron, was 24.