A SPECIAL service of commemoration will be held at Buckden Pike with the sole survivor of the Polish aircrew who crashed there in 1942.

Joesph Fusniak, currently living in Bexleyheath, Kent, will be transported to Buckden Pike in an army Lynx helicopter for a memorial service on May 20.

Mr Fusniak and his wife will be flown from the Devonshire Hotel, Bolton Abbey, to Buckden by Captain Matthew Roberts, from Cononley, of the Army Air Corps.

A service will be held at the memorial, led by Rev David Williams and is expected to be attended by members of Skipton and Keighley air cadets and former air cadets.

Chris Rickerby, commanding officer of the air cadets at Skipton, explained that he had talked to Mr Fusniak's son, Richard, who said that his father would like to visit the site.

Mr Rickerby remembered that a former air cadet had now become a pilot and got in touch with Captain Roberts about the possibility of organising a helicopter flight.

Now the Army has given its approval for the use of its helicopter to transport Mr Fusniak, weather and operations permitting.

Mr Fusniak was one of six Polish airmen who took off from RAF Bramcote, in Warwickshire, on a training mission in a Wellington Bomber.

The plane flew into a bad snow storm and as the pilot struggled to see, the plane crashed. The impact was such that four members of the crew were killed instantly.

Mr Fusniak, who was the rear gunner, was able to crawl around the remnants of the plane to find his colleagues. He eventually found the wireless operator, Sergeant Jan Sadowski, who was still alive but seriously injured.

As the radio was not working, Mr Fusniak recognised that the pair were unlikely to be found in the dense snow so he left Sgt Sadowski with a can of soup as he struggled to find help.

Injured with a broken ankle, Mr Fusniak, who was just 19 at the time, battled through the snow following a trail of footprints left by a fox.

Trying to fend off the effects of hypothermia he eventually made out figures in the distance and called out for help.

He had reached a road near the White Lion Inn, at the village of Cray, when the landlord's daughter Nannie Parker spotted him and rushed to tell her father, William. It was then that Mr Fusnik was taken to safety in the pub.

Unfortunately by the time a search party was able to get to the plane Sgt Sadowski had died.

In May 1942, in recognition for his bravery, Sergeant Fusniak was awarded the British Empire Medal by King George VI and decorated by Chief Air Marshall 'Bomber' Harris.

Mr Fusniak, now 83, told the Herald that he used to visit the memorial regularly, but had not been for the past 15 years.

"I would like to go again to see the memorial," he said.

Each November Skipton air cadets take part in a service of remembrance at Buckden Pike.