A Canadian couple in their eighties made the trek to Tewitt Hall Wood near Oakworth to visit a memorial to six of their fellow countrymen who died when their Wellington bomber crashed nearby in 1944.

Len and Lou McGaughey -- who have visited this country every year since 1985 -- brought along a plaque to fix to a seat donated several years ago by the Bomber Command Association of Canada.

Len, 83, and wife Lou, 80, were accompanied by Oakworth women Janet Armstrong, a strong voice in the project to erect a permanent memorial stone to the dead aircrew on July 4, 1993.

Janet said the ill-fated aircraft flew from Ossington air base in Nottinghamshire on a training mission but crashed into the hillside above Oakworth on a foggy morning during January 2, 1944. All six of its young crew died.

Len, a former navigator in the RAF and the Canadian Air Force, met wife Lou - originally from Dewsbury - when she helped nurse him in hospital after a crash.

They received the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for their services to Bomber Command of Canada and act as liaisons for that organisation during their regular visits to the UK.

Len and Lou McGaughey fix the plaque to the memorial seat donated by the Bomber Command Association of Canada