I knew Aunt May and Uncle Sam Norman’s parents from being a little girl and as I grew older was aware that they had a son who had died in the war. Uncle Sam was my Great Grandmother Ada Hawkes nee Miller’s brother When I was 17 I was training to be a Hairdresser and used to use Aunt May as a model. It was then I learned the full horror of them losing their only son. Norman was a Sergeant Pilot in the RAFVR and he flew Spitfires. He was killed on November 8th 1940 at 9.05 in the morning when on a training flight. He was one of many in those dangerous days who died this way having taken off from Catterick. His Spitfire X4423 crashed in a field near Hackforth, Catterick. The farmer James Ingledew on whose land the plane had crashed tried to save Norman despite the flames pulled Norman clear but he was already beyond help. Both James and a fireman Edwin Freer Richardson were awarded the British Empire Medal for Gallant Conduct for their actions in trying to rescue Norman from his burning Spitfire with total disregard for their own safety as they were exposed to exploding bombs and ammunition. We shall never know what happened that day. Aunt May told me that they thought he had blacked out maybe a victim of his oxygen system failing Having read the Operations Record Book for 54 Squadron for the 8th of November there is no entry for his death and the entry for the 9th November 1940 below reads as follows: Red section patrolled Barnard Castle _at 5000 feet because of a raid on the coast but nothing was seen. Sgt .Miller crashed at Hackforth Village at 0900 hours, and was unfortunately killed the Spitfire was Cat S Having read the Operations Record Book from the previous months it seems as if Norman did not arrive at Catterick until the very end of October 1940 as there is an entry for the 31st October 1940. Perhaps he was inexperienced in flying a Spitfire as the entry below seems to suggest. We shall never know. X4238 Sgt. Miller 1025 1050 Practice Landings at Leaming There was a coroners inquest on the 11th November 1940 where the Coroner Francis Ryalls Eddison recorded a verdict of misadventure. Norman was buried on the 16th November 1940 in Burton Latimer Cemetery and his parents who never got over his loss and mourned him until their own deaths and are buried beside him R I P. Lest We Forget