I RECENTLY heard a reference on the radio to the American Liberator Bomber which crashed on a Freckleton infants school in the early 1940s.

I vividly recall this incident as I was stationed at the time, as a member of the Fleet Air Arm, at the nearby Royal Air Force Camp at Kirkham.

On this particular morning I was making my way to the Fleet Air Arm hangar when a violent storm commenced. I immediately took shelter in the hangar doorway. I then heard the sound of an aircraft's engines and, looking up above I saw the Liberator Bomber flying very low overheard.

I also briefly saw the faces of some of the crew looking down and a few seconds later there was an explosion.

I later learned that the explosion was centred on a nearby infants school in Freckleton and more than 80 children had been killed. I was detailed off to attend the mass funeral of these children and it was heartbreaking to see the lines of little coffins awaiting burial. I shall never forget it!

ROY MARTIN, Kemp Court, Whalley New Road, Blackburn.