Requiem - Places of loss in the East Anglian Landscape

Landscapes can be deceptive. Sometimes a landscape seems to be less a setting for the life of its inhabitants than a curtain behind which their struggles, achievements and accidents takes place. For those who are behind the curtain, landmarks are no longer only geographic but also biographical and personal.

John Berger

Hidden in the sweeping folds & sinews of a familiar and often featureless East Anglian landscape, are places where many hundreds of military air crew met violent & tragic ends. During World War Two (and beyond) a vast number of aircraft crashed due to accidents, combat and mechanical failure. It’s not surprising as this area of England had over a 100 airfields due to its strategic proximity to the continent. But the the story of these losses is little known.

We pass these places everyday, but the story of sacrifice and loss remain hidden, as no physical trace of the story remains. Rarely an on-site memorial informs the passing traveller, but these are few in number.

This project re-tells the place story, for beyond the tangible lay the distant echoes of lives cut short.

The project began in April 2023 and is ongoing. The completed project will incorporate all crew names.