Micklefield

Like Kippax, Micklefield was a mining village which was particularly active during the Second World War, and has its own stories to tell, of soldiers killed, prisoners of war (pictured below an article from 20^th September 1940), soldiers reported missing, multiple family members serving, and service at home.

3^rd April 1942:

Below: 14^th July 1943

Below: 15^th June 1945

Below: Micklefield ARP

Below: 26^th February 1943. Right: 3^rd November 1944. Below right: 3^rd September 1943

18^th May 1945 27^th October 1944 26^th February 1943

Sergeant Donald Swaine (below left), service no. 1105999, was a Wireless Operator and Gunner with the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 106 Squadron based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. He was killed overnight on 29^th March 1942 when his AV Roe Manchester L7394 failed to return from a mission to the Friesian Islands off the Coast of Germany and the Netherlands. The entire crew of seven was lost without trace, and were noted in the RAF records as ‘failed to return’. German records indicate that L7394 was shot down at 22:00pm in the Friesian Islands by Helmut Lent, the top German night-fighter ace, in a Messerschmitt Bf.110. Lent died later in the War in 1944. As there is no grave for Donald Swaine, he is commemorated on Panel 94 of the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, along with 20,000 other airmen similarly killed.