HALF a century ago, a Royal Air Force transport plane crashed into a field in South Oxfordshire with the loss of 41 lives in one of Britain’s worst air disasters.

Tomorrow, a day of remembrance will be held in Toot Baldon to mark the anniversary of the Little Baldon crash on July 6, 1965.

The memorial service at St Lawrence’s Church will be followed by an RAF flypast and the air force’s Red Falcons parachute display team will perform a memorial jump at Marsh Baldon.

The crash of the Handley Page Hastings C1A transport aircraft was one of the UK’s worst air disasters at the time.

The RAF and Army passengers included a number of servicemen taking part in parachute jumps as part of their training.

Hugh Jaeger, who hopes to attend tomorrow’s ceremony, said he was pleased a memorial was taking place.

He said: “Years ago, I happened to drop into St Lawrence’s Church because I visit old churches all over the country.

“I saw the memorial on the north wall of the church and thought at first, it was a war memorial.

“When I found out it was for the crash I just took an interest in this piece of history.

“I had never heard of it so I looked into how big it was and how much influence it had as it led to the plane being taken out of service.

“It was quite a turning point.”

The crash happened shortly after 4pm on July 6, 1965, not long after the plane had taken off from RAF Abingdon.

Eyewitnesses told the Oxford Mail at the time the pilot had seemed to keep the plane away from houses before it ploughed into the field.

A subsequent investigation found the accident was caused by metal fatigue in two bolts in the plane’s elevator system.

Mr Jaeger said: “It is very important to have a ceremony like this to mark such a sad occasion.

“Two of the parachute instructors on the plane were members of the RAF Falcons.

“I have never seen a memorial parachute jump before and I do not know what they will do.

“I will be fascinated to see how they make the parachute jump an act of remembrance.”

RAF Falcons spokeswoman Sarah Reynolds said: “‘We are humbled and grateful for the opportunity to display at the 50th annual memorial service to honour those who lost their lives in the 1965 Hastings air crash.”

The memorial service will start at St Lawrence’s Church at 11am with the flypast at noon and the parachute jump at 2pm.