THE search is on for relatives of a Royal Air Force flight engineer who was killed when the Halifax bomber of which he was a crew member crashed during a wartime training exercise.

Kenneth Holden, from Tyldesley, was on board the Halifax EB203 which crashed and disintegrated during a thunderstorm on the night of April 15, 1944.

Now Leslie Green, a relative of Harry Pearce, who miraculously survived another Halifax crash earlier that same night, is desperate to trace Mr Holden's family.

Mr Green, from Weston-Super-Mare, has diligently researched the events of that fateful Saturday night.

He explained: "It was a Saturday morning April 15, 1944 when six Halifax crews were ordered to prepare for cross-country training.

"The weather forecast for that day was poor and initially all flying was abandoned. The commanding officer at Dishforth aerodrome Yorkshire decided otherwise, and the crews were ordered to prepare for flying later that day. They were briefed to fly above the storm that was due to hit the area later that night.

"On returning to base four of the six aircraft were diverted to other bases, leaving Halifax's EB203 and EB205 to land at Dishforth. At 23.25hrs, cloud cover was down as low as 200ft with thunder and lightning all around. Wendell Watkins, the American pilot, was given permission to break cloud cover and land.

"Nothing more was heard from the aircraft. It was later discovered just outside the village of Bishop Monkton, south of Ripon, the aircraft had completely disintegrated. Later an accident investigation team inspected the wreckage and concluded the aircraft was probably struck by lightning.

"The crew were made up mainly of American and Canadian airman.Those killed on that fateful day were buried at the Stonefall cemetery Harrogate on April 20. The pilot Wendell Watkins was returned to his home in Collins, Erie County, New York in 1948.

"Kenneth Holden was taken to his hometown in Tyldesley.

"His mother made regular visits from Tyldesley to Harrogate to lay flowers on the graves on the behalf of the Canadian and American families.

"Kenneth Holden was 20 years old, two other crew members were just 18."

Mr Green's relative, survived Halifax EB205's crash. Pilot Donaldson Holloway was struggling to keep the port engines running and overshot the runway so decided to land at Topcliffe aerodrome five miles away. But the aircraft suddenly hit the ground having first struck a row of cottages outside the perimeter of the aerodrome.

Harry Pearce and a colleague were rescued from the blazing wreckage but five crew members and three civilians were killed. An investigation revealed It was later discovered by an investigation team that the fuel cocks had been unintentionally switched off.

Tragically survivor Pearce was killed on December 18, 1944 while on operations.

*Anyone with information about Kenneth Holden's family should contact Mr Green at portwatch@supanet.com or call him on 01934 633305.