School trips are a classic case of “you get out what you put in”. But for one 14-year-old schoolgirl, a day out delivered an emotional punch when she stumbled across a picture of her war hero grandfather on an outing to an air base.
Olivia Crompton, from Pocklington School near York, visited RAF Linton-on-Ouse with her fellow pupils. In the base’s memorial room she found a photograph of her grandfather at the controls of a Lancaster bomber in 1944, with his name underneath.
“This feels really strange,” said Olivia. “I’m very proud of him and I just can’t believe that I’m looking at him now. My grandfather died when I was only three, but my gran tells me stories about him. This is an emotional moment.”
Despite being British-born, Sergeant John Conway was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and served with 408 Squadron at Linton-on-Ouse.
