Tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of the crash and since appealing for memories in the Whitby Gazette last February, Steve Midwood has discovered this was an event which saw Whitby achieve a number of notable firsts during the Second World War.

Mr Midwood said: “This photograph from February 1940 of the first German aircraft to crash upon English soil since the start of World War II demonstrates just how perilously close the bomber came to hitting the cottages at Bannial Flatt [by the Sleights roundabout].

“Just a few yards separates them from where the Heinkel 111 bomber came to its final resting place after it had slid along the snow after a belly landing, brought to a crunching halt by a row of sycamore trees alongside the cottages.

“The response from readers was more than I hoped for including a photograph of Special Constable Arthur Barratt (courtesy of Liz Hallam) and the letter Mr Barratt wrote to his friend William Tindale (courtesy of Margaret Hind).

“The letter provides an incisive account of the incident alongside information so many people at the time would have liked to have known – but were prevented from doing so.

The radar station at Danby Beacon also played a part, as it was responsible for detecting approaching German aircraft.

Hurricane fighters of 43 Squadron were scrambled from Acklington – the only north-east fighter station not out of action due to snow.

Leading the Hurricanes which sped to the encounter was Flight Lieutenant Peter Townsend, who was later romantically linked with Princess Margaret.

Many sightseers witnessed the drama unfolding.

One of the first on the scene was Special Constable Arthur Barratt who achieved another notable first for Whitby when he became the first Englishman to enter a German plane landing in England since the war started.

Mr Barratt, then of Love Lane, captured the essence of the moment in a letter he wrote to his friend William Tindale:“By Jove, I wish you and the lads had been here last Saturday to see the aerial battle, it was a sight I shall never forget.

“Describing his feelings at witnessing the ‘shortest, fiercest, aerial battle I had ever hoped to see’, he vividly described the twin engine bomber and the three ensuing fighters around it as ‘like flies around a honey pot and what a barrage they were giving him’.

There is a plaque on a stone pillar which commemorates this incident, erected by the then North Riding County Council.

There is also a marker stone with a commemorative plaque at Danby beacon.