'Harvest Camp' at Knipton Reservoir

    When I was at the City Boy's School in the early 1940's we used to have a 'harvest camp' in the summer holidays at Knipton in the Vale of Belvoir. Our 'free' time was spent mainly at Knipton Reservoir where we had permission to swim and walk round. In either 1943 or 1944 a lot of debris was scattered around the reservoir and part of an aircraft fuselarge was visible in the shallow end of the reservoir. I was told by local people that a Lancaster bomber was returning from a raid and was badly damaged and still had bombs on board. It attempted an emergency landing on the reservoir but exploded as it touched the water. There were no survivors.

This crash was mentioned in a recent television program.

By Dennis Hall
Leicester.