Memorial Forest For WW2 RAF Pilot?

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Member for

11 years 3 months

Posts: 1,299

I have been told that a small forest on Tewsgill Hill near Crawford in South Lanarkshire was planted to commemorate a Spitfire pilot, Ian Thomson, killed in 1945. The forest is in the shape of his initials. I have tried googling all possible spelling variations of his name but cannot find anything on this. Can anyone please tell me if this story is correct? Here is the location -

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Crawford,+Biggar,+South+Lanarkshire+ML12/@55.4812194,-3.6528047,4846m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4888007ad325fd9d:0x858306ecf23a3f77

Clearly visible from the M74 -

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Member for

18 years 2 months

Posts: 485

Another myth.

Have found no mention of any crash nr Crawford. Nor any relevant Ian Thomson on CWGC A few Thompsons but none to link to Crawford.

If you was planting a forest to commemorate someone, surely you would plant it with the letters the same size and parallel to each other.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Crawford,+Biggar,+South+Lanarkshire+ML12/@55.4874188,-3.6484225,1593m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4888007ad325fd9d:0x858306ecf23a3f77?hl=en-GB

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 526

Now this has jogged my memory to something I seem to recall once pointed out by a rail tour commentator. Is there a woodland planted in the UK in the Free French symbol to commemorate a WWII loss.?

Clive.

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 6,043

I have heard about this wood before - many years ago !
Apparently there may have been a fairly substantial article in the Sunday Post about it.

Of course the crash/accident may have been nowhere near Crawford/Lockerbie,it may not have been a spitfire,the surname might not have been Thompson and the pilots father might have been a local forester or similar - I do not have any recent info.
There may well be some basis to this story !

Member for

17 years 11 months

Posts: 2,024

There is a (roughly) heart-shaped wood in the Lune Gorge, just south of Tebay, which was supposedly planted in memory of a WWI casualty. I am not sure whether it was aviation related, but it could have figured in a rail tour commentators script, given its proximity to the West Coast Main Line.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,183

Sliding further from the topic, spot the wood planted by German POWs in WW1:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Henley-on-Thames,+Oxfordshire+RG9/@51.5361958,-0.908325,5602m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x48768542ad0cb2ab:0x50b007c5953c9c7d

(pretty much central, three quarters of the way up the page, if it works, if not just Google Henley on Thames, hit Maps, hit Earth)

Adrian

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,183

Well, well. Thank you for putting me right, Richard.

Adrian

Member for

17 years 1 month

Posts: 114

I saw this when I cycled through Crawford about 5 years ago. I thought maybe it represented a sledge hammer in some kind of acknowledgement of the hammering that must have gone on in the area to get the East Coast main line through there.

OTH, I thought it might have a been a farmer planting a wood in the shape of a huge willy.....

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll204/TaffMissed/Day%208.%20Mystery%20woods%20at%20Crawford.jpg

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 6,043

It could be that (if it is indeed memorial initials) it is laid out in such a manner that the letters only look correct from a certain vantage point/angle - I have only had a few fleeting glimpses over the years from the A74 !

Similar to cricket green adverts which are an odd shape but appear ok ish on the TV screen because of the shallow angle.

Still working on the theory that it was laid out by a local man to in remembrance of a son !