Leeds born RAF pilot honoured in a French commemoration

Norman EASBY, aged 25, from Wensley View, Chapel Allerton, Leeds was the Pilot of a Lancaster bomber that was shot down over the village of Bransles in France on June 28, 1944.All seven crew members died in the crash and are buried in the village cemetery.

- Richard Nalliah

Bransles Cemetery Memorial

On Saturday August 23, 2025, the day before the commemoration of the Liberation of France in that region, a permanent memorial was inaugurated in tribute to the seven airmen by the village of Bransles (Seine-et-Marne, France, located approximately 100 km south of Paris).

The ceremony took place on communal ground opposite the Bransles cemetery, not far from the site of the crash. It was attended by 350 people, including flag bearers, representatives of the Royal Air ForceAssociation and French and British civil and military authorities.

Twenty-five British citizens, representing the families of five of the seven airmen, travelled there from all over the United Kingdom, and even Germany.

Among them were nine members of the Easby family from Yorkshire, covering three generations.

Norman Easby