A MEMORIAL plaque in memory of the bravery of an America fighter pilot who narrowly missed crashing into a school has been unveiled by Fulwood and Cadley juniors.

Officials from British Aerospace, in Warton, near Preston, joined dignitaries from the Royal British Legion and the RAF Association, at the presentation ceremony in honour of Second Lieutenant Lt. Burtie Orth, who was killed in the tragedy.

It was in 1944 when 24-year-old Lt. Orth jetted off from a former US airstrip, in Warton, in the doomed US Mustang fighter plane.

But the aircraft developed a fault and the pilot struggled to maintain control of the plane which was veering toward the Cadley Causeway school.

Instead of bailing out however, brave Burtie guided the plane away from the school and crash-landed nearby, averting a wartime disaster.

Now, more than half a century after the end of the Second World War, a lasting legacy of his courageous actions has been given pride of place at Fulwood and Cadley Junior School.

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