A North Yorkshire parish has remembered one of its own after Squadron Leader George Morley Fidler, a Second World War RAF pilot from Great Ayton, was laid to rest in France 86 years after he was killed.
The Revd Sarah Cliff, Vicar of Great Ayton with Easby and Newton under Roseberry, supported by local historian Ian Pearce, initiated a service of remembrance at Christ Church, Great Ayton, so that the village could mark the moment locally while Squadron Leader Fidler was buried with full military honours in France.
The service was attended by representatives from RAF Leeming’s 607 Squadron and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire Johanna Ropner, The Countess Peel DL, as well as pupils from Marwood CofE Infant School and members of the local community.
Fidler, known as Morley, was born in Great Ayton in 1912. His name is recorded on the war memorial at Christ Church, alongside other men from the village who lost their lives in the Second World War.
He joined the Royal Air Force in 1934 and was serving with 607 Squadron when his Hawker Hurricane was shot down over northern France on 19 May 1940. He was 27.
For many years, Fidler was believed to have been buried in the village of Bachy, near Lille. Later research showed that this was not the case. In 2005, metal detectorists discovered wreckage 35km away at Oisy-le-Verger, including a piece bearing the serial number P3535, suggesting that it came from Fidler’s Hurricane. The Ministry of Defence then investigated the grave at Bachy and, after uncertainty over the original identification, the headstone there was changed to read “unknown Airman”.
In 2022, work on the Seine-Nord Canal at Oisy-le-Verger unearthed a Hurricane with the pilot still inside, close to where Fidler’s aircraft had last been seen. Ministry of Defence investigators identified him through a process of elimination, testing samples from three other pilots lost that day.
Fidler was laid to rest at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, on 19 May 2026, exactly 86 years after his death.
Revd Sarah Cliff said: “Squadron Leader Fidler, alongside so many others, answered the call, served with honour, and gave his life in the service of his nation. I just thought we needed to do something to remember a life lost, but also to remember the shape of this country, which has been made by those communities changed forever by loss of life: children not born, families not happening. He walked these streets. He was baptised in this church. It’s really important that we honour him, and that we honour all those who died, whether it was last week or 86 years ago.”
The service at Christ Church gave people in Great Ayton an opportunity to gather, pray, give thanks for Fidler’s courage, and remember the human cost of war. It also connected the burial in France with the village where his story began.
The story featured on last night’s ITV Tyne Tees. Watch again here:
