In a corner of the cemetery at Lignières is a communal grave for five British airmen killed together when their plane crashed on Tuesday 11^th June 1940.  They were from 77 Squadron RAF flying aboard an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V serial No.N1362 which took off from Jersey airport to bomb the Fiat factory at Turin.  The weather was very bad and a number of planes had to return to Jersey due to ice forming on the wings and lightning strikes.  The plane crashed on the return flight at 22.30 possibly due to lightning.  There were no survivors.

The Airmen were:

Sgt Ronald Charles ASTBURY aged  20
Sgt Philip Henry James BUDDEN aged  26  (the co-pilot)
Sgt Alexander FINDLAY aged  28
Sgt Edward OMBLER aged  18
Sgt Norman Martin SONGEST (the pilot)

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