Sergeant Benet Nicholls was the son of George Nicholls and Catherine Nicholls of Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Sergeant Nicholls was serving with 59 Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.), No 81 Group which, between February 1941 and August 1942, was based at Crosby-on-Eden Airfield.

As the plane crashed took place during the day it was witnessed by a large number of people in the Cleator and Cleator Moor area. Because it was a British plane that crashed during a training flight no reports about the incident appeared in the press during wartime. These stories were not told at the time to avoid inadvertently supplying the enemy with information. Consequently, at the time of the crash many locals thought it had been a German plane.

The fact it was a British pilot - Sergeant Benet Nicholls - who lost his life on the fellside above Cleator village is still not that widely known in Cleator and Cleator Moor. However, his name is now listed on the Cleator Moor 'Roll of Honour' and his sacrifice will be remembered. The story can now be told. Sergeant Nicholls is listed on the Crosby-on-Eden Airfield 'Roll of Honour'. He was the 73rd of 81 pilots from 59 O.T.U. to die in WW2 while the Unit was based at Crosby-on-Eden.

Sergeant Benet Nicholls funeral took place on 30 June 1942 and was conducted by the Air Force Chaplain Father Tomas Battle, C.F. Although Sergeant Nicholls came from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which is a little less than 50 miles from Crosby-on-Eden, as referred to above he was interred in the Catholic Churchyard at Warwick Bridge. He was one of two WW2 airmen from Crosby-on-Eden to be buried in this Churchyard. The Church Burial Register entries indicate these two were Roman Catholics.