AN INQUEST has opened into the death of a pilot whose plane crashed on the North York Moors during the Second World War.

The hearing was told that Alfred Robert William Milne, 22, a married man, was in a military aircraft which crash landed at Bransdale, near Helmsley, on October 11, 1944.

Coroner Jonathan Leach said Mr Milne's identity had been confirmed on March 1 this year. He said the provisional cause of death was unascertained and adjourned the inquest to a later date.

The Press has reported previously that Pilot Officer Milne's remains, and those of Warrant Officer Eric Alan Stubbs, were discovered in March, 2020, along with military memorabilia.

They had been on a training exercise from RAF Beccles in Suffolk to RAF Turnberry in Ayrshire.

A 72-year-old man was arrested in 2020 in connection with the discovery, but police said in February that the Crown Prosecution Service had determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue suspected offences.