On the evening of March 13th, 1918 a plane was seen circling two or three times over Loud Farm at Annfield Plain.
Sergeant Pilot Joyce was returning from a mission and probably looking for somewhere to land.
Conditions were too misty at Hylton Airfield but in Annfield Plain it was a dark, clear night.
It appeared that he was trying to land in the field opposite Loud Terrace. Sadly his plane
crashed into the field and he was killed. The plane exploded minutes later.
Albert Laws wrote a moving poem which was printed and sold to the public to help raise money
towards a monument.
The monument, with a surrounding rail, was constructed on Loud Bank. It was later rebuilt
with a stone wall.
Sadly during World War II, on a mission over Germany. His son Sergeant Dennis Joyce went missing
believed killed, on the night of 13th September 1940.
In July 1959 the Royal Air Forces Association re-dedicated the Joyce Memorial to the memory of
all ranks of the Royal Air Force. The son of Sergeant Pilot Arthur Joyce was remembered, his
name Sergeant Dennis Joyce was engraved on the base stone.
