The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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229124 Alan Gardner Civilian As a small boy I was living in Ifield, nr Crawley, Sussex in the summer and autumn of 1940. One Sunday morning at perhaps 0700-0900 we heard bombs falling nearby then the noise of an aircraft just clearing our roof. My brother and I rushed to the window in time to see a Whitley (I was a keen aircraft spotter) landing wheels up in the large field behind our house. It bounced down the field (I think it lost a wing en route) and came to rest about 400 yards away. We both got dressed, picked up hammers, and raced down the field towards the aircraft, anxious to obtain further supplies of perspex which we, in common with other youngsters, liked to carve into rings. We rushed up to the aircraft and started hammering away at the front turret. To our complete surprise, for we had assumed that it was an empty aircraft from which the crew had baled out, a cockpit window was suddenly pushed back above our heads and an irate Australian (as I recall it) voice told us in no uncertain terms to leave his f....ing airplane alone. He hadn't flown it back from Turin (as I remember) and successfully crash-landed it after it had run out of fuel, with no injuries to his crew, only for small boys to start b.....ing it about. We apologised profusely, and a few moments later the vicar arrived and asked the crew whether they would care for some breakfast. We never saw the crew again and a few days later the aircraft was loaded onto a Queen Mary and taken away. If that crew survived the war I would like to apologise to any of them still alive. Anyone got an idea as to how I could identify that aircraft. Was it from 4 Group? Update: Could this have possibly been Sunday November 24th? There were operations to Turin on 23/24th November which included Whitley's from 77 and 102 sqdns. Have looked through BC Losses for 1940 and this date stands out but your aircraft's circumstances are not recorded. This could be because it was not damaged enough to write off and was probably repaired. Alan Gardner Related Content: Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.