4:00pm Wednesday 21st October 2009
By John Geoghegan
VILLAGERS have been sharing their memories of a devastating plane crash which killed five US airmen at the end of the Second World War.
Since the Echo published a story just over a week ago on the crash in an Ashingdon field and how a local Scout group has been unearthing the history of that fateful night, a number of people have come forward with their recollections of the event.
The bomber crashed in the field to the north of Canewdon Road 65 years ago in September 1944.
The Martin B-26 Marauder called Lilly Commando was flying from Roye in France to its base at Matching Green, near Harlow.
It is thought the terrible weather conditions, including high winds and driving rain, made the crew lose its bearings.
Shirley Holmes, 73, was eight at the time of the incident and lived at Moons Farm bungalow, by the field where it happened.
She believes the plane crashed in a field belonging to neighbouring Scoldhurst Farm, though others believe it was Moons Farm.
Mrs Holmes, nee Miss Cottis, said: “It was horrendous. We heard this dreadful noise and over the hill we saw this enormous thing.
“It crashed just beyond our eye level at the back of the bungalow. I remember seeing the plane in flames, but not too much afterwards. I wasn’t allowed near it that night so I went down the next day. I remember clearly going to the field and picking up bits of glass. There were people collecting things like parachute material to make dresses.
“I was thinking how dreadful it was these airmen had died. Not long before the plane crash we had been narrowly missed by a doodlebug that dropped in the field opposite the bungalow.
Now a grandmother of ten living in Vicarage Hill, Benfleet, Mrs Holmes moved away from Ashingdon when she married at 20.
Geoff Blower, 71, of Picton Close, Rayleigh, is another former Ashingdon villager who contacted the Echo after reading the story.
The former engineer and grandfather-of-two was six years old at the time and, like Shirley, was very moved by what he saw.
Mr Blower, who was living in Lower Road at the time, said: “My younger brother and I were taken there by our father who must have been home on leave from Bomber Command.
“I can clearly remember the crash site.
“There were not really any large pieces of the aircraft to be seen.
“The whole area was covered in cannon shells which of course we were forbidden to touch.
“I also have a clear recollection of three or four men, maybe St John Ambulance I think, two with a stretcher.
“Although I wasn’t close enough to see, it was clear they were picking up body parts of the crew.
“As well as my father, I had an aunt and an uncle in the RAF, but I shall never know how those airmen found the courage to get into those bombers over and over again.
“My father never said much about the war, but occasionally mentioned some of horrors he had experienced.
“For this reason I hope to go to the unveiling of the memorial to pay my belated respects.”
The 1st Ashingdon Scout Group recently unveiled a plaque in Ashingdon Church Hall, in Church Road, where it meet and paid homage at a memorial to the crash site nearby.
Three new memorial plaques are due to be unveiled on Remembrance Sunday on November 8 at Ashingdon and East Hawkwell Memorial hall, the crash site itself and nearby St Andrew’s Church.
© Copyright 2001-2010 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.echo-news.co.uk