大象传媒

During WW2 the old A2 road (now the A207) went from Dartford, through Bexleyheath and Welling, over Shooters Hill and on through Blackheath to New Cross.

The road from the western end of Shooter's Hill seemed to be lined with houses all the way to Blackheath, but behind those on the left hand side was a large open space known locally as the "Crown Lands".

To a 13 year old boy in 1944 the area seemed an enormous open space with no hedges or trees. It seemed as big as an aerodrome and indeed was used in 1948/49 to teach members of the Air Traning Corps the elements of flying gliders. Today it is covered in housing.

It was a week-end in the summer of 1944 and a group of us who were members of a model aircraft club had gone to the Crown Lands to fly our rubber powered models. Our ages ranged from perhaps 10 to 35.

Spread all over the space were families walking with children and dogs, mothers with prams, and even a cricket match in progress. Memory is suspect, but there may have been one hundred or more people all over the field.

From the south we became aware of the drone of aero-engines, and at perhaps 1500 feet saw a B-17 Flying Fortress of the USAF heading our way.

It was obviously been badly damaged and was in trouble.
One, perhaps two, propellors were stationary with smoke trailing behind. The tail fin and rudder were virtually non-existant and parts of one wing were flapping about.

As we watched enthralled a signal flare was fired from the plane (I think it was red) and she slowly began to circle the field. The wheels of the undercarriage came down very slowly as though being cranked down by hand, and the plane began to lose altitude.

Our club leader shouted to us someting like "He wants to put it down here. Get all these people to move off the field and give him room".
So the 10 or so of us dashed towards the various groups of people shouting to them to move off the field.
It just didn't work. As some moved away, others moved on to the space and just did not understand the situation that was developing.

To our horror we were unable to keep them away.

The B-17 circled the field two or three times, firing another flare, and then it levelled out and headed north, across the Thames.
Still trailing smoke it slowly disappeared into the distance while we waited with our hearts in our mouths, expecting a disaster. It did not seem to be losing height and we just hoped that it would make a landing somewhere safely.

What may have been the thoughts in the mind of the pilot as he looked down on the field.

Perhaps he decided that if he tried to land a number of civilians would be killed and he would not take that risk. Or perhaps he decided that the area was not large enough anyway - we shall never know.

We never found out anything further about the incident, but I have always remembered and wondered.

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