大象传媒

I was living in Little Waltham Essex, when on 14th March 1944 a Ju188 German Plane was shot down at Great Leighs. The aircraft had come over Chelmsford where the rocket guns fired at it and set it alight, the guns stopped fireing and a Mosquito aircraft opened fire on it and it crashed at Whitegates Farm. The Pilot of the Mosquito was Squadron Leader Bunting. I went to see the crash site the next evening, I went with my friend Ron Nice and we saw as we got near, that as it had crashed the aircraft had lost one wing together with an engine, which had landed in another field and we examined it. In no time at all I saw a shell head embedded in the structure and very soon a second one. With 64 rocket guns fireing at it there must have been many more hits and this has always made me wonder why the mosquito claimed the victory. However at the time of the crash our local warden Mr Don Wroot, together with members of the home guard went to the site as did numerous American Airmen from the nearby Boreham Airfield. At the same moment both Don and an American Airman spotted a German revolver lying in the grass, and each made a dive for it. The American achieved the prize and in so doing dropped his torch, which Don retrieved and honour was satisfied. On leaving the village Don donated this trophy to me, which I still have to this day. An uncle of mine, Don Green also in the Home Guard, had attended the crash, and he picked up a cigarette case belonging to one of the crew members. The case was badly damaged and burnt. Sadly I didn't know about this find until some years ago, by which time it had been passed on to an Aviation Historian and is now in the possession of The Marches Aviation Society at Abergavenny.

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