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This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Maggie Smith from WM CSV Action Desk on behalf of Marjorie Stephen and has been added to the site with her permission. Marjorie Stephen fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

We used to hear waves of German bombers on their way to South Wales. Heavy with their load, the beat of the engines (always easily distinguishable from the steady tone of British engines) was slow 鈥� oomph, oomph, oomph. Some time later they would return with a much more rapid pulse 鈥� empty. It seemed tragic and sinister. On one occasion a returning bomber dropped a single bomb, probably aiming for the gas works, which it missed, but took off the bay window of a house opposite. Next day the whole town, it seemed, turned out to view the damage. It was the only 鈥榬aid鈥� that Barnstaple ever experienced.

The RAF Chivenor airfield (Reconnaissance Command) and on the flat land of the Taw Estuary, at the foot of Saunton Down. The Bristol Beaufort planes sometimes overshot the runway and crashed into the hillside and were grimly known as 鈥渇lying coffins鈥�.

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