´óÏó´«Ã½

This is an account of an incident witnessed by Ron Spearpoint in Folkestone, taken from ‘August 14th 1940: Dive bombers attack and sink Folkestone Gate lightship’, Folkestone Herald, Folkestone War Diary, 12 May 1945.

It has been typed by Fiona McNeill of the Folkestone Heritage Team and added to the WW2 website with his permission.

A quiet morning in Folkestone

On this particular morning I was in Folkestone town (probably on leave after a motor launch that I’d been on board was bombed by a Messerschmitt 109 fighter bomber).

I decided to walk through Holmesdale Terrace on to the Leas to look down on my father’s old home, no. 6 Marine Crescent, and see what was happening in the Channel. While leaning on the wooden rustic fence, I saw below me the lightship. It was moored just west of Victoria Pier and about a mile out. It seemed strange and somewhat eerie for, as far as I could see, I was the only person on the Leas.

Shattering the peace

Suddenly, the quiet was broken by the screams of four Stuka dive bombers that appeared out of the clouds from the west. When almost over the beach they banked right, headed seaward and bombed the lightship across the beam.

As the planes continued toward France, almost at sea level, three or four Hurricanes or Spitfires (not certain, as I ducked!) zoomed over the Leas pavilion. They flew out just above the roof tops, guns blazing as they pursued the Stukas. I think the tail-end Stuka was shot down as great plumes of smoke appeared from the sea.

A comforting pint

When the spray subsided, the crew of the lightship – all, I hoped – took to the lifeboat. It seemed a matter of only minutes before a high-speed rescue launch from Dover was on the scene. It picked them up and headed back to Dover.

The lightship finally began to founder. Shaken, I made a quick retirement to the East Kent Arms and swiftly downed a couple of beers.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.