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In 1943 I was living in Hildenborough near Tonbridge. My grandfather was actually in the construction business, and so had leave to travel a bit by car unlike most people. This was so that he could conduct repairs on bombed houses, patching them up just enough so that they could be lived in or at least were no longer dangerous to other people.

One day he took me to what we called Penshurst airfield, which was an emergency strip near Charcott. Really it was just a big field, but it was designated for pilots to use in an emergency. If they were heading to the airfields at Biggin Hill or West Malling, but found they were too damaged they would land there instead. This meant they didn’t have to keep their damaged planes in the air as long, but also meant that the runways at these airfields wouldn’t get clogged up by damaged aircraft. You weren’t actually allowed to stop on the road that ran parallel to the field, so my grandfather would just drive as slow as he possibly could up and down, turning around each time and heading back for another pass! That day we saw three planes there. One was being dismantled and put on what was called a ‘Queen Mary’ transport, a large truck that would carry the parts off that could be reused. They’d take off the wings and slot them in on the truck along with anything else that wasn’t too badly damaged. Planes or parts that were damaged beyond repair or use were just left, these empty hulks of metal just sitting off to one side out of the way. Often they were intact but would just be totally unsalvageable, and at that time the important thing was getting as many planes back in the air as possible, not wasting time on lost causes.

I remember I was so excited seeing it all, when we got home I ran into the house to tell my grandmother. The experience must have made quite an impression because apparently I wouldn’t stop talking about it for days!

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by James Barton and has been added to the website on behalf of Norman Woodhams with his/her permission and they fully understand the site’s terms and conditions.

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