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This story was submitted to the People's War site by Jenny Ford on behalf of Mr. John Hughes and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Memories of 1940 — Station X

On a recent visit to the above Museum I was abruptly taken back to a dark evening in October 1940 when I was a lad of six. If I recall correctly it was about 8.30pm and I was in bed at ‘Three Horse Shoes’ Farm, Colmworth when I heard an awful screeching sound which made me jump out of bed and rush to the window.

The sight I saw was a plane falling out of the sky! A mass of flames and sparks and the dreadful sound as it spiralled down to crash at the old Netherstead Farm on the eastern edge of Colmworth, which does not exist anymore.

It was obvious the screeching sound was the engines of an aeroplane on full power and out of control. This was a Junkers 88, a twin engined light bomber of the Luftwaffe which had been shot down by our fighter planes. The next morning my friend and I went down Honeydon Road and across the fields to where the plane had crashed. The site was roped off and a couple of RAF personnel were on guard, but as we neared the site we could smell the acrid smoke of burnt flesh and parts of the plane that was still smouldering.

Also there were small parts of debris lying outside the roped area and something I shall never forget, a partly gloved hand - someone’s son or brother.

The plane was normally crewed by three or four airmen, depending on the armaments carried and to my knowledge there were no survivors.

Back to Station X at Bletchley Park where on display are parts of the above mentioned aircraft which crashed at Colmworth with other information on it, quite a shock to see after I had witnessed the crash exactly 60 years previous.

The site at Bletchley covers 55 acres and guided tours are laid on with experienced guides which take about an hour, explaining what all the huts were used for. And also the famous German Enigma decoding machine which was broken into by our top brains of the time and the valuable information gained from it which shortened the end of the war considerably.

Also memories of when we used to cycle up the road to Little Staughton airfield and watch the Lancasters, Mosquitoes and Fortresses come home from bombing raids and taxi across the road to their dispersal points adjacent to Buryfields Farm. But that is another story!

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