大象传媒

When the war was declared on September 3rd 1939. I was in Foxby Hill isolation hospital at Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, with Diphtheria. When the siren went the patients were all wheeled into corridors on our beds, we were too weak to walk. After six weeks I had to learn to walk again which was a 3-month job, so I lost a lot of schooling.

Later, whilst still at school, my pal, Roy Simpson and I were playing cricket in the field next to the Simpson's house, when we saw a plane in trouble. It had taken off from 'Blyton' aerodrome and the tail-fin chains had not been removed. (They were to stop the fin-flaps being damaged in the wind). The pilot ws unable to control the plane properly, it kept circling, then, losing height, crashed in the field half a mile away. We raced to the crash where there was debris scattered right across the field and the plane, a 'Lancaster', was on fire.

Roy and I could see the pilot in his cockpit; he was unconcious. We cut his harness with my jack-knife and got him out.
By this time the police and the Air Force Rescue Service had arrived, and told us to 'clear off', as it was far too dangerous. The fire was getting to the bullets and they were flying in all directions so we watched from a distance whilst the whole plane was covered with foam. It was smashed to pieces. The pilot had suffered a bad injury, a piece of metal had gone in just below his lip and come out hrough the back of his head. He died on the way to hospital and there were no survivors. Luckily none of the rescuers were injured. I would have been 12 at the time and Roy 6 months younger. We didn't realise the danger we were in until it was explained to us. I had nightmares about it for a long time.

Another plane, a 'Hambden', crashed in one of our fields, only about 300 yards from our house. It had been damaged on a raid. It crashed at 10.30pm on Thursday, Ascencion Day 1940. I was in bed and I did not wake up.

The pilot had kept it up long enough to clear the village and was only 8 miles from home; all were killed. One of the engines is still buried in the field as it had gone too deep to retrieve.

When an incendiary bomb fell close to him, a bull in a field with some cows was scared stiff, and unable to move him, he had to be shot.

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