大象传媒

On 1st April 1941 two Hurricanes of 242 Squadron engaged a Junkers 88 over Worlingham and shot it down. Two of the crew baled out and landed on Worlingham Marshes. The local policeman, who was of a rather rotund build and who we said couldn't catch cold having chased us boys for various small offences, captured both of them single handed despite being threatened with revolvers. After that he was a bit of a hero. The plane and the rest of the crew carried on for about 4 more miles before diving into Henstead Marsh. The plane blew up into small pieces. This may have been because a stick of bombs had been dropped into the marsh a few nights before. The time was about 5.15pm.
I was watching from about 5 miles away and saw the two crew come out onto the wing, jump clear and open their parachutes,then drift down into Worlingham Marsh. It was leaving off time at the farm so I got onto my cycle and proceeded to where I thought the plane had come down as I had some first aid training and used to do 2 or 3 night shifts a week. I was then almost 16 years old. When I got to Henstead I saw people going to the crash site, but the plane was in very small pieces and I knew nobody had survived. I decided to pick up some souvenirs. Another man doing the same suddenly said, "This is my lucky day", he had picked up part of a hand with a very ornate gold ring with precious stones on one finger. It would not come off so he took out a pocket knife and cut it off. I looked away not feeling too good, but thought afterwards the nails were manicured. I suggested that the man hand in the ring to the authorities. All he said was remember this ring came of a good German as the only good German was a dead one. That was war. A few days later I was told that parts of wine decanters with silver labels were found and it was thought that someone special was in charge of the plane. Also feet were found that also had manicured nails. Now 64 years later I suddenly had a thought; did the plane have a female crew member and was that the secret?

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