大象传媒

During the war, my father, Henry Hole, was in the Special Police.

He and a colleague were on duty at a lookout post off Hambeer Lane, Little Johns Cross, Exeter. On one occasion they spotted a German aircraft flying over the area.

They reported it and an aircraft from Exeter Airport took off and shot it down. It crashed near Holcombe Burnell. Two of its four crew bailed out safely. Meanwhile, my father phoned home to his father-in-law, my grandfather, who went out to the crash and returned with part of the wreckage.

My father shaped it into a Spitfire, had it chromed and then fitted a safety pin to it. My mother wore it as a brooch.

It was only in the last few years when I picked up a leaflet, 'Higher Cemetery - History and Lives', that we learnt more about the exact date. Entries nos. 14 and 15 note the graves of two of the crew killed in the crash. April 15th 1942. A Beaufighter shot a JU88 down over Holcombe Burnell.

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