THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE SECOND WORLD WAR YEARS IN FINDON

Copyright Valerie Martin 2000.

Originally published in the Findon News, May 2001.

WHAT HAPPENED IN FINDON IN 1941?    I guess all of you are immediately muttering something about the Second World War.   Yes, you are indeed correct.  On a lighter note, I would add that George Goatcher an inhabitant of the village, celebrated his Golden Wedding Anniversary. 

"Nothing strange in that" I heard one of you say.

He also revealed that as a youth he had cycled from Findon to London.     Rather a long way, you are thinking, but nothing very startling.   

I would add that he was riding a penny farthing bicycle.

For six long years between 1939 and 1945, Findon was in upheaval and the countryside was left with an indelible catalogue of scars. 

To combat such enemy attack, huge tank traps and defence blocks were constructed. The blocks ran down from Church Hill to the south of Nepcote like dragons' teeth.  

The defence was about 20 ft. wide with irregularly positioned rows of 5 ft. concrete blocks in situ — a total of 391 concrete blocks. These were set in long lines, with just enough room between each for a man to pass through. Seen from the top of Church Hill or Cissbury Ring these giant's stepping stones stretched across the hillside and made an impressive (but depressing) sight. Fortunately the tank trap was never put to use and was eventually removed after the war.  For many years it left a relic of a

Specially adapted lorries transported the blocks away one at a time. They were taken to Hall & Company's sandpit at Storrington. Here they still lie submerged in the murky depths of the colossal sandpit. Back in Findon, only remnants can be found, if one knows where to look on the hillside.

If you live in Findon and have driven passed the airfield at nearby Shoreham, you will doubtless have noticed the dome situated out in the north east corner of the airfield, (map reference TQ 198058).   Have you ever wondered what its function is?   If so, I will reveal all.

Henry Stephen was an inventor and in the autumn of 1939 he devised one of his ideas.   That of using films to train anti-aircraft gunners — as they sat and watched a newsreel in cinema conditions.  Research followed and by 1941 it was agreed to build trial domes with a radius of up to 20 ft. to house the invention.  One of these was on the nearby Shoreham airfield.

Aircraft images were projected onto the projection surface in the dome by using fluorescent light, flooding the whole area with blue light — thus giving the effect of a clear blue sky on a summer's day as a backcloth.

Gunners undergoing training were given imitation guns supplied with a small projector which shone a spot of light at the exact point where the operators were firing.   This gave the instructor some idea of the estimation of trainees' accuracy.

As the gunners pulled the trigger, a soundtrack played the noise of a firing shot — with a duration of approximately five seconds — being the time it took to empty the cartridge of ammunition.

Now you know why the dome situated out on Shoreham airfield just over the Downs from Findon was known as a Dome Trainer.

During the war a Heinkel 111 aeroplane also made a hazardous, but successful, wheels-up landing close to Cissbury Ring. It came down at Canada Bottom, this time with a full complement of bombs on board.

On 10th MAY 1941 Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, parachuted into Scotland in an effort to negotiate a peace settlement, but was arrested and imprisoned for the remainder of the war.  The 10th May 1941 also went down in history as the worst night of the London Blitz when 550 German bombers drop 100,000 incendiaries. More than 1,400 people are killed.

In 1941, a Dornier bomber was shot down by an RAF fighter and it landed in the sea off nearby Worthing.

On the night of the 15TH/16TH MAY 1941, there was an enormous amount of gunfire heard all over Findon. It was immediately followed by an enemy bomber crashing on the Downs at 12.02 a.m.  This was a Heinkel He111 P-2 Code: G1+GR, W.Nr. 2801 from Unit 7th Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 55.  All four aircrew were burned in their aircraft when it came down on the hillside near Sompting.

The aircraft was shot down by a Beaufighter flown by Pilot Officer A. J. Hodgkinson, DFC, and Sergeant B. Dye of 219 Squadron.

The 12TH JULY 1941 was a sleepless night for many in the village. It ended with the thud of bombs being dropped on Goring at daybreak.

On another occasion, Ian Short, still living in Findon and a young schoolboy during those troubled war years, recalls hearing the sound of aircraft when out on the Findon Downs. He saw three distinctive high winged Westland Lysanders flying low in formation over the hillside. From his high vantage point it seemed that he was looking down on the ponderous aircraft.  The two crewmen in each of the machines were having a marvellous view of the Findon Downs. 

The year 1941 brought with it the invasion of Russia by Germany. The defence of the Sussex coast was largely in the hands of the 1st Canadian Army by the autumn.

The well-known Findon racehorse trainer Robert Gore of the Downs Stables, died in 1941. Harry Davison and the French ex-jockey, Bobby Bates, carried on training from then on at the Stable Lane yard. The latter was once described as the ugliest jockey who every rode a race but as no photograph of him has come to light, I cannot comment.  He was later unfortunately killed in a race in France when he returned to the saddle.

The death was also announced in 1941 of 58-year old Oliver "Darkie" Thomas two days after his 58th birthday.  I still do not know why he was nicknamed "Darkie", perhaps someone one day will be able to enlighten me.  He had been the first headmaster at the Findon School and a long serving one —  for thirty years and had only retired due to ill-heath.  He had been in the position since 1911 when Elizabeth Bull retired.  During the time he lived in Findon, Mr. Thomas had taken a leading part in village life.   He was a member of the Parish Council, a churchwarden and an active member of the British Legion.  He left a wife but no children.  During the war his wife kept a sword hanging behind the kitchen door — this she said was to run through the first enemy invader to try and enter her property.  This particular bit of the Oliver Thomas story was told to me in the autumn of 2002 by Bob Blackwell the retired Findon butcher.

The Manor of Findon was owned by the Hartridge family during the wartime, and in 1941 the "F" Section Royal Signals attached to the Regimental headquarters of the 146 Field Regiment RA was billeted in the mansion in the old servants' quarters. The orderly room for the men was in the main south facing sitting room of Findon Place and their colonel established himself in the ballroom. His officers and staff were stationed in the remainder of the house. The flint walled kitchen garden of the manor housed the motor transport fleet.

The colonel soon discovered that he required the servants' quarters for other purposes, so the "F" Section Royal Signals was transferred to the old Nepcote Lodge racing stable complex in Steep Lane. At this time the land to the east of Nepcote Lodge was not built upon, except for a large indoor riding school. This building was now found to be ideally suited for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers for servicing all the vehicles of the 38th Welsh Division of which the regiment was a part.

It was at the tail end of 1941 that the Japanese attacked the American base at Pearl Harbour, and in December 1941 America and Britain finally declared war on Japan.

It does not seem possible now but it was as long ago as 13th January 1942 that the pilot of an experimental jet righter became the first to leave his plane via an emergency ejector seat.

At the end of FEBRUARY 1942 many British bombers were heard overhead on a paratroop raid on Bruneval in occupied France. It was a successful exercise between the Royal Air Force, Army and Navy and later villagers heard that they had returned with prisoners and much important information.

In APRIL 1942 there was much talk amongst the Canadian soldiers that they had heard that German paratroops were massing in large numbers on the coast of France.

On the 9TH APRIL 1942 an enemy bomber circled menacingly overhead. There was much machine-gun fire and then all was suddenly quiet. The gas works in Worthing had been bombed and there was considerable damage to property, including to the nearby hospital.

There were two air-raid warnings on 5TH MAY 1942 and ominous gunfire.  The night resounded with loud whistling, vibrations and the crump of bombs.  Rumour was rife that the Isle of Wight had been the target.

In April 2002 I received a few wartime memories from 89 year-old G. Austin Prime now living in Findon Valley —

On the 18th JULY 1942, the Messerschmitt Me 262 made its first test flight.

On 21ST JULY 1942 a Shoreham based Walrus of 277 Squadron crashed and sank in the sea south of Findon.   It went down two miles from Worthing pier but Sergeants     Fletcher, Marsden and Weston escaped unhurt.

On 10TH AUGUST 1942 two enemy hit-and-run aircraft appeared in the sky. They were using new phosphorus bombs that could burn flesh badly.

In AUGUST 1942 the order came for all iron railings and gates to be removed for the war effort, such as those to be found at Muntham Court — which is a story of its own.

OCTOBER 1942.... everyone in Findon was dreading the fourth winter of the war.   The past two had been formidable.   Now there was the additional distress of having shortage of fuel and for the children an infinitesimal allowance of sweets because of rationing.

On 20TH NOVEMBER 1942 there were aircraft passing continuously overhead.   Mostly large two-engined bombers.

It was said on 4th DECEMBER 1942 that the sandbag fortifications blocking most of the pavement at the junction of Montague Street with Montague Place in nearby Worthing, had begun to decay and had been removed.   This had also happened elsewhere in the town.   It appeared that the fear of an invasion of Worthing by the Germans was over.

On the night of 11TH DECEMBER 1942 at 4 a.m. a mine (or maybe a bomb) was heard to explode at about 4 a.m. on nearby Worthing beach during a gale.  The war year 1942 came to an end.

Thank goodness the Channel Tunnel had not been built, for sure we would have been overrun.

Continue if you would like to read about the Hawker Typhoon Crash on the Findon Downs on 17th June 1943.

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — was launched by Valerie Martin in January 1999 and will grow to be a historical record of life in Findon, West Sussex, U.K.