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

THE FINDON CONNECTION WITH THE LYMINSTER CRASH

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003

In the autumn of 2003, the late Tony Hammond (who had lived in Findon more years ago than he would like to remember), wrote to me ...... and set me off on another quest —

This was a challenge I could not refuse as my website excels in ferreting out the past and I set about co-ordinating the information as it flowed in.

418 SQUADRON ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE.    By 1943, their squadron's fame had began to gain momentum when it converted to the De-Havilland Mosquito.   This squadron was the only Canadian unit given free rein into the enemy's lair from the fjords of Norway, through the Mediterranean, to the steppes of Eastern Europe.  Its duties varied from dropping money and supplies for clandestine operations — to lightning strikes at low level against railway yards and airfields and it was in the forefront in the defence against the German's V1 and 2 rockets.  It was during this period that the squadron was adopted by the City of Edmonton and from then on became known as the 418 City of Edmonton Squadron.   

BRADWELL BAY.  Upon being transferred to England, the two young men were  at Bradwell Bay in Essex in February 1943.  

Bradwell Bay had been enlarged two years earlier to be used as a fighter base and 418 City of Edmonton Squadron was the first to use the airfield.   The place was eventually home to twenty-five different squadrons flying Bostons,  Beaufighters, Typoons, Tempests, Hurricanes, Spitfires, Mustangs, Warwick and Walrus aircraft as well as the Mosquitos.

FORD.  Thomas Thomson and Herman Schellenberg were then moved to Ford just below Arundel on 14th March 1943. 

Ford had seen action very early in the Second World War when it was home to the Royal Navy and was known as HMS Peregrine.  The airfield had been attacked by twenty-eight Luftwaffee Stukas in August 1940 (the Battle of Britain) and they had completely devastated the airfield.  

The Navy did not return to Ford — but within weeks the airfield had become operational again with Fighter Command. .

THE CRASH.  The weather on Sunday, 21st November 1943 was cloudy with fog — and later in the day there was drizzle after midnight  ...so typical for November.   The young Canadians' Mosquito V1 was practising low-level flying when the starboard engine cut out as they were coming in to land.  It overshot and crashed.  The Mosquito exploded immediately in flames and was burnt out in a field near a little church in Lyminster, West Sussex about three miles from the aerodrome where the Canadians were based.  

The Mosquito was coded THB.   The "TH" being the 418 Squadron codes and the "B" the individual aircraft letter.   The aircraft had a serial number recorded as HJ742.

The church was that St. Mary Magdalene in Lyminster dating from around 1040... the rest of the structure is 1170 and, therefore, it is in the same vintage as the earliest parts of St. John the Baptist Church in Findon and very old.   If you click on http://saxon.sussexchurches.co.uk/images/lyminster/index.htm (thank you Martin) you can see many photographs of the church.

I have been asked.... "Where is Lyminster?".   For those of you still in the dark, it's about 1½ miles north of nearby Littlehampton on our coastline.  

THE AFTERMATH.  George Carman (who is now a churchwarden at Lyminster) witnessed the accident all those years ago and it was George who summoned the Lyminster Auxiliary Fire Service that Sunday.   They arrived at the accident too late.    Meanwhile, another villager, Victor Jelly, endeavoured to pull one of the Canadians free of the aircraft but was beaten back by the heat of the flames.

On Wednesday, 24th November, 1943, officers of 418 Squadron attended the funeral of the two Canadians at Brookwood Military Cemetary in Surrey. The official record states that two Canadian officers were very efficient and exceptionally well liked.

THE LYMINSTER SERVICE.   Sixty years later, the congregation of the church in Lyminster held a remembrance service on the nearest Sunday to the accident.   This was on 23rd November 2003.

Standard bearers from the Worthing Royal Air Forces Association were present.    Hugh Wyatt, the Lord Lieutenant of Sussex (from the Cissbury Estate at Nepcote, Findon) attended and the Canadian High Commissioner.     

An oak cabinet, which will be used to house the church's PA system was dedicated by the Venerable Douglas McKittrick (the Archdeacon of Chichester) in Herman's memory at the service.   It was placed beneath the church's war memorial plaques.   The PA system included a hearing loop for the deaf.

An introduction, entitled The Evening I Remember was given at the dedication service as well as a reading from Ecclesiastes.  

After a short service, the choir sang The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins — (many will be familiar with this composer's magical Adiemus).   The Armed Man seems rather appropriate as Herman's family are Mennonites (Mennonites are pacifists —  part of the larger Christian expression called Anabaptism (meaning "baptized again" ....... began in the 15th century by one named Menno Simons the founder).  The music from The Armed Man is subtitled A Mass For Peace.

Wine and canapes were served after the service.

FLYING OFFICER D. HERMAN S. SCHELLENBERG.    Flying Officer D. Herman S. Schellenberg of Winnipeg was the born in 1915 the son of a Russian couple, Jacob A. Schellenberg and his wife Anna living in the Herbert area of Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Herman Schellenberg's parents lived in Herbert until their deaths.  Relatives have been located and they have requested a memorial to be placed in the church in his name.   They are travelling from the Prairies to Lyminster for the service.

Commemorative headstone in the Brookwood Military Cemetery

FLYING OFFICER THOMAS THOMSON.   But as for the Mosquito's pilot, Flying Officer Thomas Thomson of Vancouver, there was still a mystery waiting to be solved.   There seems to be no information except the names of his parents living in Vancouver, British Columbia.   They were Edward and Janet Thomson and Edward's occupation was that of shipwright for West Coast Shipbuilders and they lived at 1365 East 28th Street Vancouver.   Their son, Thomas, enlisted and was assigned to Squadron 418, Royal Canadian Air Force in Alberta and trained there.

Commemorative headstone in the Brookwood Military Cemetery

As it is his parents who are listed as his next of kin, it points to he fact that he was unmarried at the time he died.   His parents are most likely dead but perhaps he had siblings?   If Thomas had lived he would have been aged eighty-five this year.

In the meanwhile, continue if you would like to read Peter Sanderson is Posted to Sussex.

This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.