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

THE LANCASTER BOMBER CRASH

Copyright Valerie Martin 2006

Originally published in Along the Furlong in December 2006

In October 2006 I received an email from one time resident of Findon, Roger Moulds ....(I secretly hoped at this point if a story was about to unravel) —

Terry promptly replied with some information which sent me off on my quest to discover more...

I decided that this was developing into an interesting story and worthy of recording for posterity.

The facts so far.....as I have managed to unravel them.......  

The Royal Air Force Lancaster bomber, part of 49 Squadron, took off at 19.30 hrs. from Fulbeck in Lincolnshire for a raid on Munich in Germany on a winter's day in 1944.   Exactly what happened next is a mystery to this day.    At some point the bomber had obviously passed over the dark Findon countryside.  

The theory is that the stricken aircraft may have been badly shot up and damaged by a German fighter.   Here are a few facts.....

The Lancaster was obviously loaded with high explosive bombs and incendaries.  The weight of a Lancaster at take off for a normal bombing mission was some 68,000lb and this included the fuel, ammunition, seven crew members and 14,000lb worth of bombs.   The crew decided it was impossible to ditch the load of bombs for this would have blown off the tail of the aircraft.

Did the bomber develop a fault?  Mechanical failure is considered to be an unlikely cause as the bomber had only recently been delivered from the factory production line.

The fateful date was Sunday, 17th December 1944 and it was shortly after dusk when there was the ominous growl of an aeroplane flying low over our area.   At this point, no one knew that the pilot, 24-year-old Flight Officer Edward Essenhigh, was desperately fighting the controls to prevent his doomed bomber from plummeting into the residential area and causing carnage.    (This officer was due to be married ten days after the 1944 accident in which he died).

The aircraft flew on and literally skimmed the Worthing rooftops as the pilot attempted to avoid the Plaza cinema in its path and the residential area.   At the Plaza cinema, there was a 2,000 strong full-house and the audience took their eyes momentarily from the screen as the scream of the aircraft's engine rose above the sound track.   Everyone had just finished watching a cartoon by Walt Disney called Farmyard Symphony and were settling back in their seats to partake of Spencer Tracy heading the cast in The Seventh Cross.   This was an anti-German drama concerning seven men who escaped from a concentration camp in 1936.   Six were caught and crucified by the Nazis..... but Tracy evaded capture.  A somewhat apt drama considering what was just about to happen in real life in our own area.  

If you live locally, have you heard the story re-told of that night by a member of the audience — perhaps by a parent or grandparent who was there for a night out?

As the sound of the heavy aircraft drew overhead, concern grew among the cinemagoers.   With a deafening roar that can only now be imagined, the aircraft limped with extreme effort literally a few feet above the Plaza's roof.  

The tide was out on the beach.  With insufficient height to make more than one attempt at landing, a snap decision was taken to land on the shore.   A tremendous loud explosion followed the baleful roar of the engines as the Lancaster with its wheels still up, hit an unseen wartime beach defence hazard near the pier.   

Outside the Plaza cinema in Rowland Road (and also further east in Montague Street), hundreds of window panes were shattered and shards of glass were blown across the street from the subsequent blast.    Ceilings crashed down in nearby buildings.  

The wreckage beside the Worthing pier sent flames soaring into the night air on the beach.  

The cinema lights at the Plaza came on and the manager stepped on to the stage.    He announced that there was nothing to worry about and that an aeroplane had gone down in the sea.   It was said that this caused some person(s) to faint in the aisles.  After this commotion, the film was put back on again and most people resumed their seats and continued with Spencer Tracy plotting his escape from the enemy to neutral territory and attempting to restore his faith in humanity.

If the Lancaster bomber had hit Worthing that evening, it would have destroyed part of West Worthing and resulted in hundreds of deaths I am certain.

On the foreshore, at the water's edge, a tongue of red flame rose in the sky as the remains of the debris caught fire and fierce flames rose from the crippled bomber.     This was followed by numerous explosions as live ammunition went off in all directions every few seconds.

Praise must be given to the Worthing National Fire Service crew who arrived minutes after the crash.   They were under the command of their Company Officer, A. Duffield, and they attacked the blazing aircraft with every resource available to them.  They managed to haul the body of the Rear Gunner, Gordon Callon, from the wreckage. 

It was indeed miraculous that there were no civilian causalities. 

Here we come to the biggest mystery of that evening.   Only one body was recovered from the scene and no trace was found of the other six crew members.    Immediately controversy and confusion arose as to who was actually flying the aircraft upon impact.   

It was a sombre close to 1944 in Worthing.

Following the disaster, the people of Worthing wanted to provide a memorial to the crew.   The request to name the individual officer who stayed at the controls and refused to bale out was promptly thwarted by the men at the Air Ministry.   They refused to name the airman at the controls, claiming it would be "invidious" to single out one individual when there was no doubt of the courage and devotion of any pilot.

Gordon Callon was later buried at nearby Littlehampton.

Since the hostilities of the Second World War, the names of the crew have now all been honoured when newly-constructed roads in West Durrington were named after them.    

A plaque on the Worthing pier to honour the crew members of the 49 squadron who died in 1944 after crash landing on Worthing Beach was unveiled in December 2002.  The plaque is situated on the 9th column of the pier facing west and has recently been repaired and covered with a glass panel to keep out the inclement weather.

Here was the scene at Worthing Pier on 5th November 2006.....

I was rather shocked to find the disgraceful condition of the plaque on the pier, unveiled by the Mayor of Worthing, Councillor C. Mardell... can Worthing do no better than this?

Continue if you would like to read The Danny Fernley Story — Including A Hug From Marilyn.

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.