THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — These Findon Chronicles created by Valerie Martin, contain scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE BLACKPATCH MESSERSCHMITT Bf-110 — Wednesday 4th September 1940

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Copyright Valerie Martin 2010

Many aircraft came down in the Findon area during the Second World War.   The dramatic story of the Messerschmitt Bf 110C-4 2N+CN would fit a film set and is my favourite one — and has its own touch of suspense.    This fighter was on a mission over Sussex and was left with its starboard engine alight after suffering a surprise attack during an escort sortie.     The time of the attack was clocked at 1.35 p.m. on Wednesday 4th September 1940.   There was much activity in the sky over Findon on that day.

The enemy was pursued and forced to land.   The chase was over.  The young Luftwaffe pilot of the Messerschmitt (on his first operational raid over England) ordered his gunner to bale out.   The gunner reported back that he could not open the damaged hood.   Therefore, the pilot attempted a hazardous landing to save both their lives.  The blazing crippled plane throbbed to a halt on terra firma on a grass covered hillside.   No casualties.   The pilot clambered out and set about smashing his gunner's canopy.   A lucky escape for the gunner ensued.   The Messerschmitt continued to blaze on the picturesque but lonely Blackpatch Hillside to the north-west of Findon.  

The German crew were....

Oberleutnant. H. Münich — pilot

Unteroffizier A Käeser — gunner

Did no one in Findon follow the course of this burning aircraft as it headed over the village and see where it landed that day?   

Minutes later the two men were sprinting from the wreck of their aircraft and the scene of the disaster.    They were not exactly sure where they had come down.  No one appeared to have noticed the havoc on the hill.   Not a soul was in sight.   To their south the sun glistened on the sea with an invitation to France and home.    It seemed to be winking a message to them.   They returned to their Messerschmitt (which was by now a smouldering wreck) and by a miracle managed to retrieve the life-saving rubber dinghy.   Once inflated they carried it between them and hurried  off again in the direction of freedom..... the sea.    How they imagined they would get it on to the beach and through the defences and away without anyone seeing is another matter.   Desperate times bring desperate deeds.

They did not get very far across the hill before a warning shot shattered their idea and echoed across the quiet countryside.    This took the two  Germans by total surprise when they were left holding a floppy bundle of yellow rubber as the air was released from their dinghy.     The British Army had arrived.   An officer offered the pilot a warm bottle of beer which the German appeared grateful to accept but he proceeded to say Britain had as good as lost the war!   

Needless to say, the burned Messerschmitt really was by this time a  write-off.

It was a Sunday, five days after the above event 9th September 1940, that a Messerschmitt Bf-109 made a belly-landing not far from Findon on its return flight from acting as the escort for the bomber formation whose target were the London Docks.    The Messerschmitt appeared from the West Chiltington direction and crashed on a private airfield at Parham having not suffered tremendous damage and outwardly appeared to have only a bent propeller.

During the Second World War, captured German aircraft that were not too damaged were put on display to raise money.    Many initiatives were put into place to assist the war effort in raising funds for arms.  

It was at the end of 1940 that many towns joined in National War Weapons Week.   This centred around raising funds and displaying in particular the Messerschmitt Bf-109s.       

During 1940, some ninety Bf-109s made successful forced landings on British soil and were subsequently classed as write-offs.   They were transported to municipal authorities for their Display Days prior to going to that great graveyard in the sky, the scrap yard!  The public were charge 6d. (two and a half pence in today's money) to touch and look over a Messerschmitt... and even clamber into it.

Continue to read about The Mystery of the Bomb Rack — the Parham/Cootham Messerschmitt Bf-109E-1

 Back to WWII Air Crashes Index

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