THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE - Messerschmitt Bf-110 on the A24

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

MESSERSCHMITT Bf-110 on the A24 NORTH OF FINDON (Church Farm) — Wednesday 4th September 1940

Two major German raids were made on our area on Wednesday 4th September 1940 and resulted in Stab III/ZG76 Messerschmitt Bf 110C-1 2N+DP Stab III/ZG76 based at Laval made contact with No. 43 Squadron during fighter combat over nearby Shoreham.

The whole engagement was over very quickly and the damaged Messerschmitt limped over Church Farm in Washington, farmed at the time by Mr. C. Turner, just to the north of Findon. At 13.30 a dramatic Hollywood style nose-dive was witnessed as it hurtled towards terra firm to the agricultural land between Rowdell house and the church. It exploded with the force on impact and dug itself into the ground to such a great depth of 20 feet and nothing could be seen except a crater in the ground. After the carnage, unexploded bullets went off and kept any prospecting sightseers on the look for souvenirs at bay. The smell of fuel pervaded the scene. Smouldering black smoke billowed out in all directions..... this was not just on the day of the crash but the smouldering continuing for almost the next two weeks.

Obviously, the Luftwaffe pilot, Oberleutnant Florenz (Flying Officer) and Gefreiter R. Herbert (Aircraftsman First Class) were killed instantly.

I need hardly mention that this Messerschmitt was, of course, a complete write-off.

25 years later a group of keen aviation enthusiasts excavated the area and both of the Messerschmitt's Daimler-Benz engines, the propellers and some of the undercarriage etc. were recovered in 1965. The gruesome unspecified partial remains of the crew were uncovered by the digging party — but nothing to identify them. I have heard that the Harris Brothers of Ashington (of Findon Sheep Fairground fame) acquired the engines after they were excavated — they still have some and other parts of the wreckage.

The crash site is now under the tarmac of the modern bridge on the dual-carriageway of the A24 (where Church Street crosses the main road).....but would have been open agricultural land during the hostilities. During later road widening construction the workmen were extremely surprised to unearth the complete parachute pack belonging of one of the German crew who did not have time to bail out on that fateful day.

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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.

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Do let me know of anything you hear about Findon - not too controversial. Please note that opinions expressed in the Findon Chronicles are not necessarily reflective of my own thoughts.... but sometimes they are!