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

THE GREYFRIARS JUNKERS Ju88 — Friday 1st November 1940

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Copyright Valerie Martin 2010

There was a dramatic ending to a Junkers Ju88A-1 L1+MB on a dark winter's night in our area.   The date was Friday 1st November 1940 when the bomber's crew were sent on a bombing mission to Birmingham.   The aircraft was subsequently damaged by anti-aircraft ground defences and hit by "flak" during the actual raid.   The German pilot got cold feet and high tailed it for home.  Officially the Battle of Britain had finished the day before but this did not stop aircraft crashes during the Second World War.

The badly damaged bomber limped as far as Sussex and arrived over Storrington (a distance of some 5½ miles from Findon) where the pilot thought about making a forced-landing and the remaining enemy bomb load was prepared to be released.   Half a dozen German bombs dropped across the West Chiltington Golf Course, across Hurston Place, down Hurston Lane and on the A283 (where most fortunately one failed to explode).  

Another German bomb detonated in a field just behind No. 41 Main Street in the village.   The explosion that followed broke the panes in the windows, damaged the roof and brought the ceilings in at No. 41.  The property owners were a terrified Mr. and Mrs Waller who said that their 3-year-old son had a most fortunate escape that terrible night.   They had thought there could be a raid and had tucked him up for safety under the stairs.   Normally, he would have been sleeping in his cot in the room above and this was crushed by the ceiling came down on it.   A thought not worth thinking about for the concerned parents.

It was 21.35 when the doomed Junkers tried to make its escape and clear the downland to reach the English Channel.   The bomber collided with the north side of the Downs between Greyfriars and Rackham Clump.   It bounced off the darkened hillside and finally crashed into trees in a quiet country road — Greyfriars Lane and came to rest literally upside down next to a house named Faraday.    No more bombs would be dropped on Sussex that night by that particular raider.  The carnage was littered from the field across Greyfrairs Lane  and continued to the junction of the drive with Greyfriars House with the lane.

The crew comprised:

Pilot:   Unteroffzier G. Reinsberg, perished.
           F. Püschel, captured but badly injured and died the following day and known to have been buried at Cannock Chase, Near Birmingham. 
           Unteroffzier G. Büscher, perished. 
           Unteroffzier W. Knappe injured and taken prisoner.

The emergency services swung into immediate action and military personnel from the Canadian army stationed at Fryern House in Storrington appeared on the scene.   Their awesome task was to clear the area of the bodies and return with them to Fryern House.   A pair of flying boots were found in a field still containing the owner's legs severed at the knees.  The pitiful remains of the Junkers Ju88 can be seen in the photograph taken the day after the crash, being picked and crawled over by local bounty hunters.

During the Second World War the press were allowed to published photographs of bombing but they were not permitted to add exactly where these instances had occurred.   The reason for this was to prevent the Germans from pin-pointing the success of their enemy raids.  

A certain Ron Lampton lived at West Lodge, Greyfriars and was away in the army in Wiltshire at the time of the Junkers crash.    You can imagine his utter amazement when he picked up his daily newspaper on the following Sunday to recognise photographs of his own house and garden littered with the miserable debris of a Junkers Ju88 raider back in his home village of Storringon. 

Continue to read the gruesome story of "Starboard Engine on Fire — Landing in England"

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