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

THE LANCASTER ON THE BEACH —  Sunday 17th December 1944

Copyright Valerie Martin 2010

click to enlarge all photographs

I took the above photograph of the plaque on the Worthing Pier in October 2010.    I suppose I have made a mistake calling this a "plaque"... a better description would be a tatty notice under a bit of glass.   

While on the pier I took a couple of pictures of Worthing from the sea....

I became interested in the above Lancaster crash back in October 2006 when I received an email from one-time resident of Findon, the late Roger Moulds... (I secretly hoped at this point for a story to unravel but did not dare say so) -

"We have not yet mentioned another plane crash.   I wonder if anyone remembers the bomber which crashed into the sea near to Worthing Pier?

I would say that this was 1945/46 and I think it may have been a Wellington Bomber.   After it crashed and exploded, ammunition was going off for hours afterwards.   It was still possible to pick up bits of wreckage on the beach well into the fifties.     Roger Moulds, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, Wales".

My immediate thought at this stage was that sound would have travelled at night and the explosions would have been heard in Findon four miles away.

Terry Walls in Canberra filled in a bit more information "The last episode of any note in Worthing during the period 1943-45 was the tragic loss of a Lancaster bomber of 49 Squadron on 17th December 1944.   The aircraft crashed into the sea to the west of Worthing Pier and exploded with great violence as the bomb load detonated.   The aircraft was on its way to Germany for a raid and got into difficulty for some reason.   The pilot just cleared the town and went into the water.   His bomb and heavy fuel load exploded with great ferocity damaged 149 shops and 233 dwellings and hotels.   All seven crew perished".

After that, I began to unravel some of the facts:-   The Royal Air Force Lancaster Bomber PB355 (EA-B), part of 49 Squadron, took off at 19.30 hrs. from Fulbeck in Lincolnshire for a raid on the enemy at Munich in Germany on a winter's day in 1944.   Exactly what happened next is a mystery to this day.  

The theory is that the stricken aircraft may have been badly shot up en route for Munich and damaged by a German fighter.

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

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 24 year-old Flying Officer Edward Essenhigh was desperately fighting the controls to prevent his doomed bomber from plummeting into the residential area and causing carnage.   (He was due to be married ten days after the 1944 accident in which he died).

The aircraft flew on and quite literally skimmed the Worthing roof tops as the pilot attempted to avoid the Plaza cinema in its path and the nearby properties.   At the Plaza cinema, the scream of the aircraft's engine rose above the sound track.   Everyone had just finished watching a cartoon by Walk 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 Nazies.... but Tracy (naturally) evaded capture.   This was a somewhat apt little drama considering what was ironically just about to happen in real life on the doorstep of the Plaza.

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 bomber 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 with a tremendous 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), literally hundreds of window panes were shattered and shards of glass were hurled across the street from the subsequent blast.   Ceilings crumbled in nearby buildings.

The wreckage beside the Worthing Pier sent flames soaring into the night air on the beach to be seen for miles around.

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 (a bit of an understatement) 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 a bit of commotion, the film was put back on again and most people resumed their seats and concentrated on 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 quite certain.

On the foreshore, at the water's edge, a tongue of spectacular red flame rose in the sky as the remains of the debris caught fire and fierce flames rose from the crippled bomber.   This was still 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 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 of the rear turret of the aircraft.

It was, indeed, miraculous that there were no civilian casualties.

There is always a puzzle with every story I have to tell and this one is no exception.   Here we come to the biggest mystery of that evening.    Only one body was ever recovered from the scene and no trace was found of the other six crew members.... apart from four opened parachutes and also the blooded battledress tunic of Sergeant H. Varey the Flight Engineer and this was washed up on the beach at Onslow Court.   Immediately controversy and confusion arose as to who was actually flying the machine upon impact.

It was a sombre close to 1944 in nearby Worthing.

Doug Attrell of Goring emailed in October 2011....."Hi V...... I happened to take the attached shot of it this morning.

This is much the same as it would have looked in December 1944 when the Lancaster bomber crashed on the beach just in front of it.   Doug".

Following the disaster, the people of Worthing wanted to provide a memorial to the crew.   The request to name the specific 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.

Four of the Lancaster Bombers failed to return to their 49 Squadron from the raid that night.

The stainless steel plaque (costing £275) on the Worthing Pier to honour the crew members of the 49 Squadron who died was not unveiled for another 58-years ....... December 2002.    This plaque is situated on the 9th column of the pier facing west and was repaired in 2004 and covered with a panel to keep out the inclement weather..... but still looks in an extremely stained sorry state.

In mid-October 2010 I heard from Barry Pulford of Findon Valley....  "Dear Valerie...Lancaster Crash 1944....Although I have no great liking for reading about crashed aircraft, perhaps I have seen too many, I wanted to send the following as it is an event I shall never forget. It is the simple memory of, at the time, an eight year old boy.

In 1944 we lived at Thomas A'Becket in a large three storey house, Arlington, 12 Littlehampton Road, long since demolished.  We were having tea on that late afternoon as the light faded, we only had gas lighting and it was not yet lit.  Through the open window we saw and heard this very low flying aircraft going over on fire; I recall the glow more than the noise.

We hurried upstairs to the attic room from where we could see across the rooftops. The aircraft had just crashed and the exploding bombs and ammunition went on for some time like a giant firework display.

A small aircraft flew towards and around the crash site but following a particularly violent explosion shooting skywards it flew away. I think it may have been a Lysander.

I was eight years old at the time and my abiding memory, one that often haunts me to this day, is hearing my Mother say,

'Those poor boys are burning alive' ... and looking up I saw that she was crying.

Barry Pulford"

Did you go and see the wreck of the Lancaster the next day, Barry?

"Dear Valerie.....Yes, I did go down next day on the No 6 bus which went from the 'Becket along Poulters Lane, down South Farm Road and via the station to the town centre where it changed into the No 5 and returned along the sea front and up Clifton Road and back home - a round trip for about 5 pence!

Of course it was diverted away from the sea front but we saw all the damage along Montague Street, where most of the shop windows were blown out. Even ten years later one could still find small pieces of riveted aluminium alloy on the beach. No I did not keep any!   Barry".
 

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