This is Findon Village - Many Years Later - Out of the Blue

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE ― These Findon Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and are progressively growing to be the only record of life around Findon, West Sussex, England. Everyday stories about real people..... in fact, a potted history of the village. The topics today, are the history of tomorrow.

MANY YEARS LATER — OUT OF THE BLUE — the Heinkel's Pilot from 16th July 1940

In January 2008, I received a very brief email (a one-liner) out of the blue from a hitherto unknown surfer ....

Info about Rudolf Theopold......

Rudolf Theopold, the Pilot of the Heinkel 111 that crashed over Findon died Monday, 28th January 2008.

Regards, D. Herrendoerfer.

I immediately recognised the same as being that of the Heinkel pilot. Obviously, I endeavoured to contact D. Herrendoerfer, but all of my efforts failed.

It was a few years later ......to be precise 8th October 2011 that I received another email (out of the blue) from a different source......

Reference to Heinkel Bomber that crashed at High Salvington on 16th August 1940, I have a German Peak cap that you might be interested to look at, this belonged to Leutnant Rudolf Theopold, the pilot of the Heinkel.

Perhaps you can e-mail me if you are interested. Don

Some days later I received the following message and photographs...

Thankyou for your e-mail and interest in the German hat that I have. I apologise for the delay in sending these pictures to you.

My interest in the 2nd World War dates back to around 1949 and have studied it ever since. Extensive research leads me to believe that this hat belonged to Rudolf Theopold, the pilot of the Heinkel.

One of the pictures shows "RT" initial buttons and another shows the unit stamped on the underside of the sweatband. Also I purchased this hat from a Military Antique shop in Hastings some years ago

I would love to discuss this item with you and any other war time facts on the Worthing and surrounding areas. Don

Some days later I received the following message and photographs...

Thankyou for your e-mail and interest in the German hat that I have. I apologise for the delay in sending these pictures to you.

My interest in the 2nd World War dates back to around 1949 and have studied it ever since. Extensive research leads me to believe that this hat belonged to Rudolf Theopold, the pilot of the Heinkel.

One of the pictures shows "RT" initial buttons and another shows the unit stamped on the underside of the sweatband. Also I purchased this hat from a Military Antique shop in Hastings some years ago

I would love to discuss this item with you and any other war time facts on the Worthing and surrounding areas. Don

I told Don that I had always been very sceptical about this type of memorabilia from the Second World War....having come across collectors selling bits and pieces in the past. Many artefacts regularly appear on Ebay and I am no expert on militaria. Obviously, Don could be one of the lucky ones with a genuine article and not a fake. He said he has done some "intensive research" but did not give me details.

I was intrigued by the mystery as to what happened to Rudolf Theopold following his untimely crash. Also there are no details his captivity..... and his release at the end of hostilities? After painstakingly going to the trouble of attempting to recover his hat from the Heinkel's wreckage..... why had it now been sold..... and rather miraculously found its way back from Germany to Sussex again? I ran out of clues and the trail went cold until after Christmas 2011.

Between Christmas 2011 and the New Year I received the following email (again out of the blue) from Germany....

Dear Mrs. Martin...by accident I discovered your homepage www.findonvillage.com and read everything about Rudolf Theopold. This was very emotional for me because Rudolf Theopold was my father.

It’s true that he died on January 28th, 2008. The message concerning his death was sent to you by my nephew Dirk Herrendoerfer, but he had not told me about your website.

I think I can give you quite a lot of information what happened to my father following his crash. Please let me know if you are interested.

Kind regards Dr. Klaus Theopold".

I subsequently asked Klaus for further details and hopefully a photograph of his father.

Dear Valerie, thank you very much for your email.

Well, I am sorry but I don’t have any information regarding the crash itself. My father only once spoke with me about this experience. I remember that he was very shocked that the British pursuit planes still shot on him when it was already obvious that he had to do an emergency landing.

After the crash my father spent a short time in a POW camp in England, but I don’t know where. Then he was transported by ship to Canada and had to stay there until 1947. After his release he stayed for about one year in Lemgo/North Rhine Westfalia. Due to his good knowledge of the English language – he had studied in Canada – he worked for the British Army as translator.

In 1948 my father joined IBM Deutschland and stayed there until his retirement in 1981.

I have attached four photos. Numbers 01 and 02 show my father as young officer and must have been taken in 1940. Number 03 show him as POW in Canada. Number 04 was probably taken in the late fourties or early fifties when he worked as manager for IBM.

I hope this was helpful. If you have further questions please let me know. I will see if I can find out.

Now I have a question. Do you know where the exact place of the crash was? I am thinking about visiting England next year anyhow and then maybe I would like to make a stop in Findon. Would it be alright for you if I contacted you then?

As it is New Years Eve I wish you a happy new year. Klaus"

Unfortunately, I could not help at all with the precise position of the downing of the Heinkel BUT on this map and aerial photograph I indicated in red the very approximate crash site on the edge of the woodland as far as I could get it.

I cannot be more precise as there are no records to refer to. I do not think there is anyone left who could take Klaus to the exact spot after all of these years.

Gerald White (ex-Shoreham) now living in Lincoln emailed......."Hello Valerie, great photos of the young Rudolf Theopold , handsome, and determined.

It is a great pity that our Countries were locked into a Mortal War, however we were , and it does not surprise me that even although the Salvington Heinkel was obviously damaged, the pursuit aircraft, were also determined to get a Kill...and so firing continued until the intruder, was downed.

It is equally great that the Rudolf survived.....and lived to enjoy life working in Germany, for IBM. Cheers Valerie from Gerald, in Lincoln".

I have also asked Klaus Theopold about the authentication of his father's peak cap that had turned up in England earlier in the year. He replied...."Regarding the peak cap, which you mention in your second email, I have no idea and never saw it. But with the initials it could be.

That he requested to retrieve his cap from the cockpit this I can imagine very well. It fits absolutely to his character… Kind regards.....Klaus"

Continue to read about The High Salvington Dornier (That Wasn't).

Back to WWII Air Crashes Index

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — 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!