Crash of Spitfire R6885, Kimberley Road, Benfleet
Dr Acres was ‘a pre-medical student’ at the time. The Spitfire came down in the middle of Kimberley Road some 100 yards away from the bungalow where his fiancée lived. “It didn’t really bury itself..... it was very bent, but recognisable as an aircraft, and I recognised it as a Spitfire.....”
[As told to Philip Harvey:] “At the time I was living in Avondale Road and went to Kimberley Road soon after the incident. The wreckage of the plane was a few yards from the bungalow in which my (then) fiancée Joan Bloxham was living. I can recall that the electricity supply to the home had been severed. My brother, who was working at Bradfields Farm, arrived on the scene a little later and has recollections of children carrying away buckets of unexploded ammunition.”
Jim Collis (of Milton Keynes, via his brother of 61 Elm View Road, Benfleet, via Dave Lewis) was coming home from school along South View Road. He normally then cut home along Oakfield Road, but on this day he went through to Kimberley Road as word had spread about the crash. “When I had got half way along Kimberley a copper said I couldn’t go through unless I lived there. I could see Miss Hawkins by her fence and she told him where I lived. I stayed talking to her as the remains of the plane were still burning, and the pilot who had injured his ankle was helped along to see the wreckage. We were told afterwards that the pilot had shot down two German bombers, 1 but his plane had been badly shot up, and he locked the controls hoping it would crash into the elm trees along the main road. He baled out at 3 to 400 feet, very dangerous for him, that’s why he hurt his ankle, but he saw the plane miss the elms and go down in Kimberley Road. It went into the centre of the road, missing the houses on either side and did only minor damage to the fences on either side....”
Bryan Freeman (8 Lower Church Road) was a 10-year-old living in Melcombe Road, and was one of the first to arrive on the scene. “I saw the planes in the air and heard the machine guns firing. I saw your father’s plane come down, it did indeed make a large hole and there was not too much left of the plane, and as it was ‘one of ours’ we were very happy there was no pilot with it. As a 10-year-old a ‘souvenir’ was the thing to get and I sorted myself out a machine-gun which I dragged home proudly to show my parents, who did not feel the same about it and called the police, who came the next day and took it away, much to my chagrin. Kimberley Road was unmade at this time......”
(After further contact) “I have discussed it with my brother and we agree on his letter to you, but events do seem to merge together after so many years. Yes, I saw the battle going on high in the sky and heard the guns firing, but can’t remember a lot more of that. I saw a plane come down, but no more detail, I don’t recall the parachutes as my brother does. We agree on the site in Kimberly which was unmade and very rutted, and the quite large hole half on the road and half in the garden of a bungalow. I have no memory of the plane itself, only bits scattered about and not over a wide area, no doubt because the soil is soft and clay. The gun was very bent and detached from the plane so I assume it came down fast. I feel fairly confident about what I have said, but can’t drag anything more from my memory of that time.......”
Peter Freeman (240 Vicarage Hill) was 13 at the time. “In 1940 I lived in Melcombe Road, Benfleet, not very far from the crash, with my brother I went to see it and got there before the scene was roped off. Kimberley Road was unmade then and the plane crashed between two bungalows - the newest was a wooden-frame bungalow with asbestos walls etc and I remember (one) wall was covered with oil from the Spit. I don’t think anybody was hurt.... I also remember there was a lot going on up above - I believe three or four parachutes were coming down at one time (one your dad no doubt).
I vaguely remember someone telling me later at school that one was a Polish pilot who was locked up by the local Bobby because he thought he was a German. Some of the bullets we got I think from your father’s plane, my brother and I and a few friends used to remove the bullet head, pull out some cordite, light it with a match and retire smartly - what fun!.....”
[After further contact:] “I do not remember many trees (as Doreen Middleton mentioned), also Doug Acres said that the plane was recognisable as a ‘Spit’. I don’t think so as my brother BRYAN Freeman who was only 10 years or so at the time got there pretty quick and retrieved a machine-gun so the plane must have been smashed-up for him to do that. I seem to remember piles of earth where it hit, which was partly in road and partly in vacant land between two asbestos woodframe bungalows (long since gone) but I distinctly remember oil spattered on wall of bungalow. Incidentally we are not looking at two incidents here, only your father’s plane.....”
T. Guyatt (179 Oakfield Road) was swimming near the Casino at Canvey Island when the air raid warning went. “We hurriedly took cover on the other side of the sea wall which was facing Benfleet. Above our heads a series of dogfights was taking place in the sky between our Spitfires and the Luftwaffe. Clearly I remember a bomb that fell in the sea on the other side of the sea wall.... it was shortly after this that we saw a plane spiralling to earth and watched it crash in the distance, at the same time we saw a parachute descending which I believe landed on the marshland west of Benfleet (Pitsea Marshes). At the time I said to my friend (J. Cutler now deceased), when I get home I am going to see where that plane came down. Well, I didn’t have far to go, as it fell in the adjoining land at the bottom of our garden. We lived in ‘The Nook’ Clifton Ave. at that time, which was the next road up from Kimberley, about the third bungalow along the south side. Incidentally the elderly lady whose house and garden your father’s plane landed on was found by the local fire brigade to be in the process of trying to put the fire out with a garden hose while live ammunition from the plane was exploding around her. I was later told that the Pilot (your father) complete with the remnants of his parachute turned up having insisted that he be taken to the place that his plane came down to see what damage it may have caused......”
Barry Hammerton (enthusiast, Rayleigh). “The majority of Spitfire R6885 fell into the road, which was unmade at the time, with parts of the engine crashing through the roof of a house, causing a fire, some of the roof timbers are still charred.....”
Mrs Ivy Harvey (50 Oakfield Road) was with her husband in the air-raid shelter in their front garden when they heard the plane coming down. “It came over our heads into the next road, Kimberley, which like most of the roads at that time was unmade, with very few bungalows. My husband & the old gent next door ran through the grounds opposite that belonged to a house in Kimberley & whose back gate was opposite to ours, and were the first on the scene, but there was nothing to do as the pilot had baled out a short way away. We heard later that he was a Pole or Czech....”
[After further contact:] “....The plane did scream as it came down, and as we both had our heads out of the shelter the better to see what was happening, I was very scared. My husband Bill and Harry Wilson the elderly gent from next door ran to see if there was anything to be done but didn’t stay once they found nothing for them to do. I think both men were worried about their wives! No-one else was there. As you can see by my rough sketch, there were few houses in those days and all in big gardens - ours is 100ft wide & it is the same old place. Nowadays all the trees from opposite us are gone & houses on the ground there. We grinned a bit on reading some of the accounts you sent; Bill wonders how the boy could have got hold of the machine gun and carried it home. David from Jotmans Farm has talked with me several times about the event, & how he came to rush from school, with other boys, but that would have been a little while after the plane crashed. The others I don’t know. Well we haven’t much to tell really, except I could hear ammunition popping off.”
Dave Lewis (Jotman’s House, Jotman’s Lane) was 11 at the time, and was in the newly- built air-raid shelter at school. “News got around about a plane crash. I just followed the rest of the boys when they let us out of school. We were not allowed to get close to the crash site; by the time we got there, there was nothing to see except the big hole in the centre of the road.
When I arrived home I found out from my mother that the pilot had come down by parachute, on the farm I think, and the men who were doing the thrashing of the corn were there when he landed. I can remember my mother telling one of her friends that the plane did not come straight down, but seemed to fly around a bit before it crashed, and that the pilot said he was more scared of all these men with pitchforks than he was of Jerry.”
[After further contact:] “....Reading the summary of Mrs Doreen Middleton, she was 12 yr old at the time, old enough to have a good understanding of what was happening. She mentions he landed in a field nr Haward Farm ..... it’s Howards she means, Howard bought Jotman’s Hall Farm [from] our family some time in the thirties, there is land beyond the farm nr Homefield Ave. I think Mrs Middleton is your best bet......” [Encloses 1938 O/S showing searchlight site etc; list of air-raid incidents for 5/09/40; modern map showing crash site and possible site of ADJL landing; pages from Evening Echo 24/03/95].
Mr J. Maily [As told to Philip Harvey:] “I was a volunteer fireman aged 29 at that time, stationed at Benfleet. I recall that the aircraft came in at a fairly shallow angle, hit two bungalows and set their roofs on fire. The aircraft didn’t go far into the ground and the ammunition was still going off as we arrived. We saw the pilot coming down on Pitsea marshes and came up to view his plane before going off.”
Mrs Doreen Middleton (19 Homefields Ave.) was 12 at the time. She remembers Kimberley Road as unmade, with bungalows and trees dotted here and there. The plane came down “almost as if the pilot was bringing down on a runway. It landed in the middle of this heavily-rutted, wooded road straight in the middle. It was the talk of Benfleet what a miracle it was that it didn’t touch a tree or a house. I can remember seeing it there ...... I also remember a pilot coming down in the field next to where we lived, he landed right near Hawards (?) Farm. Everybody rushed up there including me, a lot of people had sticks as they all thought it would be a German, he turned out to be British.....”
[After further contact:] “ I can definitely remember being at home when the pilot came down, the same as the two girls who were by the sea wall, who (J. Cutler) was in my class at school, but the boys say they were in school. There was a plane came down on Pitsea-Benfleet marshes. About 2 years ago they found this plane, there was a story about the pilot but I cannot remember it....
In the Post Office garden 2 German pilots came down but they were dead. The postmaster was charging 1 old penny to see their blood and said he was giving proceeds to Red Cross (dreadful).
I would not have wanted to see this anyway, but we were under strict instructions from our Mother not to go anywhere near it. It was the same when the pilot came down on the farm all believing it to be German running with their sticks, my Mother would not join in as she always said they are some mother’s sons.
I must be honest to say that my only interest was to see what a German looked like. As I say I saw him coming towards us and for some reason I got frightened and ran home. I don’t know if it was what the people might have done to him, or him to us. Even when I heard he was one of ours I could not stay. Two days ago I met a lady who I was at school with and I asked her if she had seen your letter in the paper and she said yes it came down in the road they were living, she said how it seemed to come down like I said, she never answered your letter, I don’t know why not, but she said its wings fell off and marvellous how it landed, but she also said she thought the nose had dropped off and either fallen on someone’s house or their garden. She did say the plane was lying in the middle of the road as I explained.......” [Sketchmap shows crash site, and pilot coming down just south of Jotman’s Hall, and searchlight unit to south of that, just north of railway line; Mrs Middleton lived close by in Watlington Road. From her viewpoint at the junction of the High Road and Kimberley Road, “Plane was facing Southend. I could just see fuselage”.]
Alan Parfitt (10 Norwood Drive) remembers “a beautiful day spoilt by the hundreds of German bombers passing at a high altitude to drop their bombs on London and the docks. they were too high up and out of range of the anti-aircraft guns, so the only people who could do anything were our fighter aircraft..... I was watching all this from our garden air- raid shelter when I suddenly saw your father’s Spitfire coming down in a slow spiral and crash about 400 yards from where I lived at the time.
I looked around for the pilot and was relieved to see him coming down by parachute with 2 Spitfires circling him because at that time the Germans would have machine-gunned him as he came down. Later I went along to Kimberley Road to have a look and luckily it crashed on vacant land between two bungalows so there was no injury or loss of life. The plane had completely disintegrated but I could see little evidence of fire - it was roped off anyway.....”
[After further contact:] “I have marked on the map where I lived with my parents up Kents Hill Road, and also where the Spitfire came down. I can not remember seeing the wreckage in the middle of Kimberley Ave. As there was not much smoke or fire I thought at the time the pilot in the heat of battle had run out of fuel......I am sorry to be unable to say exactly where your father came down but I have ringed the area where he landed in my opinion.” [Served in Italy in 1944. Sent map with area Bread & Cheese Hill / Coombe Wood circled, and crash site and own home marked.]
Ron Parker (Homestead, Hillltop Avenue) was 13 at the time, and was in school when the crash happened “and the building literally shook. Our local Elementary (it’s still going strong) is about half a mile away and you can imagine the excitement engendered in all the classrooms by such an event. We all thought a bomb had dropped somewhere nearby and we simply could not wait to go and see. The word got around that it was a plane had come down up Kents Hill Road (Kimberley runs into this) and out teacher let us out early so a group of us kids ran to investigate. All the roads in the area were unmade in those days so progress was difficult and it was all uphill. However if I remember rightly there was smoke rising which guided us to the site.
"We were disappointed to find that when we got to Kimberley Road and could see the plane, the Authorities had cordoned off the area and we couldn’t get right close. We were into ‘shrapnel’ during the war and all of us hoped for a souvenir. From the policeman at the site we gathered that it was a Spitfire but the fact that it was one of ours didn’t particularly register.
“We were not allowed to stay very long although lots of people had gathered around but nobody seemed to know what had happened to the pilot, although it was assumed he had baled out as no-one was in the wreckage......”
[After further contact:] “..... After reading all those memories of your father’s Spitfire you must be totally confused as to exactly what occurred as we have all given you differing details. However the main facts are quite clear. I notice only one other report mentions the fire and I think this was simply fuel from the wreckage burning - not any nearby buildings. I can just picture the old lady with her garden hose! With all crashes there is bound to be a certain amount of smoke and dust from the debris; it just seems odd that it lasted until I got there. I think you are right in that the plane did not dive at speed into the road but spiralled down and did not break up but I regret my memory is very vague as to exactly where it landed.......” [Sketchmap enclosed]
Pollock, Mr A.E. (44 Homefields Avenue, Benfleet) was 16 at the time, working on the railway. He came home in the evening to no.7 Kimberley Road (now the site of two houses) to find ropes across the road where the Spitfire has “sort of belly-flopped”. Live ammunition had been going off, and the pilot had come down on Jotman’s Farm. Properties were well-spaced along the road in those days, and next to no.7 there was a large plot about 60ft wide and 200ft deep. Dr Acres’ then girlfriend and later wife was Joan Bloxham (see above).
Potter, Charles H. (37 Scrub Lane, Hadleigh, Benfleet) was an 18-year-old bricklayer working on an ack-ack site on Canvey Island, and “witnessed the dogfight and saw the Spitfire.... diving towards the ground out of control. My father and I used to give one of our mates a lift to work. At the time of the crash he said, ‘It looks as if that’s come down somewhere near where I live.’ When we dropped him off in the evening at the top of Kimberley Road, we were surprised to see the wreckage and large hole in the road right outside his house. We knew him as Mickey Lander.”
Mrs J. Rand (198 Oakfield Road, Benfleet) was a teenager “sitting in a brick shelter in the Benfleet School playground when we had the news that a plane had crashed in Kimberley Road. One of my classmates, Joan or Joy Wilkins, became upset because her family lived in that road. After many years a younger bird-watcher friend of my husband’s lived in 18 Kimberley Road and he told us that the engine went through the roof of 18 and the rafters were still scorched. He moved some years ago, and people do alter property, i.e. bungalows into chalets...”
- Rowe [As told to Philip Harvey:] “I was 17 years old at the time. We went up on our bikes to Kimberley Road not long after it had come down. The plane was a Spitfire, although it was well smashed up and buried in the ground, partly on the road. My brother managed to get some pieces off the Spitfire but we can’t seem to locate these now. The pilot, a young lad, came up to see his plane.
I spoke to him and he told me it was the second time that day he had been shot down.” 2
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No. 41 Squadron, Catterick - Form 540, September 1940 (Hornchurch)
5th. Weather. Wind light and variable. Almost cloudless. visibility poor becoming good.
0915. Twelve A/C ordered to patrol MANSTON. Sgt. CARR-LEWTY forced landed due to enemy action at STANDFORD-LE-HOPE.
1500 Twelve A/C ordered to patrol, MAIDSTONE. S/Ldr. HOOD reported Missing. F/Lt WEBSTER killed in action. F/O. WALLENS injured in leg and admitted to HOSPITAL. F/O. LOVELL baled out near BENFLEET, uninjured.
1615. Nine A/C ordered to patrol.
Enemy casualties on this day were:- 3 M.E.109. destroyed and 1 H.E.113 destroyed, probables 3 M.E.109, damaged 2 D.O. 17.
No. 41 Squadron, Catterick - Form 541, Detail of Work Carried Out, 5/9/40
From 0645 hours to 2000 hours. 5.9.40.
12 AIRCRAFT.
Patrol 0915 1045 Ordered to patrol.
S/Ldr HOOD - P9429. R6604 - P/O WALLENS. R6611 - F/O BOYLE. R6605 - F/Lt WEBSTER.
R6885 - P/O LOVELL. X4021 - Sgt. DARLING. P9428 - F/O SCOTT. N3059 - F/Lt RYDER.
N3098 - Sgt. CARR-LEWTY. N3126 - P/O CORY. X4343 - P/O BENNIONS. R6887 - P/O MACKENZIE.
From 1500 hours to 1545 hours. 5.9.40. Ordered to patrol.
12 AIRCRAFT.
P9428 - S/Ldr HOOD. R6635 - F/Lt WEBSTER. X4021 - P/O WALLENS. R6697 - F/O BOYLE.
R6885 - P/O LOVELL. N3118 - Sgt HOWITT. R6884 - P/O BENNIONS. R6887 - F/Lt RYDER.
R6756 - Sgt. FORD. R6635 - P/O M-RYAN. N3162 - P/O LOCK. X4021 - P/O CORY.
9 AIRCRAFT.
Patrol 1615 1720 Ordered to patrol. Maidstone.
R6887 - F/Lt RYDER. R6635 - P/O M-RYAN. N3162 - P/O MACKENZIE. R6884 - P/O BENNIONS.
R6756 - Sgt MCADAM. X4021 - Sgt FORD. R6697 - F/O BOYLE. N3118 - Sgt. HOWITT. R6605 - Sgt. USMAR.
No. 41 Squadron, Catterick - Form 765A, Operations and Statistical Summary, 5/9/40
5/9/40 No. of sorties: 33. No. of hours flown: 29.50.
Aviation petrol expenditure: Gallons - 1397
S.A.A. Expenditure (approx.):
No. of rounds fired: 19,758
No. of rounds lost or missing: 13,600
Aircraft on charge: Spitfire Magister (Merlin II & III) (Gipsy Major)
Serviceable 9 1
Unserviceable for periods not exceeding 48 hours: 1
Unserviceable but repairable at Unit: 1
Repairable at depot: 3
Awaiting write-off: 4
Missing: 1
(Establishment I.E.: 16)
(Establishment I.R.: 2)
Personnel strength: Officers Airmen
Pilots (establishment): 15 12
Pilots (posted strength): 14 7
Pilots (killed or dead): 3 1 nil
Pilots (missing): 4 1 nil
Pilots (to hospital): 5 1 nil
Airframe and engine wastage: Spitfire (Merlin II & III)
Missing: 1
Wrecked (enemy action in the air): 3 2 6
RAF Hornchurch
Weather: Continued fine & cloudless. Once again, the enemy’s attack was confined to two major raids, the first at 0940 hours, reaching Kenley-Biggin Hill area, with an offshoot to Brentwood. All three of our squadrons were in the air, and 41 and 603 Squadrons engaged the enemy, between them destroying 5 enemy aircraft & probably destroying a further 4. One pilot of 603 Squadron failed to return. In the second raid at 1415 hours, our Squadrons were again despatched, and on this occasion, 41 and 222 Squadrons were in combat, 41 Squadron destroying 6 of the enemy (including 3 Ju 88s) while 222 Squadron probably destroyed two. 41 Squadron, however, were most unfortunate in losing both S/Ldr Hood and F/Lt Webster DFC.
11 Group
UXBRIDGE
5/9/40 Weather fine. During night E/A were active over Group especially in Lower Thames. A Blenheim of 25 squadron shot down 1 He.III and 1 Do.17 between 0020 and 0134 hours, over area Braintree-Martlesham. During the day there were two major attacks;- the first at 0940 hours proceeded towards Kent and S.E. of London. The following squadrons made contact with enemy: Nos: 41, 111, 501, 79, 603. The second attack on Thames Estuary and Kent developed at 1415 hours. The following Squadrons sighted the enemy:- Nos: 17, 41, 43, 46, 66, 72, 73, 222, 249, 303, 501.
Enemy Casualties:
Combat at 1415 hours. 22 confirmed. 14 probable. 5 damaged.
Combat at 0940 hours. 7 confirmed. 8 probable. 5 damaged.
Interception during night 2 do.
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total: 31 confirmed. 22 probable. 10 damaged.
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Our casualties:
No. 41 Squadron F/Lt. Webster killed.
No. 41 Squadron S/Ldr Hood missing.
No. 46 Squadron: P/O Johnson missing.
No. 66 Squadron. P/O King killed.
No. 66 Squadron. P/O Christie missing.
No. 72 Squadron Sgt Grey and P/O Winter killed.
No. 73 Squadron Sgt. McNay missing.
No. 501 Squadron P/O Skowki missing
No. 603 Squadron F/Lt Rushmer missing.
11 Group Intelligence Bulletin No.45
5/9/40
PART I.
Non-Secret For official use only
Results of Air Combats 5/9/40
E/A Shot Down Casualties
17 1429-1600 2 Me.109 destroyed Nil
1 He.111 destroyed
3 He. probable
25 0020-0134 1 He.111 destroyed Nil
1 Do.17 destroyed
41 0912-1100 3 Me.109 destroyed Nil
1 He.113 destroyed
3 Me.109 probable
2 Do.17 damaged
41 1500-1530 3 Me.109 destroyed F/Lt Webster killed
3 Ju.88 destroyed
1 Me.109 damaged S/Ldr Hood missing
1 Ju.88 damaged
43 1502-1630 1 Me.109 destroyed
46 1455-1555 3 Me.109 destroyed P/O Johnson missing
66 1438-1600 Nil P/O King killed
P/O Christie missing
72 1425-1545 1 Me.109 destroyed Sgt Grey killed
1 Me.109 damaged P/O Winter killed
73 1455-1609 1 Ju.88 probable Sgt McNay missing
1 Ju.88 damaged
79 1000-1110 1 Do.115 probable Nil
111 0950-1050 2 Me.109 destroyed Nil
1 Me.109 probable
1 Do.17 damaged
222 1420-1600 1 Me.109 probable Nil
1 Me.110 probable
249 1425-1603 2 Do.215 probable
2 Me.109 probable
3 Do.215 damaged
1 Me.109 damaged
303 1450-1550 4 Me.109 destroyed
1 Ju.88 destroyed
2 Me.109 probable
1 Ju.88 probable
501 0915-1040 1 Me.109 destroyed P/O Skowski missing
1 Me.109 probable
1 Me.109 damaged
501 1432-1600 3 Me.109 destroyed
603 0930-1034 1 Me.109 destroyed F/Lt Rushmer missing
1 Me.109 probable
1 Me.109 damaged P/O Rafton missing
PART II
41 Squadron report that in their two engagements on 5/9/40 the enemy escort fighters did not attack or leave their stations unless an attack was made on them or their bombers.
....Between 1415-1630 hours a second attack took place, one raid attacking the Thames Estuary, another raid aimed towards Biggin Hill, whilst a third raid flew almost direct to Detling. To counter this attack the following Squadrons were detailed to intercept raids:- 603, 222, 72, 501, 249, 46, 66, 253, 41, 601, 43, 111, 1, 1(Can.). Of these 603, 46, 66, 249, 41, 72, 43, 222 and 501 made contact...... In addition Squadrons 17, 73, 303, whilst not detailed to raids, also engaged the enemy.
8 Hurricanes written-off
14 Spitfires written-off