BRITAIN AT WAR


SKETCHING THE BATTLE


shot down by Squadron Leader Caeser Hull at almost the same moment as the Bf 110 had crash landed at Strivens Farm. It slammed into the ground at Washington. As Geoff relates, “Having been hit, the German aircraft went into a very steep, if not vertical dive. It did not recover from this and crashed straight into the ground at Church Farm. The crash was at such speed that the ’plane buried itself to a depth of about twenty feet. Nothing could be seen except the crater, and for this reason I was not able to make sketches of the remains.” Oberleutnant Florenz and Gefreiter Herbert were both killed.


TOP:


A distant view of the crash site of the Bf 110 at Lee Farm. The aircraft can just be made out directly above the head of the Policeman on the opposite side of the valley. (Courtesy of the Andy Saunders Collection)


ABOVE: Fuselage detail from the side of the Lee Farm Bf 110. (Courtesy of Geoff Goatcher)


BELOW:


Detail of the tail wheel fitted to the Lee Farm aircraft, allowing us an insight into the manufacturer of some of the tyres for the wartime German aircraft industry. (Courtesy of Geoff Goatcher)


BELOW RIGHT:


This final sketch of the Lee Farm Bf 110 concentrates on the aircraft’s port wing. (Courtesy of Geoff Goatcher)


As a young lad, Mr C. Turner’s father farmed the land on which the Bf 110 (werke 2837, 2N+DP) fell. “The ’plane had dived into the ground to at least 12 to 15 feet,” he recalled. “Something in the crater was burning as smoke was billowing out – in fact, I seem to remember that something kept smouldering for almost two weeks.


“The whole area was dangerous for, as well as the fire, unexploded ammunition kept going off, making sure that spectators were kept at a distance. Having crashed on our land, I was eventually able to have a look at the contents of the crater – all that I can recall seeing were a few bent and twisted pistons.”


Geoff’s sketch pad was to be put to use


again, however, just five days later.


Monday, 9 September 1940, had been another desperate day in the skies above Sussex. Chichester, Horsham, Worthing and Brighton had all experienced air raid warnings and in the evening Tangmere aerodrome came under attack – and another German aircraft crashed to the ground not far from Geoff’s home in Washington.


This time it was a Bf 109 of 5 Staffel JG/27 which was part of the escort for a large formation of bombers whose target was London docks. On the approach the Bf 109, flown by Oberleutnant Erwin Daig, was hit and began to lose speed. After the bombers had delivered their deadly cargoes upon London, the enemy aircraft headed for home. But Daig found himself pursued by two British fighters and his already-damaged ’plane was struck again.


Daig dived away from the aircraft chasing him and tried to reach a bank of broken cloud which was at a height of about 9,000 feet: “… before I reached the safety of this cloud, one of my attackers caught up with me and again opened fire. Once again I felt the shock of more hits, at which point I put my ’plane into yet another dive. This time I kept going until I was almost at ground level, when I headed straight for France, trying to escape by flying at low level.”


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