Memories of the Battle of Britain

[Davedog74]

+1 gilly
raf hornchurch station diary august 31st 1940
a large formation of enemy bombers,a most impressive sight in vic formation at around 15,000, feet,reached the aerodrome and dropped thier bombs(probably sixty in all)the bombs landed in a line from the other side of our dispersal pens to the petrol dump,and beyond into elm park,perimeter track,dispersal and barrack block windows suffered,but no other damage to buildings was caused and the aerodrome ,in spite of its ploughed up condition,remained serviceable. 54 squadron was ordered off as the bombs were falling,and eight machines safely left the ground. the remaining section,however had just become airborne as the bombs exploded. all of these machines were wholly wrecked in the air. the survival of the pilots is a complete miracle. sergeant davis,taking off across the airfield towards the hangers,was thrown back to the other side of the river ingrebourne,two fields away,he scrambled out of his machine unharmed.
jack shenfield- mechanic, talking about the same raid poor old sergeant davis appeared hours later,asking for a cup of tea after being blown up, the whole fuselage went,the wings were left on the aerodrome ,and the fuselage blown over the river,which was quite a distance,how they all survived is a miracle