Long hot summer holidays, a fishing rod, a bike, a catapult, and a air gun. What else could a lad want? Yes life was good. We played cricket in the road and seldom saw a car, but a passing horse and cart might leave a mess on the wicket.. there was a large pond not far from home and plenty of fish to catch, four of us made a raft from old rusty oil drums and bits of wood and we had a great time with that until it sank and we all went home wet and covered in mud. Our next project was a Tree house, this was made from wooden fencing and other "lost property" that we found lying about around the village hall, and a few hundred nails. This was a much better job, with a tin roof and a carpet. From our tree we had a good view of the main road and our keen young ears would hear the sound of the bell on the walls ice cream bike that came along almost every day in summer. The tree house became our headquarters for a very long time.

I was sure that the local copper was only there to ride his bike all day and all night, and to make sure that you had a licence for your dog. He looked about Six foot six high and four feet wide his other job was anchor man for the village tug- of- war team. Despite his size he could suddenly appear like the genie of Aladdin's lamp, One day he came across the fields to our tree house and had a good long look at it, then he went away without saying a word. I guess that we must have passed his "Building Regulations" or, maybe he knew that soon we would face a lot more danger then falling out of a tree.

The local school was about a mile from home and I had to walk there whatever the weather. I loved the history lessons and also geography and drawing but everything else was a bore. My mind was always on what I wanted to do after school was over for the day. Sometimes on fine days I would "skip off" school and walk to a farm on the edge of the village where the farmer would let me do odd jobs around the farm until school was over. I well remember that one day the "genie of the lamp" turned up at the farm, and I spent a long time hiding in a barn while he sat in the farmhouse eating the ham sandwich that I had been looking forward to all day, then I got into trouble at home for being late from school and missing my tea. Today I still enjoy the open air and wildlife of our county.... and I still hate arithmetic.

Everyone went to work on Saturday mornings The weekend didn't start until 1.00pm when all the shops and factories had to close until Monday morning. Shops in Chelmsford also had "Half day closing" from1.00pm Wednesday, but the little local shop would still serve you if you went to the back door with a note from mum.

Yes this was a good time, this was freedom, this was England, and I loved it just the way it was. Locks for garden sheds hadn't been invented, and back doors were never locked.

         But, very soon it would be under threat.

                                                     Dad's toy                          stop me and buy one               1938 flying standard 8                 Hay Rake

I Do not think that I was ever afraid early in the war, as a boy everything was very exciting , and I was convinced that we would win in the end. We all accepted the new restrictions and wartime regulations that were announced almost daily by the BBC and the newspapers.. Everyone had to carry a Gas mask, and Identity card, and there were travel restrictions with many road blocks especially within ten miles of the coast. You were forbidden to use, and asked to hand in personal things like, Good quality Binoculars. Cameras, Radio transmitters, and any firearms. Church bell were forbidden to ring, and would only be used to warn us of Invasion and call the L D V (home guard) to full armed duty.

People started to hoard food, so rationing was introduced very quickly for two reasons.

1. To strictly conserve and control supplies and price of all essential food. 2. To fairly and stringently ensure that everyone had the same amount. each week and no more.

Everyone was given a ration book One week's ration allowance for each person was.. 1.Egg. Margarine 2.oz. Cooking Fat. 2 oz. Tea.2oz Sugar 8oz Cheese.1oz Bacon 4oz Meat to the value of 1 shilling & 2p. Sometimes the Cheese ration would be a little more, but just for one week. Fish was hardly ever seen There was always a long queue at the shops, if they had anything to sell.. Growing vegetables in you garden was encouraged with a big "Dig For Victory" campaign on radio, newspapers, and posters. Jam was made at home from wild blackberries and sugar saved up from the rations. Everything was in short supply, Clothing was rationed and cut to save material, men's jackets had no pockets, and trousers had no turn-ups.

We were told to only have one bath a week, and then we were to use no more then 5 inches of water in the bath. saving fuel and soap. Paper was in short supply and needed for the war effort. Newspapers were cut to just a few pages and had to be saved with all other waste paper. We were told to use both sides of the note paper. when writing a letter. All sign posts and place names were removed by the L D V. or councils.To conserve wood the Government requested all women to wear flat-heeled shoes and light clothes in order to save dye for forces uniforms. Many non-essential factories were closed

THE BLACK-OUT.

No street lighting. No shop window lights, or any light from anywhere in the whole country, and you have a idea of what it was like to go out at night in wartime. Finding your way around was dangerous and difficult. Hundreds of people were killed in road accidents and by falling into holes, ponds and rivers,

Edges of pavements were painted white, as were lamp posts, and railings. Car headlights were just a tiny glimmer. Every window had to be covered with a thick black-out material, and lights had to be turned off before you opened the door. Air raid wardens walked the street looking out for anyone who was showing even a tiny slit of light. and were often heard to shout "Put that b-- - - light out"

As time went on we became expert at mending ,darning and repairing our socks and shoes, money was not much use, unless you had coupons or ration books. Car radios were also banned. It became an offence for any person to have in his or her possession or under his or her control any radio receiving apparatus installed in any motor vehicle. Driving tests were also suspended. In August 1940 the government passed legislation that made the waste of food a prisonable offence. One of the first to be prosecuted was J. Lyons Ltd who was fined for allowing mice to eat food in its kitchens.

The government announced in September 1939, that petrol was rationed. Initially a small allowance of petrol was allowed for the private motorist but this was brought to an end in the summer of 1942
Factories all over the country were now under wartime regulations, and one night two men came from the Hoffman ball bearing factory, to ask my Dad, who had been a manager there before he retired, to go back. The next morning Dad went back to work, he retired again in1945.

All of the hard measures were accepted with just a few moans and groans because we were told that ships were being sank bringing us food ,and we were thankful for what we were getting. Apart from the shortages and the nightly blackout there did not seem to be much war going on late in 1939. But we were told very little of the battle going on in the seas around us, and the heavy losses to our shipping, from Aircraft, U Boats, and Mines.

The winter of 39/40, was the coldest for 60 years, with 20 degrees of frost in London on January 20th making things more miserable were rationing, and censorship. Newspapers were not allowed to report on the weather. Many parts of the country were cut off, and after the big freeze there was widespread flooding. I began to think that war stopped in winter.

The BBC kept up a steady stream of Government Information and morale booster programs ,How to make one room of your home Gas-Proof, how to deal with fire bombs, correctly fitting your Gas mask, and many other things. The one BBC program that I have always remembered was called "Into Battle" and it was Just before, or Just after the main news . It always told story of a big victory, or a brave deed that had been carried out by a serviceman, or a civilian doing war work. Always there was a very uplifting tale that made one feel proud to be British. I sometimes wonder if they still have recording of this program.

We also began to hear reports about The "Black Market " people who were making money by selling stolen rationed goods at a very high price to those who were willing to have them and who could afford them. how we hated these people and hoped that they would be caught and arrested. Later on we were to see for the first time "Spam" and powdered Eggs from the USA, not on ration but in short supply, and always at the end of a long queue if you were lucky. Bread got a lot darker, and due to long storage Cheese was often hard and dry and Butter sometimes had a nasty taste. Rationing. The Blackout. Cold Winter Weather, and all the other wartime regulations made life very difficult.

Over half of our Army had been lost in France and Norway together with their arms and equipment. Over 400,000 more were about to be lost in the far east and Singapore. More bad news from North Africa and the Mediterranean..... The Church bells must ring soon.. Thank God we are an Island.

As the weather improved the air raids warnings seemed to be more frequent, but it was the Channel and north sea shipping and towns on the coast that were mainly raided in daylight, but I do remember that now and again a lone German bomber would dive out of the clouds to drop its bombs on the nearby city of Chelmsford, a prime target with Hoffman's ball bearing factory, and Marconi Radio and Radar working day and night. We were to see much bigger raids later on when the night raids started. Mum had now joined the NFS (National Fire Service) and worked as cook at a fire station in Chelmsford.

The incendiary bomb attacks of the winter of 1940/41 demonstrated the inadequacy of the fire prevention services, which were still under a multiplicity of local authorities, though co-ordinated by the Home Office and supported by the Auxiliary Fire Service. Under the National Fire Service (Emergency Provisions) Act 1941, the Home Office set about creating a national service and until 1947 administered and controlled a national force of 350 000 men and women.

As a young boy I had a very keen interest in aircraft, and spent most of my spare time reading my large collection of books and magazines. My most treasured book was called "Jane's Aircraft of the Fighting Powers" a very expensive book that had all the detail and information a boy could ever want on modern fighter and bomber aircraft. ( I think it cost about four pounds ten shillings, a lot of money in 1939. ) Before long I knew every aircraft that was in the book, from every angle possible. and I considered myself quite a expert at aircraft recognition . Most of the British fighters that were to be seen flying around Essex in 1939-40 were Hurricanes, but the wonderful Spitfire got the most publicity and to most people every British fighter was a Spitfire. Quite a few Dog Fights were so high up that it was hard to tell British from German , let alone Spitfire from Hurricane.

Early in the war the sound of the air raid siren would send everyone indoors, or to their air raid shelter , but most of the raids had been far away, or false alarms and by now we waited until we heard aircraft, or anti aircraft fire in the distance. Inside the house we had a Morrison table shelter Cost £7. 00. setup in the dining room. but at School we were sent into a large Brick and concrete shelter that was dark and only lit by a candle. Sometimes we were inside for hours, waiting for the all clear to sound, but now and again we would hear the sound of a air battle going on close by, with the excited shouting of the school masters who would gather in the shelter entrance to see the fighting. and also they made sure that no boy could ever get outside to see any of the action. Often I would sit there and listen to them shouting about "Heinkel fighters" and "Spitfires" that were later proved to be Messerschmitt and Hurricanes, and I soon became convinced that Adults could not tell a aeroplane from a pint pot. As I sat on my hard wooden seat in that dim school shelter I did not think that I would soon see my first battle.

Bored with school, and makeshift lessons in the dim shelter, I started to skip going to school. Instead I went to a farm and the old farmer would find me a job without asking any questions, "Got the flu again have we? well take the horse rake and do the field by the wood if you feel like it" Then he would harness old Flossy up to the hay rake for me. I would work until the farmer came into the field with a "Nosebag"and water for Flossy , and a pint of milk for me. I was Happy, Just sitting on the rake, pulling the lever to drop the hay in line. The horse was so easy to manage, She went up an down the field in straight lines without me doing a thing. .Until 4.30. then she went to the gate. and you had to let her go back to her stable, for her hay, oats, and water. On wet days I went to school on fine days I did odd jobs on the farm. Mum and Dad were at work and I got away with it for quite some time.

It had been a nice clear sunny day, and the afternoon sun was warm on my back as I worked on my bike with dads oil can. It must have been a weekend, I was not at school and dad was not at work, he was doing something in the front garden, and I can remember that there were neighbours working in their gardens. There had been air raid alerts that day but nothing had come of them, and everyone just went on with what they were doing. If there had been a warning I had not heard it. Suddenly I heard my dad shout out to the man next door " Look at that lot up there Peter" and then I could hear the sound of aircraft, Many aircraft. I ran to the front of the house, and looked up to see a formation of about fifty German bombers. they were high up and to far away to see what type they were, slowly moving towards me. ( at that time I did think that they were Dornier, or Heinkel 111s bombers) Dad had now gone out onto the road and had been joined by some others, as I went towards them he called out for me to "Get back into the house" so I went back into the garden where he could not see me.

I stood there looking up at the biggest number of aircraft that I had ever seen in the sky at one time, getting closer and closer, and knowing that I was directly in the line of any bombs if they were released. in less then a minute they would be right overhead. Then I heard someone call out "Look here come the Spitfires" From high above and to the left side and a little to the rear of the formation I saw two fighters Diving down onto the bombers, perfect targets for at least 15 of the rear facing gunners of the German aircraft. who were firing many short sharp bursts, but there did not seem to be any fire from the fighters.

They continued to dive straight down and passed close to the bombers, and then at last they pulled out and separated one turning away to the south and the other north coming past my position and towards Chelmsford. As it passed, I could see that it was in trouble, A little white smoke came from the engine manifold, and it was getting lower. those watching from the road were shouting "Bale Out , but there was no movement from the cockpit." I was also able to see very clearly that it was a Hurricane with its very distinguish structure and its squadron letters clearly visible to me, I wish I could remember them, ..the letter "D" seems to hang in my mind.... I watched it pass by and I could not see any damage and the smoke had stopped in fact it looked OK . Now it was going away towards Chelmsford .Suddenly the the right wing dropped and then the nose went down and it dived into the ground. All that I could see then was black smoke rising into the sky and I found myself in tears. I had just seen my first air battle, and it was all over in a few seconds it had not finished the way I would have wanted. I had seen a brave man killed. maybe two.

As soon as the fighters had passed the German bombers, they had turned to the right and flown back towards the coast . I had not seen this as I had turned away fixed to the two Hurricanes as they parted and passed me. There had not been any German fighters with the bombers, or anywhere in the sky, and there had been no Anti Aircraft fire from the ground. I kept asking myself why had the Germans turned back. The next day my Dad told me that the "Spitfire" had crashed into a house on the London road at Chelmsford, and later we went to see the crash site. There was only a damaged house but no aircraft wreckage to be seen. Crashed Aircraft were always well guarded and quickly cleared away. not giving any time for a proper examination or identification . I heard a rumor that the pilot had been a South African, but someone else said he had been a Polish pilot. This is what happened in wartime, few people really knew the true story and if they did then they did not tell. Newspapers and the BBC were always warning you not to talk about any military action that you may see, and warning you of the stiff penalty of "Careless Talk". after the war it was found that Even local Council Official Records often got things wrong All local reports and records state that this aircraft was a Spitfire. P 7423 of 19 Squadron. I have read a report written in 1999 , that the aircraft that crashed at this spot was a Spitfire, that had crashed in flames after being attacked by a BF 109 while on a patrol over Gravesend . But I know that the plane that I saw shot down and crash at that spot was not on fire and it was without any doubt a Hurricane. One of two that came from the direction of the north sea and was shot down by the mid upper gunners of German bombers . There were however, other Spitfires that did crash in Chelmsford, one in flames, but at the other end of London road, at a time when there was no German aircraft or fighting going on in the area ,but I have yet to find any record of that crash.

Two other Crash sites that I can remember were 1. near The White Heart pub at Springfield and 2. Waterhouse street. But I did not visit these sites myself, and they seem to have been forgotten . So I don't have much faith in the Essex records office.

Records also tell of Hurricane fighters doing convoy protection flights over the north sea, and of aircraft missing while doing this work,did they all fall into the sea ? I think that the Hurricanes in my story may have came from a convoy patrol .

have many questions that I would like answered 1. what happened to the second Hurricane ? 2. Are there any German records of the battle ? 3. Did the bombers get recalled because they had missed the assembly point with their fighter escort ? Was this crash investigated fully at the time ? I don't think so. This is not a mistake of a old mans mind , I have lived with this on my mind for over 60 years. It is as clear in my memory today as it was then, and I can still see every detail of the doomed Hurricane . and I am sure that this was not a SPITFIRE. I have many other memories of the war, You don't forget things like seeing a V1 flying bomb just 40 feet over your head with tracer bullets ripping past it, and hoping they will all miss, knowing that a hit now, would mean the end of you. Then a second later seeing a night fighter with all it leading edges and nose, lit up with Machine gun and Canon flashes, Its engines screaming and going flat out, just a few feet above your roof in hot pursuit, and then seeing the sky turn red as the fighter blasts the bomb from the sky half a mile away.
You don't forget seeing German bombers lighting the sky with flares, dropping parachute mines, bombs, and fire bombs on a town where you have family working the night shift in a factory, and your mother is in a mobile NFS canteen making tea for the firemen. And you don't forget seeing a brave young man die in a Hurricane.

The long night raids seemed to last forever. On most evenings the warning was heard about 7 pm, and we would all be in the living room ready to dive into the Morrison table shelter if the raiders came to near. most times the raid would be far away, with just the odd bomber flying our way and we could get into the shelter and get some sleep.  Dad would be awake and keeping his eye on things. Night after night we could see a glow in the sky to the south west, as London took the main raids. Our danger on these nights was mainly from odd aircraft that were lost of damaged , they would jettison their bombs anywhere, and head for home. One night we had a large number of incendiary bombs dropped only a few yards from the house but mostly on open ground, and everyone was out covering them with sand or earth. This was the best way of putting them out. and we were afraid that they would attract more bombers into our area if they were not extinguished as quickly as possible. Later in the war a new type of incendiary bomb that exploded after it had been burning for a short time was also used, we were then told to let them burn out. They were about six inches longer then the old type, I did not see any of those.

Our house looked out onto a large field, and from time to time a mobile Anti Aircraft Battery would turn up and setup their guns. most often they were only there for one night, but never more then two. these were light bofors guns.( 40mm I think) but then we had a heavy 3 .7 inch unit take up a permanent site about a half mile down the road. Anyone with a spare bedroom was asked to billet a soldier from the unit until they built accommodation for them . We had a nice young fellow who slept in our spare room on the nights he was not on duty, he was a cook and sometimes he would bring Mum some butter, or a nice piece of meat. I remember that we were sorry when he left. throughout the war I never saw a German bomber hit by our anti aircraft fire, If they did ever hit anything with the hundreds of rounds that they fired, then it must have came down later. In fact, a bomber that came down a short way from our home had been hit by gunners over London, and it had flown over 30 miles before it crashed. I can remember how Dad had rushed over the fields armed with his garden fork to help round up the crew that had bailed out, and how he had returned early in the morning. with a large chunk of HE111 tail.

Until the V 2 Rocket attacks I think the most fearful thing during the war was the parachute mine. Just knowing that one may be silently dropping from the night sky after the bomber that released it had passed over, unnerved even the strongest. The blast from these terrible mines was much greater then a normal bomb as they always exploded at ground level . One mine could completely demolish a large number of homes, and make many more uninhabitable. We lived less then 3 miles away from Chelmsford and as Dad and I watched the city under attack one night I saw two of these horrible weapons descend onto the glow of the fires, that had been started by hundreds of incendiary bombs that fell on the city that night. Mum was on duty at the fire station and had told us that she was always sent to the shelter when there was an air raid. We did not know until much later that Mum was out all night with a mobile unit taking tea and food to the firemen and rescue workers.

A little later the German bombers started going after towns and cities further north, and we were not having so many air raids, but Norwich was getting some very bad night bombing. Or as the BBC would report, "Last night enemy bombers raided towns in the south of England and East Anglia inflicting some light damage, seven enemy aircraft were destroyed" By now we all knew the meaning of "light damage". But after two years of bad raids, things started to look a little brighter Sometimes it was a week before the bombers came back but the raids were now much lighter, and there was a little more food in the shops. Our night fighters were now inflecting losses on the enemy  and Allied bombers were hitting their French airfields in daylight. Some Luftwaffe units had been withdrawn and sent to the middle east where Rommel had been driven back. Other units were sent to the eastern front. It was about this time when we all got a special treat an extra 4oz of butter  (a morale booster for one week only)  and a tin of Australian Jam. At this stage of the war, there had been more women and children killed then troops.

The night after the bomb was clear and bright, We were at my older sister's home, Dad and Mum had spent the day removing things from the bombed house and trying to arrange rebuilding. I remember that when the raid started, and I heard the sound of the high flying aircraft overhead, I was really frightened for the first time in the war. Dad came in and he must have seen how I was shaking, he took hold of my hand and said. "Its OK, it has passed over, come outside with me and see for yourself." Outside I looked up and in the clear moonlight I could see a faint vapour trail high above the house, passing away with the sound of the plane. After that I often spent a air raid standing on the front steps with my dad. and It felt safer then being indoors. The high altitude bombers never came back again, they had been moved to the eastern front.

Later on in the war when our own bombers were going to Germany night and day, we began to see more of our own aircraft coming back with fighter and flack damage. I have seen US Fortress bombers limping home badly damaged ,low in the sky, some with only two engines running, some with big holes in the tail or the wings. I saw a Mustang fighter crash into a field at Gallywood killing the pilot. A Thunderbolt fighter, dive into the ground, at a spot that I returned to last year. and as I looked my mind went back to 1944, when I was standing there at the gate, stopped from going into the field by a member of the home guard. I remembered seeing about six Black U.S. soldiers removing the tail and bits of wreckage from around a large hole in the green field, There was also two large trucks in the field . I saw some the soldiers loading a truck. Other fragments were thrown into the crater. They then quickly filled in the hole before driving away. Then before it got dark the field was ploughed over, I think this was done by a local Farmer . I was sure then that much of the plane had been covered over. Now it is a green field again,there is just one small tree in that field, It is standing right on the spot of the crash. .... Someone Cares.

                                 Incendiary Bombs                              SC 250 Bomb            Butterfly Bomb                       188 high altitude bomber                         sample war order.

It was now only a few days after the D Day landings and our troops were hanging on to the small strip of Normandy coast. I was a  anxious to see the line of our advance on the battle map move forward, but it was distressingly slow, this was a nervous time.           

    The arrival of the V1 was a big surprise  This exceedingly Fast, loud, and deadly weapon arrived low and without any warning. Within a few days thousands of Londoners had left the city, and the government had to admit that we were under a new type of attack. They called for everyone to keep calm and released details of the V1 to the newspapers, saying that it was a badly made short range inaccurate weapon that would soon be neutralized, but people still continued to leave London. An aerial bombardment of Southern England by masses of these missiles would, the Germans hoped, bring Great Britain to her knees. While 100 launching sites - capable of launching a total of about 1,000 missiles a day - were built along the French and Dutch coast. Take off speed was commonly attained by launching from a ground ramp, using a chemical or steam catapult, or from a aircraft such as the Heinkel He-111.The attack on Britain started on the night of 13/14 June 1944 and ended on March 29, 1945. A total of 10,500 missiles were launched and 3,957 were destroyed by defences, 3,531 reached England and 2,353 fell on London. The death toll from these missiles was 6,184 killed and 17,981 persons were seriously injured.

 Most of V1 bombs landed after a shallow glide, rather than a power dive, The soft case bomb exploded on the surface not in a crater. This meant that the blast wave of the explosion was able to travel over a further distance. This was often up to 400 yards in each directions (a total blast area diameter of 1/2 mile.) In some cases, for example at Lewisham Market it is reported that the blast covered 600 yards in each direction. (later missiles carried a larger warhead made of more powerful explosive and it would seem likely that Lewisham suffered from one of these)  Morale rapidly fell as the power of this new weapon was realized, and the relentless day and night bombardment continued. People left London in their thousands both through official and unofficial evacuation schemes. By mid July 15,000 a day were leaving the terminal stations on packed trains. Some reports describe a situation at the main stations of near panic as people struggled to get tickets and onto the over flowing trains. Somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million people fled the capital during this period.  This evacuation must have saved many lives. At this stage of the war Germany was producing about 8000 V1 each month.  It develops a thrust of approximately 600 lb. At a speed of 360 miles an hour, at which velocity the drag of the aircraft is about equal to the thrust. Under such conditions it will be developing 575 thrust horse-power, equivalent to about 725 horse-power from a normal piston engine. Its fuel consumption is about one gallon every 10 seconds, in which time it will fly one mile