New Milton Advertiser 23rd Oct 2020

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Battle of Britain over the Forest by Nick Saunders

THE Battle of Britain is offi- cially recorded as lasting from 10th July to 31st October 1940. There were numerous incidents during the battle that took place over the New Forest and out to sea in the Christchurch bay and Isle of Wight area. Many were reported in the 1940 editions of the New Milton Ad- vertiser and Lymington Times. As the battle wore on, the RAF become stronger with increased numbers of fight- ers produced. The supply of trained pilots was a continual problem that was augmented by using pilots from the Fleet Air Arm and from foreign air force personnel who had man- aged to escape to Britain. The Polish pilots were the most nu- merous in the RAF ranks. On 20th September 1940, in response to the increased strength of the RAF, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring ordered that daylight attacks on Brit- ain would only be carried out by small units escorted by large numbers of fighters. He also decreed that individual bomb- ers would carry out raids using the weather and cloud cover to help them get to the target un- detected and make good their escape. He further ordered that all large-scale bombing attacks be conducted at night. On Monday 21st October 1940, towards the end of the Battle of Britain, a lone Junkers Ju 88A-5, of German bomber squadron 1/KG 51, piloted by Oberleutnant Max Fabian, took off from its French airbase south-east of Paris. Their target was the Gloster air- craft factory at Brockworth in Gloucester which manu- factured Hawker Hurricane fighters. The weather was poor, with rain and cloud, making it ideal for this type of lone attack. The German aircraft was located by the Royal Ob- server Corps overhead at Portsmouth at 12.55pm, and the contact passed to Fighter Command. The Royal Observer Corps next picked up the aircraft at 1.06pm in the Boscombe Down area. At about 1.40pm the air- craft arrived over the tar- get. It dropped three high explosive bombs which all missed their target, landing in a nearby field. A fourth bomb landed on the roof of a machine shop causing damage and more than 30 casualties. The German aircraft turned south and is re- corded to have flown over Old Sarum airfield where it ma- chine-gunned the aerodrome, damaging aircraft and wound- ing some RAF airmen. It con- tinued to fly south heading for the coast. Two Spitfires of 609 (West Riding) Squadron Royal Auxil- iary Air force, based at Middle Wallop airfield in Hampshire, were on patrol and were skil- fully vectored onto the enemy aircraft. The 609 Squadron pilots had accounted for 99 German air- craft so far in the war. Their last confirmed success hap- pened on 15th October 1940 over Everton and Hordle when Polish Pilot Officer Tadeusz Nowierski shot down an ME109 fighter. The squadron was very keen to claim their 100th kill. Flight Lieutenant Frank Howell was Red 1, the patrol leader. He was an experienced pilot who had been in action

use of the 23rd Psalm reminds us of the wideness of God’s mercy.” Another wrote: “For myself, and I think many will perhaps agree, the action of ‘our’ air- men and authorities concerned in the case of the Nazis shows a very true example of good- ness. The actions are set as an example by the very men who helped in the destruction of the enemy.” The Germans remained in the cemetery until 20th Feb- ruary 1963 when they were re- interred at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire when it was de- cided to concentrate in one lo- cation all of the graves of Ger- man military personnel buried in the UK. Pilot Officer Sydney Hill was killed on 18th July 1941, follow- ing an encounter with German fighters off the French coast. His aircraft was badly dam- aged and he tried to get back to land rather than bail out over the channel. He was unable to clear the cliffs and crashed onto the beach. He is buried at Hawkinge cemetery in Kent. His family came from Ferndown in Dorset and there is a memo- rial plaque for him in the West Parley War Memorial Hall. Frank Howell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was posted out to the Far East and was on board HMS Prince of Wales when it was sunk by Japanese aircraft. He was taken prisoner. He survived

Graves of the four German aircrew in St Mary Magdalene Cemetery

the war and remained in the RAF. On 9th May 1948 he was killed in an accident on an RAF aerodrome. There is a survivor of the bat- tle over Milton. Sydney Hill’s Spitfire, serial number X4590, is on display in the Battle of Brit- ain Hall of the RAF museum at Hendon. This October marks the 80th anniversary of the action over our parish. Let us remember the men on both sides who lost their lives doing their duty.

This part of the Battle of Brit- ain has been researched by lo- cal historian Derek Jones. His full account of the action can be found online at miltonherit- age society.co.uk/chapters/mil- ton-in-the-wars/edelweiss-in- milford-on-sea/ Nick Saunders BA (Hons) is a local historian and chairman of the Milton Heritage Society. He can be contacted via nick@ miltonheritagesociety.co.uk or 01425 618549

Pilot Officer Sydney Hill’s Spitfire on display at the RAF muse um in Hendon

every window. Fortunately for us the dog-fight occurred at lunchtime when the shop was shut, and my parents were at the back of the house.” She went on: “There was cha- os. Bullets had hit cans of soup and bags of flour before enter- ing the wall.” Mary recovered some of the bullets and kept them in an Oxo tin, lat- er giving them to the St Barbe Museum. The German bomber, now severely damaged, flew on. The machine gun bullets from the Spitfires and the return fire from the Ju 88 caused damage to Coopers Garage near to Fernhill Manor. The A&T reported in the edition dated 26th Oc- tober 1940 that customers in the bar of the Milton Hotel (next to the railway station) had a lucky es- cape when a bullet came through the window of the lounge bar. Mr J. Moody, the funeral director, was at home with his wife when their house was hit by machine gun fire. A local taxi driver found a bullet hole in his vehicle. Children at Ashley School caught a glimpse of the ac- tion as it flew overhead. Leslie White, in his book, The Lure of the Blue, reported that his lessons were interrupted by the stutter of machine gun fire. He peered through the window and caught a glimpse of a blaz- ing Ju 88. He leapt onto his desk and shouted: “It’s a bloody Jerry and he’s on fire.” The action was now heading south-east over Ashley and to- wards Milford. The Spitfires continued to fire bursts at the enemy aircraft until it crashed, cartwheeling and bursting into flames on Manor Farm near to Shorefield. Witnesses reported seeing the bodies of the four crew members lying near to the wreckage. The aircraft was completely destroyed. Corporal Mike Bowers of the Devonshire Regiment was based at Hordle House School. He visited the crash scene and picked up a German Luftwaffe

belt buckle which was blood stained. He later donated it to a local museum. In his post-action combat report Frank Howell stated: “There was a large black cross on the side of the fuselage, but the rear gunner was signalling with smoke cartridges with no coloured stars. “I dived to attack from the rear, and opened fire when the rear gunner had started firing at me. He used red tracer. I broke away at about 40 yards and saw his starboard motor burst into flames. “Red 2 was continuing the at- tack from astern. The E/A [en- emy aircraft] hit the deck and exploded. The Ju 88 was never more than 10 feet from the tops of the trees.” Sydney Hill wrote: “As Red 1 broke away I continued to at- tack from behind and above. I broke away and made two beam attacks after which he hit the ground and blew up. The E/A was never more than 10ft above the tree tops and was at- tempting evasive action by div- ing below the tree tops.” The ground crew of 609 Squadron salvaged parts of the German aircraft as a souvenir of their 100th victory. For sev- eral years the swastika from the Ju 88 tail was on display in the officers’ mess. There was a large party for the squadron which all ranks were invited to. The incident was recorded in the newspapers and magazines of the time and was used as a morale-boosting report for the general public. The four German crew mem- bers, Max Fabian (25), Ernst Wilhelm (21) Max Scholz (23) and Franz Stadelbauer (22), were buried with full military honours in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene, Milton. The A&T on 26th October 1940 reported that RAF air- craftsmen acted as pallbearers. The RAF also provided a guard of honour and a firing party. More than 40 airmen took part in the ceremony. The coffins were draped with swastika flags and each had a wreath. The Rev. T.H. Bowen conducted the cer- emony, reciting the 23rd Psalm, The Lord is my Shepherd. To put this incident into his- torical context, on 23rd August 1940 the centre of New Milton had been bombed with 25 peo- ple killed and many injured. Many of the local casualties were buried in St Mary Magda- lene churchyards and families were still grieving. In the A&T the following week, a letter was published with the heading “A Reader’s Protest”. The author wrote that many people in Lymington and Milton “must have read with in- dignation and disgust your ac- count of the proceedings at the funeral of the four Nazi airmen. Money spent on the swastika flags and wreaths of carnations would have served better pur- pose if it had been given to the Spitfire Fund. As to the use of Psalm, The Lord is my Shep- herd – the least said the better.” Other A&T readers disa- greed. One wrote: “Your ‘Read- er’s Protest’ with regard to the funeral of the Nazi airmen was a very natural one, but it seems a pity not to look at the wider view. “If the RAF chose to honour the dead enemy, is that not in keeping with British tradition? Would we not all prefer to be ‘gentlemen and fools’ rather than copy Nazi methods? The

on many occasions. Pilot Of- ficer Sydney Hill, Red 2, had been with 609 Squadron for only three weeks. The pair re- duced height down to about 200ft in poor weather. They pa- trolled between Salisbury and the coast. Soon they spotted the German aircraft which

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Flt Lt Howell and P/O Hill with the swastika trophy

flew under them. German Junkers 88, at cer- tain angles, looked similar to an RAF Bristol Blenheim. Both were twin engine bombers. The two Spitfires closed in to posi- tively identify the aircraft they were chasing. To add to the confusion one of the German gunners fired a smoke flare. Flt. Lt. Howell flew even closer until he could see the German markings on the aircraft. Frank Howell opened fire and eventu- ally hit an engine. The German aircraft was flying extremely fast and very low to the ground in its attempt to escape the Spitfires. The aircraft were now flying straight towards New Milton, from the north. As they flew over Bashley stores, machine gun fire damaged the shop. Years later, Mary Platt, the daughter of the shop owners, recalled: “The bullets hit the front of the building entering

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609 Squadron ground crew with wreckage of the German Ju 88 in October 1940