Battle of Britain Pilot – Plt/Off Alfred Eric DAVIES

Is the road now finished ? Has it been named ?

From all the political wrangling associated with the story I can’t quite make out if the road is open or not ? Regardless , I hope the name of Pilot Officer Davies is not forgotten amongst all of this although sadly I do not see any named road or feature carrying his name ?

https://eastsussexgovuk.blob.core.windows.net/media/4284/bhlr-october-november-2015-progress-photographs.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-34115001

Is the road now finished ? Has it been named ?

Photo

A new Bexhill-Hastings link road has been approved and work will finally start in January 2013.

I have proposed to the local authority that the new road be named after P/O Davies as its eastern end passes almost exactly over the spot where Eric Davies lost his life on 30 October 1940. He was shot down in Spitfire N3119 of 222 Sqn and was the son of Alfred Evan and Norah Davies, husband of Audrey Maud Phyliss Davies of Tanworth-in-Arden, Warks, which is where he is buried, He was 23 years old.

I have copies of his will etc but I have been completely unable to trace family or any other details although I believe he lived at a house called The Ingle and his widow may have lived there until the 1970s.

Can anybody help me pick up leads that may help me finding any family members?

Hi Andy

I’ve had a interest in this chap for a while as I am interested in WW2 in Sussex and in general, I was in touch recently with 610 squadron members one of them kindly sent me a photo who they believe is the pilot in question if you would like a copy I will email you one.
Regards Gavin

I think there is a bit of a danger of this looking a bit Xenophobic, or Daily-Mailish. However, the point I had tried to make (rather clumsily) was that there was some clear uncomfortable fidgeting about linking the name of this pilot to the road from some local worthies. Another individual has now come forward and said that he feels it would be ‘inappropriate’ to name the road in Eric Davies honour because of the road builders murky past.

I think if any resistance to the road being named thus is in deference to the builders and not wishing to offend them, then that is just silly. I think that suggesting it shouldn’t be linked to him because of the road building company’s ‘Nazi past’ is equally daft.

Yes, it is surely ironic that the builders of this road have this history. But it is, surely, equally important that we move on from that. To be fair to Hochtief, they have been open and transparent about their past – and they are hardly the only existing major German company with links to the Nazi regime in the 1930s and 40s.

And yes, Propstrike, the DM will doubtless ‘lap this up’ as you say. I hope they do, actually. If it focuses interest on the story of Eric Davies and attempts to name the road after him then that can only be good.

The Daily Mail would lap this up. I will even write it for them.

”BUNKER OFF! ” OUTRAGE AS GERMAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY SCUPPERS BATTLE OF BRITAIN COMMEMORATION.

Plans to name a new Sussex bypass after a WW2 Hurricane pilot have been ‘shot down’ following revelations that the German-owned contractor appointed by East Sussex county council to build the road, were supporters of the Nazi war effort, and used forced labour.

Despite early enthusiasm by the council to honour 23 year old Pilot Officer Eric Davies, whose stricken fighter aircraft crashed beside the route of the new road, plans have been shelved for fear of causing offence to the employees of Hochtief, the company which constructed Hitler’s Berlin bunker.

Aviation Historian Andy Saunders , who has devoted 30 years to researching aircraft lost during the Battle of Britain commented………….etc …etc..

I also find it equally infuriating that the local council is evidently supporting British industry by paying the Germans to build the road!!!!

I’m sure there are plenty of home companies capable of the job, more short sightedness – local newspaper article needed here I feel!

FB

(Frustrated of Sussex)

Thank you, Junk Collector, for your permission to give the road your name! 😎

It wont be long before you can blag it is named in your honour, although whether Junk Collector Drive will see favour with Rother DC remains to be seen. 😀

Sorry, I disagree; this has got nothing whatsoever to do with the road-builder.

The Council should name the road whatever they like; I cannot see any possible grounds under which the road-builder could have any cause to complain.

Perhaps I’m being idealistic, but has anyone tried contacting Hochtief directly? They might also have a “don’t mention the war” attitude, but on the other hand they might be surprisingly supportive. In my limited experience, I’ve been surprised by the number of Germans who seem to have a very sensible attitude about “the war” and who understand the need to respectfully commemorate without taking the slightest offence.

A long shot, but if it they proved supportive it would surely allay the council’s nerves.

Bearing in mind Rother District Council is as PC as you can get, it was widely reported when they called the Police when someone responding to a planning application to a Travellers site wrote a remark on it saying they didn’t like the travellers do as you likey attitude, said member of the Public was arrested DNA swabbed etc.

As a Davies myself I give our clans permission to use our name on this project.

Well, it has certainly been suggested that the road name would be ‘inappropriate’ because of the tainted past of the road-builder. I certainly don’t see it, either. But its hard not to see the irony!

I don’t see why this should be at all embarrassing for the Council, or anybody else for that matter; when the road is completed and ‘signed-off’ by the Council the involvement of the construction company comes to an end. At that point the Council can name the road anything they bloody-well like…

…presumably they can produce a few road name signs without the involvement of a foreign company! :rolleyes:

You can really feel the council cringing-newspaper story to follow i hope.

Astonishing! And some. It turns out that the company principally involved in the construction of the Bexhill/Hastings Link Road is Hochtief, a German company. Suddenly, the reason for the awkward fidgeting of some local council officers and council members when the suggestion of naming the road after Battle of Britain pilot Eric Davies, shot down and killed on the path of the road in October 1940 perhaps becomes apparent. Truly, a “Don’t-mention-the-war” moment. OK, so in 2013 and in a more enlightened and integrated Europe, should this really matter? Well, no. Except…..

Hochtief is quite an old company and has been going since the 19th century. It was quite active in the second world war and contributed towards Hitler’s war effort, including the use of forced labour. The CEO Eugen Vögler joined the Nazi party in 1937. The company is quite open on their website about their involvement. Here’s some links:

http://www.hochtief.com/hochtief_en/data/pdf/ht_thirdreich.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochtief

Suddenly, a few things fall into place. Hushed off-the-record suggestions that there were ‘certain sensitivities’ to my proposal. E-mails saying that it wasn’t a good idea because “….it would open up some issues that are best left alone”. And now, this evening, an e-mail setting out the sordid past of Hochtief.

Far from dissuading me from the idea, I think the proposal has just gained a completely overwhelming reason for being put in place.

How ironic that the construction company who built the Fuhrerbunker is now pouring concrete over the very spot where a Battle of Britain pilot was shot down and killed! You couldn’t make it up.

Presumably you mean like the excellent monuments placed at some sites by Geoff Nutkins? There are also others in Kent, but plenty in Sussex, too.

Another part of the ‘plan’ for the naming of the road might be for some Spitfire related sculpture at the roundabout which forms the junction on the eastern end of the road. But we haven’t even got the road named, yet. And we don’t know that we will. One step at a time!

One nice turn of events yesterday was to be contacted by Alfred Davies’ best friend who has many of his possessions – but no photo of him, sadly. Progress, though.

Do they mark the Battle of Britain crash sites in Sussex like they have in Kent?
Maybe that would jolt some action if they did?
mmitch.

Trying to get some traction to this idea again as the building of the controversial Bexhill/Hastings link road gathers momentum.

Some positive responses from individual Councillors, although no reply to my letters and e-mails to Rother District Council or ESCC Highways. They might be shamed into a rapid response as it seems the national news media (newspapers) and local TV are picking up on the story.

Meanwhile, we continue to try to find family members:

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Appeal-fighter-pilot/story-19624141-detail/story.html#axzz2bSOADOMf

Indeed. But unfortunately all we have!

Sadly, complete dis-interest from the local newspapers “The Bexhill Observer” and “Hastings & St Leonards Observer it would seem”. I rather stupidly thought it might make an interesting Remembrance Week piece. Evidently not.

Hardly surprising awful lacklustre papers.

Sadly, complete dis-interest from the local newspapers “The Bexhill Observer” and “Hastings & St Leonards Observer it would seem”. I rather stupidly thought it might make an interesting Remembrance Week piece. Evidently not.[/QUOTE]

Hardly surprising awful lacklustre papers.