Dutch Mitchell collision, near Horsham, 8/6/44

I’ve found it difficult to ascertain much information about this sad collision, the date for which I have as 7 June 1944. But what little I have is as follows. FR150 crashed at the junction of Kays Lane & Kerves Lane, Horsham. FR182 crashed in Denne Park. There are, on the internet, extracts from the diary of a AFS/NFS fireman that deal with this crash at some length. Concerning it, he says:

“The two planes had taken off from Dunsfold Aerodrome, loaded with leaflets, which were to be dropped over France. The two planes
collided above Horsham, crashing in Denne Park. It was a dark night. One plane was burning on the hill. As the N.F.S. got
the pumps into position it exploded, dispersing parts of the plane, bodies and limbs of the crew, and thousands of leaflets,
all over the hillside. The second plane had crashed at Kerves Lane, but wasn’t visible; the Fire Crew spread out in the darkness
to find it. The reason it could not be seen was because it laid in a very deep crater. As the men approached, an unexploded
bomb on board went off. All the men had a very lucky escape. Because of the depth of the crater, the force of the blast went
upwards. All the aircraft’s crew was killed” [I’ve made syntaxical amendments to the original text]

However this collision is frequently confused with another which occurred exactly five months earlier. This involved two Mitchell I’s – FL396 and FL682 – which came down on Alfold and Rudgwick respectively. It happened as both aircraft were on approach to Dunsfold aerodrome. The former crashed 5 miles south of the aerodrome. The latter crashed near to what is now the Rikkyo School. Maybe Andy Saunders knows more about these two incidents?

The only info i can give is that my father lived near Dunsfold during the war and many years afterwards. He told me many times of various things that happened there including a mid air collision ( possibly this one), between 2 B-25’S he even knew where they came down etc. He always had a soft spot for the mitchell.
Sadly cannot ask him any more .

Whilst I appreciate that nearly ten years have passed since von Perthes posted his/her request and that he/she has not been active on this forum since 2005, being a supporter of St Jude I’ll enquire, nonetheless, whether he/she traced any additional information concerning this collision.

Thanks for that, and the link, I’ll give it a go tomorrow. 🙂

I seem to remember the West Sussex County Times doing a piece on this in the last couple of years.. may be worth contacting them..

http://www.horshamtoday.co.uk/