Some years ago when my wife was working for the local council, they found a sheath of papers relating to incidents in South Essex during WWII. I believe they are now held in the County archives at Chelmsford
They made fascinating reading, especially this sheet which records the death of my Grandmother on the 8th of November 1943, when her bungalow in Langdon Hills was bombed.
This was a copy done on a fax machine, on fax paper. So a few details have become indistinct, where a ? is inserted
(sorry about the formatting, it all goes haywire when posted)
There may be incidents which someone can fill in the blanks ? What would the “5 balloon” carried by an aircraft be for ?
Sheet 92 Air Raid Damage
12:10:43 South Benfleet 1 x AA shell exploded in garden at rear of Red Roof, London Road
12:10:43 Basildon 1 x uxAA shell fell in Springfield Road, 100yds from Church Road
14:10:43 Foulness Island The body of a German airman was found in the sands E of Foulness
Point. Believed to have been a member of the crew of plane shot down
on 8:10:43
15:10:43 Pilgrims Hatch 1 x HE fell in field 200yds East of Orchard F??? Crow Green
15:10:43 Doddinghurst 2 x ux AA shells fell in garden of Froome, Doddinghurst and fields at
Pett-its farm.
?:10:43 Laindon 1 x HE exploded in Lancaster Road, causing 8 slight casualties and
damage to property. Gas mains and electric cables damaged.
?:10:43 Wickford 1 x AA shell exploded in Brickfield Cottage Nevendon Road
Wickford. Causing one fatal case, 1 serious, also damage to property
?:10:43 Nevendon 1 x AA shell exploded in field 100yds SE Nevendon Police Station,
Arterial road.
?:10:43 Downham A partly deflated Barrage Balloon grounded in field on White Lillies Farm.
Bearing markings M.V1 ( S.2A . 59237)
?:10:43 Dunton 1 x AA shell fell and exploded at 23:00 hrs on open ground near Victory
Avenue.
?:11:43 Rochford A large damaged balloon with two canisters attached fell in hospital grounds
?: 11:43 Billericay 1 x AA shell exploded in field 200yds SW of Ga?? Bell Hill.
?:11:43 Barling 2 x ux HE.s on Ropers Farm in river bed 400yds E of quay and 130 yds N of
sea wall. M 374096.
?:11:43 Canvey Island 1 ux AA shell in garden of “Anthony”, Yamburg Ave.
?:11:43 Shenfield An Auxiliary petrol tank fell from a plane onto a house called “Sudbury”
Shenfield Gardens, causing slight damage to roof .
?:11:43 Little Wakering A white target low drag sleeve Ref: No. 9A/1244 D.R.G
No. A.(?) D . 15493 printed thereon
8:11:43 Langdon Hills 2 x HE.s exploded in New Avenue, Berry lane , demolishing 1 bungalow ,
causing 1 fatal casualty, and seven slightly injured. Gas mains
and overhead cables damaged.
?:11:43 Foulness Island The body of H G Boosey age 62 years a labourer of 1 Kingsley Cottages,
Great Wakering was found on a min?? Ref. 419061 near New Ranges,
Foulness Island.
?:11:43 Writtle A rubber balloon 5” diameter with triangular wooden fins, covered with
white and silver paper attached, fell from aircraft passing over Billericay.
?:11:43 Shenfield 1 ux HE fell in wheatfield E of Heard’s Farm
By: AlanR - 26th February 2014 at 15:17
I can’t imagine anyone arguing that WW2 bombing reports aren’t relevant to historic aviation.
If anyone wants to see the originals the ERO has an online search called SEAX here: http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/
However, there’s at least an eight-year backlog in items to be added to the catalogue, so there’s no promise they’ve actually made it on there.
Adrian
I had a reply from the County archive people telling me to search ” Langdon Hills 1943″, but it came up with an error.
Incident C/W 1/2/4 is the one in question regarding my Grandmother, but didn’t give any details. I probably know a lot more than the report says anyway.
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3106771/STEWART,%20JANE%20ELIZABETH%20DOROTHY
She was a nurse who worked at Billericay Hospital
By: Trolly Aux - 26th February 2014 at 14:19
They are the Incident files, all on microfilm or digital now, I hope. I used to go through them at Chelmsford records office in the early 70s. I know someone else had piles of them over Billericay way, they were going into landfill about 20 years ago.
By: adrian_gray - 26th February 2014 at 12:21
I can’t imagine anyone arguing that WW2 bombing reports aren’t relevant to historic aviation.
If anyone wants to see the originals the ERO has an online search called SEAX here: http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/
However, there’s at least an eight-year backlog in items to be added to the catalogue, so there’s no promise they’ve actually made it on there.
Adrian
By: AlanR - 26th February 2014 at 10:21
I thought this was the aviation forum ?. I put it under general discussion, as it isn’t strictly historic aviation.
Although I can if you think it merits a move.
When I log on here it’s under “New Posts”, so I see posts from all areas of the forum.
By: trumper - 26th February 2014 at 09:31
Have you thought about putting it on the aviation forum,maybe ask moggy.I would think you will get a few takers on there ,maybe Tangmere 1940.
By: AlanR - 25th February 2014 at 22:24
Those dates look a little suspect to me…found before he was shot down? Are they the right way round?
First date probably should have been 14:10:43 …. The fax copy was slightly off line, so the page edges were clipped, and badly faded.
I wish I had made more and better better copies at the time, but my wife only managed to “borrow” them for the night.
By: snafu - 25th February 2014 at 13:39
4:10:43 Foulness Island The body of a German airman was found in the sands E of Foulness Point. Believed to have been a member of the crew of plane shot down on 8:10:43
Those dates look a little suspect to me…found before he was shot down? Are they the right way round?
By: Derekf - 25th February 2014 at 12:42
That’s very interesting. My father was brought up in Purfleet and went to school in Aveley and has been compiling a little history of his own. He has been trying to find out more about wartime incidents that he recalled. I wonder if he knows about the archive in Chelmsford.
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February 25, 2014 at 11:58 am