Thanks for your reply the news paper was local but i do not have the date it could have been the Sutton Advertiser

BF110 Crash

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=203933&stc=1&d=1331668913 The Mystery Relic could have been donated to the Imperial War some time ago but that is only a guess on my part i am afraid that’s all the information i have at this time

Interesting, do you own this artefact? Has the German message ever been translated? Maybe the crew member wanted this message to survive for a loved one back home upon realising his inevitable fate was fast approaching? Or maybe an attempt to help ID his remains? Who knows but it’s certainly worth investigating. This artefact rightly belongs to be passed on to the family if this is the case. There are people who can be contacted to maybe take this further if the item turns out to be of interest. 🙂

I don’t own the object but i have a picture i could scan it if your interested i think you are right about it being a map reading instrument apparently the small piece of paper found inside was burnt so no luck there. As far as i know it must have been burnt before the crash but why? The person who found the object was doing some research but i don’t know how he got on he was living about three miles away from me about 12yrs ago so perhaps i could find out more if i could contact him

BF 110 Crashed Woodcote Surrey

Re This Aircraft Crash . My information came from a local newspaper cutting i kept about 12yrs ago and is somewhat tatty i agree the code was 2N+EP for the ME 110 that crashed at Woodcote but could 2NP+ER be the code for the ME110 that ditched in the Sea on the same day? .I checked Masons Battle over Britain book and this also states two Aircraft with the same code ie 2N+EP very strange .As for the mystery relic thrown from the Aircraft and found by a 12 Year old schoolboy who witnessed the low flying ME110 before it crashed i don’t have a clue its about 9ins long could be silver with wings above a circle inside was a piece of paper with a message in German also inscribed on the relic was the name G Heinicke Berlin 7

Re Blackbushes Fido

The FIDO at Blackbushe was used post War on six operational occasions. Five of these were in 1945/46 for transport command flights. After the airport was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in January 1947 the whole system was overhauled at great expense. It was used just once on 30th November 1948 to allow Airwork Viking, G-AJFS to depart on a government charter will currency for West Africa. There were a couple of ‘demonstration’ burns in which a BOAC York and BEA Viscount and and Ambassador did circuits. The problem was that on average it cost almost £10,000 for a successful 30 minute burn, which was then the price of a DC-3! By the mid 50’s it had become disused due to the cost.The cost of the burn would be charged to the airline, most of which were operating a ‘hand to mouth existence’.

Thanks for the info on Blackbushe We fired up Fido in1956 cant remember the date. the RAF hut was near the MT section and the US Navy hanger we were told too be on stand by if the Queens Flight was diverted it never was .Off duty we worked for Eagle Airways . In late 1956 most of our RAF FIDO operators returned to Manston but i was posted to RAF Odiham to resume my trade as a Aerodrome Fireman putting out fires not starting them i will try to attach a few pictures