GC4NTAQ Bournemouth History: Moordown Halifax Memorial (Traditional Cache) in Southern England, United Kingdom created by Lost2011

This cache has been archived.

Lost2011: Time for this one to go. Thanks to all that found.

GC4NTAQ ▼

A cache by Lost2011 Message this owner

Hidden : 1/27/2014

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This is my town. I live here. I love it.

This cache was originally one of 11 in a second series highlighting Bournemouth's Past. Today, only this cache and a few of the other most popular caches in the "Bournemouth History" series remain.

The original "Bournemouth’s Past" series followed the same format of 11 caches. The most popular in the series is still active and can be viewed at the following link, Jon Egging.

A little after 1:00am on 22nd March 1944, RAF Halifax Bomber, JP137 took off from Hurn Aerodrome. It appears that during the first few minutes of flight a serious engine malfunction occurred. The plane turned to head back to Hurn, and was following the main road of Wimborne Road, whilst flying precariously low with engine difficulties.

An eyewitness reported, “The noises of the approaching aircraft aroused me. It was obviously in trouble because the screeching engine roar fading to a splutter and returning to a roar indicated a serious problem; clearly the pilot wrestling with the controls was nonetheless losing height and gave dawn to the realisation it was heading towards us and was going to crash - but when and where?

The engine roar, abruptly diminishing to a whisper, was instantly followed by sharp 'cracking' sounds less than a second or so apart. A rushing of air.

A loud impact followed by a metallic grating slithering noise increasing to a finalé of rending tearing metal. Then an eerie silence in which a man could be heard screaming - a sound I will never forget.

Then an explosion of the petrol tanks, which showered the nearby houses with fragments of metal that rattled down the roof tiles and fell on the path outside my window.

Diagonally opposite us, numbered as 1025 to 1031 Wimborne Road, was a pair of semi-detached of Victorian cottages homes providing four dwellings with a common entrance gravel path between them. The aircraft crashed in the rear gardens, the only open space around, which the 20 year old pilot probably planned to save many more lives being lost. The plane slithered along the surface for some ninety or more yards but then a steep rise in the ground approaching the rear of the cottages was a barrier. Here the plane somersaulted and disintegrated.

With a full load of aviation-fuel, the ensuing inferno destroyed everything in the vicinity. An engine was catapulted in the air travelling some one hundred and fifty yards above the rooftops of houses in Hillcrest Road.

The flames of this roaring inferno were some fifty feet high above their rooftops and it was evident the aircraft had come to rest across their immediate back gardens.

In the distance the approaching clamour of a Fire engine bell could be heard. The National Fire Service Stationed on Peters Hill had anticipated a crash and had set off 'in pursuit'.”

“The backs of the cottages were ablaze and ammunition exploding with the heat exacerbated the problems. Bullets were flying everywhere and everyone was apprehensively wondering if it was carrying high explosives? The fire blazed for an hour although the ammunition was still exploding long after.

At cottage 1027 Mrs. Chislett and her fourteen-year-old son John dressed only in their nightclothes escaped by jumping from a front upstairs window but the fall onto gravel caused injuries. They lost everything. All they had in the world was just their nightclothes and not a penny more.”

“Dawn revealed the horror that at least seven people had perished. The bodies - or what was left of them - were carried across the road into a storeroom (probably a small coach house) of the Public House, which still has the same name today. It was designated as a temporary mortuary. Sadly, but understandably, the trauma of these events temporarily disrupted the emotional and mental stability of the licensee.

By dawn's breaking the RAF were swarming over the site and armed guards were posted. Very little of what was left of the plane - which was upside-down - was recognisable. What remained of the tail section was close to a hole smashed through the lower half of the east corner wall of Meadow Court.”

A memorial to the crew and civilians who died in the crash was erected in 2011. It stands at the scene of the disaster on the corner of Meadow Court Close and Wimborne Road. This cache is placed at the same location.
Source

FTF: DorsetJohn

Bournemouth History series:
~~GC4NTAM: Boscombe Railway Station (M)~~
~~GC41YWV: Pier Bandstand (M)~~
~~GC4NTAN: Tucktonia (N)~~
GC4NTAP: The Shell House (P)
GC4NTAQ: Moordown Halifax Memorial (Q)
~~GC4NTAR: Racecourse (R)~~
~~GC4NTAT: Moordown Tram Depot (T)~~
GC4NTAV: Waterfront (V)
~~GC4NTAW: Winter Gardens (W)~~
~~GC4NTAX: Typhoid Epidemic (X)~~
~~GC4NTAY: Great Train Robbery (Y)~~
~~GC4NTAZ: A338 Wessex Way [BONUS] - N50 MN.PQR W001. TV.694~~