Battle of Britain Print
"The Souvenir Hunters
of Bowcombe down"
F: in the series "Echoes
of the Home Front by John Howard Worsley
October 15th 1940 Two boys discover
a Messerschmitt 109. The pilot has been taken home to mum at
Gunville by a young lorry driver, where he's given dad's dinner.
The valuable aircraft is reduced to junk by souvenir
collectors..
Extract from the Story-Sheet:
It was above Gypsies' Hollow, a slight depression at
the top of Bowcombe Down, that Graham and Keith made their fantastic
discovery. It was every boy's dream. A Messerschmitt 109 had attempted
a wheels-down landing but the undercarriage had collapsed. Apart
from the crumpled landing gear and a bent propeller, it was apparently
undamaged. There was no sign of the pilot and nobody to be seen.
As the boys crept close to the open canopy, they heard the engine's
last creaking murmurs as its block and plumbing cooled. Graham
climbed onto the left wing and stretched to see inside the cockpit,
whilst Keith found the aeroplane's guns of greater interest. This
act of curiosity could well have been his last. His little brother
had managed to wrestle himself over the rim of the cockpit and
was sitting in the flying seat.
"I can remember the heat of the engine coming
from the front and a strange smell. It was quite pleasant, probably
of dope but with something else. There were dials on a grey panel
in front of me and the pilot's control stick which was really
quite small and barely moved. It had a push-button and trigger
....."
Graham investigated all knobs, handles and levers and
in the infant's hand, was the control stick. That trigger, ...
that button, Graham pressed!............
.................... Meanwhile, the pilot, Feldwebel
Horst Hellriegel of 3/JG2, was trudging down the lane towards
the road. He must have been contemplating his mixed fortunes.
That day his usual 109 had not been serviceable and he'd borrowed
Yellow 8+ from a comrade who had just completed his 100th sortie
and was celebrating with a day off. This pilot was Feldwebel Franz
Jaenisch who had flown in the Spanish civil war and, like others
of the Condor Legion, sported a Mickey Mouse emblem on the side
of his aircraft.
Hellriegel had been on a freelance fighter mission
and had been jumped by two British fighters. Over Freshwater,
the borrowed aircraft had taken a bullet in its fuel tank and
Hellriegel was forced to land but at least he'd survived. Now
he only had to surrender to the right sort of person and his war
would be over.........
Who did get the souvenirs? This
story is now in its fourth edition and more facts are still being
uncovered. The last included in the 4th edition, was from Australia
but now there is information from France.
Available as hand mounted prints
10" x 8" , 14" x 11" & 20" x 16".
Also available to order as Canvas Repro'
See souvenirs taken from this
aeroplane on these two separate jonzonline pages:-
The underwing
radiator air scoop and elevator fabric: jononline 2
The swastika
from the tail fin: jonzonline 4