Dorniers over Barnehurst 15th September 1940

Despite it being 65 years ago, we can relate to the story by Douglas Cooper (A2706897) concerning the death-throes of a Dornier 17 shot down in Barnehurst, Kent. As brothers aged 7 and 13 years- we lived with our parents at 22, Lyndhurst Road not far from Mr Cooper in Parkside Avenue. We have been searching ‘official’ records for all these years to find something about this incident, particularly as it affected ourselves and our neighbours at the time. Much has been written and published about this very remarkable day in the story of the battle which took place in the air over Kent, but nothing it would seem about, the happenings just prior to Mr Cooper’ experience.

Unlike Mr Cooper we had a brick built shelter in the garden (cost £30!) erected quite close to the house. On the Sunday morning in question we had taken to the shelter having watched much of the battle overhead. Things started to get serious, so with our parents, we decided to take cover. The Dornier had been hit by one of our pursuing aircraft (a Spitfire according to Mr Cooper) and looking for a place to crash land. Meanwhile the pilot’s first priority was to jettison his remaining bomb load. Thump! Crash! At least three bombs landed within yards of our refuge. Breaking glass, falling tiles from the roof and dirt and dust being swept under the door of the shelter made us all cough and splutter. Emerging from this after a few minutes we were confronted with a house that was subsequently considered by Civil Defence staff, to be temporarily uninhabitable. We spent the next two nights sleeping in the Public Air Raid Shelters in Russell Park, Bexleyheath.

As events unfolded we discovered that our neighbours at number 28 had had a direct hit on their garden shelter resulting in at least one fatal casualty. Another bomb exploded in the roadway at Lyndhurst Close — a cul-de sac. However, one of the other reasons we were ‘evacuated’ was because there was an unexploded bomb just over our garden fence and adjacent to another shelter erected at the bottom of one of the gardens in Lyndhurst Close. It had to be dealt with before we could return.

As far as I have been able to establish more recently, the fatal casualty at No. 28 was a Brenda Briddick aged 24 at the time, although I had been under the impression that other members of her family also died. Some few years ago I visited The Imperial War Museum in Lambeth and used the data base maintained there to find confirmation of her death. Strangely, I have since been unable to find it on any relevant Web sites, including the IWM Civilian Casualty listings.

There is a possibility that The Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge could help, but they are presently closed until Good Friday.

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