German bomber shot down over Hollanden Park.
At 11.25pm on March 14th, 1944, a Junkers Ju88A-14 (serial number 550299) call-sign B3+CK of 2/KG54 (No.2 Squadron, 54 Bomber Group) was attacked by Lieutenant Archibald "Harry" Harrington (USAAF) and Sergeant Dennis George Tongue in a Mosquito night-fighter of 410 Squadron. The starboard engine of the Ju88 burst into flames, the crew jettisoned the bombs and baled out. Uffz H. Heide (injured), Uffz E. Schneider, Uffz K. Schneider, and Uffz H. Oberle (injured) all landed safely and were taken prisoner. The aircraft broke up in the air and crashed to the ground at Marchants Farm, Hollanden Park.
Source: The Blitz, Then and Now, Volume 3.
The following was a letter sent to the Kent & Sussex Courier sometime in the early 1980s regarding the above incident:
THE FIRE GIRLS OF 1943-44
Over the past year, the interest being shown in your paper about stories of German planes in the area has several times made me think about "my" plane story!
In 1943 I went to Hildenborough to attend a teacher training college which had been evacuated, from Deptford, to Hollanden Park, Coldharbour Lane. As I was already trained as a "fireguard" I joined the college's fire-fighting team. I cannot remember whether it was late in 1943 or early 1944 when a German bomber crashed, narrowly missing the big house, and hitting the big greenhouses nearby. We girls were trundled out in our tin hats, with our stirrup-pumps, to fight the blaze! Many of the tall fir trees had caught alight and were like blazing beacons. The empty stabling adjoining the house was threatened and, of course, the greenhouses underneath the blazing plane were all well alight. I remember being the fire team No 1, holding the hose while lying on the ground as close as I could get, trying to damp down the end of the building.
I wonder if anyone still in the area remembers this episode?"
C. M. BAKER (Mrs)
Chiddingstone Heath
Over the past year, the interest being shown in your paper about stories of German planes in the area has several times made me think about "my" plane story!
In 1943 I went to Hildenborough to attend a teacher training college which had been evacuated, from Deptford, to Hollanden Park, Coldharbour Lane. As I was already trained as a "fireguard" I joined the college's fire-fighting team. I cannot remember whether it was late in 1943 or early 1944 when a German bomber crashed, narrowly missing the big house, and hitting the big greenhouses nearby. We girls were trundled out in our tin hats, with our stirrup-pumps, to fight the blaze! Many of the tall fir trees had caught alight and were like blazing beacons. The empty stabling adjoining the house was threatened and, of course, the greenhouses underneath the blazing plane were all well alight. I remember being the fire team No 1, holding the hose while lying on the ground as close as I could get, trying to damp down the end of the building.
I wonder if anyone still in the area remembers this episode?"
C. M. BAKER (Mrs)
Chiddingstone Heath
UPDATE!!
In June 2021, Hildenborough History Society was amazed by the receipt of an email from a Gerrit Schneider who told us the radio operator / rear gunner, Uffz Kurt Schneider, was his Grandfather! Gerrit was interested to know if we had any more information about the incident, but sadly we didn't know anything other than what was already published, as above. On the off chance, a visit was paid to the nearby Shoreham Aircraft Museum to see if anyone there knew anything more. Geoff Nutkins, the owner/curator of the museum, led us inside and pointed out a piece of wreckage recovered from the crash site hanging on the wall! Not only that, there is a copy of the combat report from the crew of the Mosquito that shot it down! Geoff very kindly allowed us to take photo's of both artefact and report which I then emailed to Gerrit, who, by return post, sent us photo's of his Grandad. Fantastic stuff!
The panel is the sliding front quarterlight window in the side of the cockpit of the aircraft. The combat report is pictured below:
In the report, the crew wrongly identified the aircraft as a Junkers Ju188 when it was in fact a Ju88 but that's understandable, the two models are very similar, and both aircraft were flying at around 150mph in pitch darkness, so please do cut him some slack!
Above and below - photo's of Kurt Schneider, courtesy of Kurt's grandson Gerrit Schneider.
Kurt was sent to a POW camp in the United States.
His brother, Heinz, served with Fallschirmjäger Brigade Ramcke (paratroopers under the command of Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke who joined forces with Rommel's
Afrika Korps in Tunisia). Heinz was also taken POW
and he too was sent to a camp in the US. The two of
them kept in touch by postcard......