south shields mythbusters

[andysfootball]

my mam and dad often told me the story of the german pilot/paratrooper that came to rest in a tree in chichester.....has anyone got proof or paper records of the time.....and what are the other great south shields myths ?

[jimmywizz]

andy it is true, but the location was near the marine park "i think" when the plane crashed the fire crew raced to put it out but it blew up and killed part of the crew "if i remember the story right" i have seen photos of the crashed plane in an old book, if you look close at the clock tower at the pier head you are supposed to be able to still see some small marks off the blast, the german was cut down from the wires but died later in hospital, i wonder where he was buried ?

[Pilot]

I have the gazette cutting of this incident and will post it as soon as photobucket is running again.

[Pilot]

here it is, with thanks to the Shields gazette.

[Pilot]

I'm sure a bomb fell on Harton Cemetery, also I have a picture somewhere of an unexploded bomb that fell in that street next to the cemetery, Mr A knows the name.

[andysfootball]

thanks pilot,

you are a mythbuster !

what's a myth from your time

as a young fella

just a short while ago ? !

[Pilot]

One myth I recall, well its not a myth really, but in my youth the then Prime minister said "You've never had it so good" we went to school with the backsides hanging out of our trousers, cardboard to keep the wet off our feet, it never worked and we were not sure what we were getting to eat that day but he was right in one sense, at least no one was bombing us anymore. Despite this I put the 1950s down as a good time in my life. Happy days.

[sherri]

I wonder how old the crew on the plane were. Probably young. So many of the soldiers. sailors and airmen were youngsters.
At least they were given a decent funeral etc.
Horrible way to d*e, in a plane crash like that, on enemy soil.

Pretty scary for the civilians too, to have bombs raining down overhead. No wonder you enjoyed the 50's more, pilot!Though from memory, you would have been too young to recall anything of the way years.

[Pilot]

I was born three years after the war ended sherri, my father ended the war fighting the Japanese in the far east so got home later than most sometime in 1946 I think, I was born in 1948.

[Globalmyths]

Sorry for the intrusion I saw mythbusters and I thought it might have been my uncle as us global mythbusters go back a long way. The black sheep of our family was famous in his own right for all that. You might have heard of him Mythbuster Keaton he starred in silent films so I believe.

[neil maxwell]

Pilot, Macmillan was referring to those of us from the working class. What he actually said was ''you have never had it, so good....''.

My late mother told me that the German airman on the wire was crying for his 'muder' and he was only young (about 19). Despite many Shields casualties happening at the time it tugged at the heart strings.

I too have heard about the caverns at Whitburn Colliery and when I worked at Westoe someone told me a story of miners at St. Hildas many years ago who broke through to some old workings done by monks.

[Jerry]

There are two versions of the bomber incident. The second is by the great South Shields local historian Amy Flagg of Westoe Village. The night of Feb 21 1941 was one of heavy raids in the North East of England. So far as I know this aircraft was the only one brought down in South Shields itself. Many others were shot down over the North Sea of course and few bodies recovered.

*
The port wing of a Heinkel He 111P struck a balloon cable situated at the North Foreshore, South Shields, it dived steeply and crashed into Bent's Park, South Shields at 00.35. On impact, the wreckage caught fire, 25 minutes later a mine that the enemy aircraft had been carrying exploded, killing Auxiliary Firemen Purvis, Renwick and Wharton, and a policeman, PC Lamb. Four of the plane's crew were already dead, a fifth, believed to be the pilot bailed out but was electrocuted by falling onto live trolley bus wires. Windows were broken as far away as Tynemouth and North Shields. Other enemy aircraft appeared to use the burning wreckage as a target marker, so that within minutes further attacks took place, three people were killed in Brodrick Street and several injured nearby.


Miss Flagg's is a more comprehensive report of the above raid on South Shields, but there are minor differences.


This night will be long remembered in South Shields. 130 enemy aircraft were engaged in an action on the coast from Hull to Berwick. Bombers& minelayers came over in waves and were met with intense AA fire. At 00.25.. a Heinkel 111, was hit by gunfire& collided with a Barrage Balloon cable on the North Foreshore. Part of one wing was broken off and fell on the shore. The plane lost height very quickly and crashed in Beach Rd., exactly on the crater made in 1940. One member of the crew bailed out but his parachute caught on the overhead wires and he hung downwards until rescued. He was badly injured and died shortly after admission to the Ingham Infirmary. The remainder of the crew perished with their plane on impact with the ground.

At 00.50.. a mine, which had not been released from the bomb rack of the plane, exploded with terrific force. Some idea of the explosion may be gathered from the facts that it was seen and heard from beyond Newcastle and many windows were broken as far away as Tynemouth, North Shields, Westoe and Laygate.

Unhappily the explosion had tragic results; one officer of the Borough Police Force& one Auxiliary Fireman were killed; two other members of the AFS died in hospital. Seventeen more members of the Police Force, Fire Brigade and Auxiliary Fire Service were injured, some very gravely, and were admitted to the Ingham Infirmary.



An excellent detailed account of WWII in the North East (down to E Yorkshire) can be found on

http://www.ne-diary.bpears.org.uk

References to this can be found on the Old Codgers board also.


* NE monasteries were digging and using coal very early (12-13th centuries). They had moveable grates and tongs at Lindisfarne and elsewhere. Henry III was buying coal from Winlaton for use in Windsor Castle in the 13th century.

[Globalmyths]

I love reading your reports Jerry no matter the subject always so precise and always exact and above all very readable. Thanks.

[Pilot]

You're right Neil its amazing what a little punctuation can do
You have never had it, so good, and if I get my way you never will.

[jimmywizz]

marra never heard about the tunnels but yes a bomb hit and area close to the gates at harton cemetery

[Ugly Betty]

Jerry...the Sanddancer version of The Answer Man.

[Beachbum]

One myth I recall, well its not a myth really, but in my youth the then Prime minister said "You've never had it so good" we went to school with the backsides hanging out of our trousers, cardboard to keep the wet off our feet, it never worked and we were not sure what we were getting to eat that day but he was right in one sense, at least no one was bombing us anymore. Despite this I put the 1950s down as a good time in my life. Happy days. :shock:

Bedford 20 July 1957.
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
“Most of our people have never had it so good”
That phrase has been wrongly quoted almost as many times as that famous line from the movie “Casablanca”
I used to go around with the bum ripped out of my pants on a regular basis, but it was because I was always outside climbing trees or barbed wire fences.
Today’s children rarely do anything that would endanger any of their designer gear.
TV remotes and computer mice are clothing friendly
Mind you the ripped ass pants that I used to wear were paid for in cash by my parents who never owned a credit card.
Nowadays the clothing that kids wear has been pitched because it’s out of style long before it has even been paid for.

[Jerry]

Thank you Global. We aim to please, as Blackadder's firing squad joked.

Betty, my site is mostly devoted to the NE heritage, so this is my territory.

The night of the bomber incident, the Germans also had a go at Brodrick Street, where I think Baldy, or Little Baldy as he was known, lived at the time. Adolf was determined to get him.

Marra, I doubt that miners were digging tunnels at Whitburn for munitions production. That's a major industrial undertaking - and the Armstrong munitions giant was standing out in the open only a few miles away. Could have been for storage of course, but I've never heard of it.

A bomb dropped on Harton cemetery on 8 April 1941 and didn't explode; three more, quite sizeable, fell there in the extension on 24/5 June 1941. They didn't go off either. No more dropped on there, possibly after complaints from the occupants.

A parachute mine did fall into the lake in South Marine Park and the area was coverd in water, mud and ducks.

More ducks went when Harton Dyeworks received a direct hit on 1 October 1941. Next night heavy bombs (2000-4000lbs) caused serious damage in South Shields and we were bombed out of our house in Canterbury Street.

When the British Restaurant opened in Newcastle the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland sat down with the humble folk and partook of the soup, tea and whatnot. Later, all the folk were taken back to Alnwick Castle and were treated to what the gentry dined on.

Only joking.

[brian c]

Of course there is the well known myth that Jake once came to a sanddancer meeting and stood everyone drinks all night.


But there again that might be just a fantasy.

[andysfootball]

they're all good men at number 10
they're eating as they should
don't you worry I'm alright jack
we've never had it so good