The bomber on the beach

[Hagar]

On the evening of 17th December 1944 (exactly 64 years ago today) Avro Lancaster PB355 crashed on the beach just to the west of Worthing Pier. The weather was mild with a light NW wind & it was low tide, not unlike today.

PB355 was one of 17 Lancasters of 49 Squadron from RAF Fulbeck, Lincolnshire on their way to bomb Munich. Accounts vary but I've discovered it was carrying a standard bomb load of one 4,000  lb "Cookie" plus incendiaries & was in some sort of trouble soon after taking off. The beach was still mined & the crew of seven were all killed when it exploded on contact. Only one body was ever found & by a miracle nobody on the ground was hurt. Just seven of over 55,000 aircrew from RAF Bomber Command to lose their lives on operations during WWII.

There's a memorial plaque to the crew on Worthing Pier. I went down there this morning hoping that someone would be there paying their respects. Unfortunately I never saw anyone but I took a few photos as a small tribute to these brave men.

This is the plaque.
     

The view looking west from the pier. The aircraft exploded on the beach somewhere to the left of the line of white beach huts in the distance.


According to reports the crippled Lanc just missed the Plaza cinema which was crowded with cinemagoers watching a Spencer Tracy film, ironically named The Seventh Cross. They didn't realise how lucky they were. The building with the awful blue front is what the cinema looks like today. It's now a Bingo hall but hasn't changed much since 1944.


This is Heene Terrace south of the cinema & just north of where the bomber came down. Taken from in front of the white beach huts I mentioned earlier. These wouldn't have been here in 1944.


I took this standing close to the crash site looking back towards the pier.


Another interesting snippet is that it was one of several 49 Squadron Lancasters fitted with the top secret "Village Inn" rear gun turret. This was undergoing testing at the time which was a very risky business. http://www.bomberhistory.co.uk/49squadron/Files/Village%20Inn.pdf

More info on the crash here. http://www.bomberhistory.co.uk/49squadron/Memorials/Memorial_Worthing%20Pier.html

[ozzy72]

Thanks for sharing that Doug, jolly interesting

[C]

Odd that the second link says:

The bodies of the remainder of the crew have never been found; their whereabouts and indeed the reason for the aircraft's demise still remains a mystery.

I'd have thought it was quite obvious that the six missing crew members would have stood no chance with a full bomb load, and there wouldn't be much left - so quite why a site called bomber history comes up with a line like that is beyond me. It was all to common for the rear gunner to be the only survivor, or as in this case, the only body found, being furthest from any impacts or explosions.

[Hagar]

Odd that the second link says:

The bodies of the remainder of the crew have never been found; their whereabouts and indeed the reason for the aircraft's demise still remains a mystery.

I'd have thought it was quite obvious that the six missing crew members would have stood no chance with a full bomb load, and there wouldn't be much left - so quite why a site called bomber history comes up with a line like that is beyond me. It was all to common for the rear gunner to be the only survivor, or as in this case, the only body found, being furthest from any impacts or explosions.

Don't shoot the messenger. I didn't write it. I agree it should be pretty obvious what happened to those poor souls. I suppose that without a body for ID purposes they would technically be classified as 'missing presumed killed'.

Note that the report disagrees in several respects with the official version on the memorial plaque. The plaque was funded by the 49 Squadron Association so I assume the information on it is taken from official records. I've also seen other information from a private source that disagrees with both. Local newspaper accounts also vary, presumably due to wartime censorship & typically unreliable eye-witness reports. I've been investigating this crash for some time now & it's very difficult to find out what actually happened or even the time of the crash which is very important. I have my own theory but as no crew members survived to give their accounts that's what it will remain, a theory.

[C]

Don't shoot the messenger.

I was aiming past you Doug!

It's slightly odd that they went all the way from Fulbeck to Worthing, and I doubt they did it the direct way either.

All very odd. :-?

[Hagar]

Don't shoot the messenger.

I was aiming past you Doug!

I knew that.

It's slightly odd that they went all the way from Fulbeck to Worthing, and I doubt they did it the direct way either.

All very odd. :-?

Odd indeed. I was recently given some information by a relative of one of the crew who's been investigating this for over 30 years. I don't know all his sources but he's been helped by members of the 49 Squadron Association, some of whom were on the same operation as "our" Lanc.

Squadron records note PB355 taking off from Fulbeck at 1613 hours. Everyone agrees on that. The rendezvous point was Reading which was standard procedure for this route. From what I can make out they usually crossed the English coast at Beachy Head.

They apparently broke radio silence over Reading, as they were having problems getting above 1,000 feet. They were advised to make for the sea, presumably to jettison the bombs before attempting an emergency landing. Nothing more was heard from them until reports of the crash came in from Worthing. I suspect they intended making for Ford as this was a designated emergency landing field with a long runway & all the necessary equipment for handling heavy bombers.

This is where the time factor comes in. Presumably the RAF records would have been in GMT. Local newspaper reports would have been in local time which I've established was GMT + 1 in the winter of 1944. Times of the crash vary from 1755 hours to some time after 1930 according to the memorial. Not knowing which is correct makes it impossible to even guess at what happened between Reading & the eventual crash on the beach. Unfortunately the one person who might have been able to throw some light on it passed away a couple of years ago. This was the late Leslie "Uncle Will" Hay who wrote the vivid account of testing the Village Inn turret in my previous link & who was also the chairman & historian of the 49 Squadron Association.