How to Trace a WW2 German Plane Crash?
 

Hello All,

An old chap who lives in my village in East Devon (south-west UK) was telling me a few months ago about a German bomber crash he remembers as a boy in WW2. I'd love to find out more about it, but my friend can't remember the exact year so I don't have very much to go on.

Is there any way of finding records of such events by a geographical search rather than by date or aircraft involved? It would be interesting to find out more about the plane, and possibly its crew.

(For info, the village is Colaton Raleigh, near Sidmouth, and the crash site was a ridge of land nearby called Muttersmoor.)

Thanks in advance,

John

Re: How to Trace a WW2 German Plane Crash?
 

Surely the local police must have taken report. Try visiting them.

Re: How to Trace a WW2 German Plane Crash?
 

Hi John,

If you can get a date or even a month / year, early war or late war that will enable us to get the details for you.
Be warned though i have looked into German crashes for people only to find they were infact British, the feeling during the war years looked to have been only the enemy can get shot down and any crash in a region was often assumed to have been a German bomber.
My own father is still convinced he saw Italian planes over Gloucester in 1940 being shot at by the Gloucester guns !!!

Re: How to Trace a WW2 German Plane Crash?
 

Thanks, Jon and Soren, for your replies. I'm not sure whether the police would actually be able to help in this case - there have been so many police reorganisations, even in my lifetime, that I doubt if such material would still be accessible. However, that has set me off thinking about our local Library service, who may have old local newspaper reports in their archive, so that's worth a try.

Regarding the dates, I'll ask old Jim next time I bump into him and see if I can pin him down a bit more. As you say, Jon, chances are it could be a British plane too, or a fighter (or even one of those stray Savoia-Marchettis who missed Gloucester!).

All the best,

John

Re: How to Trace a WW2 German Plane Crash?
 

Hi John !

You could ...

... ask these:
http://www.ova.org.uk/Contact.htm

... find this book:
Sidmouth: The War Years, 1939-1945

... find these books (describe all UK Luftwaffe crashes)
and look up the Index after the locations you give:
The Blitz then and now Vol. 1 to 3

As for the dates:
the Exeter raids are a possibility:
April 23, 1942
April 24, 1942
May 3, 1942


bye then,
FrankieS

Re: How to Trace a WW2 German Plane Crash?
 

Thanks, Frankie! The Blitz books look like very good volumes to have in any case, and I live opposite a lady who is very involved in the OVA, so those leads are really useful!

All the best,

John