Did my mother witness a flying boat crash?
My mother, who is 88 and born in 1929, is writing her memoirs and one of her most profound memories is of seeing a flying boat crash into a hill while she had been evacuated to Otterham Mill near Bude in North Cornwall. She thinks she was between 11 or 13 and that this was during a period when she was schooled at home by her mother. I have had a search on the net but can find no record of anything that matches her recollection.
Here it is in her own words.
"It occurred while my parents and the rest of the family were staying at Otterham Mill, near Boscastle. This was a private sort of evacuation as we had come from Hosrmonden in Kent where we experienced doodle bugs and flying bombs. We were also on the flight path from Germany to London.
"We all arrived at Otterham Station with our bikes on the train. I think my father couldn't stay long as he had to get back to his work in a bank in London.
"My godmother, May Fountain, was a teaching colleague of my mother's and lived in Boscastle. On the day that stays in my memory, we were probably on our way to Boscastle.
"I remember clearly seeing what I suppose was a flying boat crashing into the side of a hill, followed quite quickly by a plume of smoke. It made me think, 'I have watched a plane crash. people may have died.'
"I don't remember whether the incident was reported in the local press. Nor can I be sure whether the rest of the family were aware of what I had seen.
"It shook me to think I was a witness to this incident."
My mother has often spoken about this recollection and although no aviation buff knew her aircraft as my child in wartime Britain would. She has always been adamant that it was a flying boat but beyond a well documented beaching of a Short Sunderland at Praa Sands (many miles down the coast and not a crash that produced a plume of smoke) I can find no record of the net about any type of flying boat crashing in Cornwall.
So using this blog and the power of the internet I would like to see if anyone can throw any light on this long standing mystery.
Here it is in her own words.
"It occurred while my parents and the rest of the family were staying at Otterham Mill, near Boscastle. This was a private sort of evacuation as we had come from Hosrmonden in Kent where we experienced doodle bugs and flying bombs. We were also on the flight path from Germany to London.
"We all arrived at Otterham Station with our bikes on the train. I think my father couldn't stay long as he had to get back to his work in a bank in London.
"My godmother, May Fountain, was a teaching colleague of my mother's and lived in Boscastle. On the day that stays in my memory, we were probably on our way to Boscastle.
"I remember clearly seeing what I suppose was a flying boat crashing into the side of a hill, followed quite quickly by a plume of smoke. It made me think, 'I have watched a plane crash. people may have died.'
"I don't remember whether the incident was reported in the local press. Nor can I be sure whether the rest of the family were aware of what I had seen.
"It shook me to think I was a witness to this incident."
My mother has often spoken about this recollection and although no aviation buff knew her aircraft as my child in wartime Britain would. She has always been adamant that it was a flying boat but beyond a well documented beaching of a Short Sunderland at Praa Sands (many miles down the coast and not a crash that produced a plume of smoke) I can find no record of the net about any type of flying boat crashing in Cornwall.
So using this blog and the power of the internet I would like to see if anyone can throw any light on this long standing mystery.
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