Heinkel crash, Clacton-on-Sea, 30 April 1940

From The Times, Thursday, May 2, 1940:



ENEMY CRASH AT CLACTON

TWO DEAD AND 156 INJURED

HAVOC OF HEINKEL MINE-LAYER
CLACTON, MAY 1

A man and his wife and four member of the crew of a Heinkel bomber were killed when the machine, seriously damaged by gunfire and in flames, crashed at Clacton-on-Sea late last night. Tonight it was announced that the number of persons injured was 156, of whom 34 are serious cases.
Some of those now lying in hospital have lost their homes. At least 50 houses are so badly damaged that they will have to be demolished, and were, indeed, being pulled down this afternoon. In many more over a wide area all the windows were broken, doors were blown out and ceilings fell, and some windows two miles from the scene of the crash were broken.
For several hours to-day an area of a square mile was evacuated and roped off.

ALERT A.R.P.
There are two aspects of this disaster which give comfort. First it was the accurate fire of our gunners which brought to grief this carrier of “murder” mines, for the Heinkel was a layer of the mines which wreck and destroy ships without warning. The second consolation is that the local A.R.P. services were found ready and competent for the work so suddenly thrown upon them. The explosion was caused by mines which the bomber was carrying.

It was half an hour before midnight when people became aware of the crippled bomber flying low, its engines misfiring. Some say that it dropped Verey lights as if looking for a landing place. Mrs. E.F. Thomas, of Victoria Road, said:-

“The bomber flashed past flaming, narrowly missing our house. It hit a chimney-stack three doors away, and one wing dropped into the garden there. It then hit a tree and a corner of the house across the road, sped along the road, and then crashed into two houses, which were demolished. By now I was out in the road. Suddenly there was a terrific explosion. A man shouted, ‘Stay where you are,’ and I realized I was lying on the roadway and must have been knocked down by the force of the explosion.”

BURIED UNDER DEBRIS
The husband and wife who were killed, Mr. and Mrs. W. Gill, lived in one of the houses which were demolished. Apparently Mr. Gill ran into his garden and was killed instantly. His body, buried beneath debris, was found at noon. Mrs. Gill was buried beneath the ruins of her home and was found at 6 o’clock this morning. With them lived their son, who is in hospital seriously injured. All that remained of their house was a mound of bricks.
Twenty yards from their house was a concrete covered air-raid shelter where, if warned of the coming disaster, they would have been safe. In the house next door, which also was demolished, were a maid and three children whose mother is in Scotland. Two of the children are in hospital, one with an injured back and the other with a broken arm. For some time the maid was unaccounted for and is now stated to be in hospital seriously injured.

The soot where the bomber fell was the centre of a desolate scene - demolished houses, scores more with every window shattered, doors blown out and roofs caving in, the charred remains of the big bomber, here and there pieces of clothing lodged in the branches of trees; and scattered about dolls, handbags, tooth-brushes, and a hundred and one of the things common to every home.

The falling bomber narrowly missed St. Michael’s Orthopaedic Hospital and a nursing home in which there are 14 patients. Many people were injured by broken glass, and others because, before the explosion, they had rushed out of their homes to see the burning aeroplane. As soon as possible soldiers, wardens, and police threw a cordon round the area and kept people back. For some hours there were distressing scenes as A.R.P. workers sought amid the debris and in damaged houses for the injured whose cries they could hear.

The work of rescue went on all night, and at the start the scene was lighted by the burning aeroplane, which blazed fiercely. People who have lost their homes are staying for the present with friends.
It is stated that no air-raid warning was sounded.

BACK OF HOUSE GONE
Our Clacton Correspondent, in describing the disaster (which was reported in the later editions of The Times yesterday), states:-

I, in common with other people, heard an aeroplane overhead and soon afterwards saw a reflection of whhat had happened, but had only got to my front gate when the explosion occurred. I rushed back to find that the back of my house had been blown out.

A.R.P. WITHOUT A HITCH
The Ministry of Home Security last night issued the following statement:-
Reports from Clacton show that the police and fire brigade were on the spot at once. The first first-aid party arrived within five minutes, and the first rescue party within 10 minutes. The A.R.P. services are organized in first- and second -line parties. The first-line parties are those actually standing by: the second-line parties, consisting of volunteers on call, are collected by telephone and special messenger. The system worked without a hitch, and further rescue parties and parties of stretcher bearers were dispatched within 10 to 20 minutes. The first-aid parties were quickly supplemented by mobile first-aid units, consisting of doctors and nurses, who, with full surgical equipment, are carried in specially fitted lorries.

victoria road, clacton - Google Maps

CWGC :: Casualty Details
CWGC :: Casualty Details

 

Pathe News coverage:
British Pathe - NAZI PLANE CRASHES IN ESSEX

 

FIRST DAMAGE IN ENGLAND

Eight months after the outbreak of war England suffered its first civilian casualties on Tuesday night, when a German bomber, which had been in apparent distress for some time, crashed into a garden at Clacton in Essex, and blew up. All its occupants were killed. Many houses - among them that of our Correspondent who tells the story - were wrecked and serious damage was caused over a radius of three-quarters of a mile; but, although some 160 people suffered greater or less injury, the number of English deaths so far reported is fortunately no more than two.

It is not possible to say with certainty exactly what happened, the explosion having taken place in the dark, and the enemy machine having been blown to pieces. It seems to have been one of several that had been sighted off the south-east coast, and had been engaged by the anti-aircraft defences of the Thames estuary. An engine was clearly disabled, whether by artillery fire or accident, and the crew must have made an attempt, which failed, to make a landing. They evidently carried a heavy cargo of high explosive, which from the nature of the explosion seems (although in one account incendiary bombs are mentioned) to have been disposed in on or two large parcels rather than in any smaller missiles. No attempt was made by the machine or her consorts to bomb either shipping or objectives on land. The natural inference therefore is that the squadron was engaged in laying magnetic mines; and it is strengthened by the identification of the raider as a Heinkel 111, which is a type which has been used by the enemy for this purpose. There has lately been a lull in mine laying off our coasts; but nobody supposed that the Germans would permanently desist from the use of this weapon, gross outrage though it is against the laws of civilized warfare.

There is nothing, then, in this incident to suggest the adoption of any new tactics by the enemy. Having occurred so near home, however, it may cause more general public attention to be given to the Nazi use of air arm, which is enterprising and versatile. At present a comparison of strength is more favourable to the Germans in the air than on either sea or land, and they are ingenious in devising ways to exploit their opportunities. Obvious instances are the use of air transport for troops in Norway, and even the dropping of soldiers under parachutes at critical points. Our home defence services have to be on their guard against all conceivable devices of this kind. The people of Clacton have undergone an unpleasant experience and a serious test. They are, however, the experience and the test against which the whole civil population was called upon to make firm its resolution last September, and will maintain it whatever may befall; and the ordeal is of course not to be compared with what the towns of Poland and Norway have suffered, and what the enemy, who is certainly not restrained by any scruple of conscience, may at any moment attempt to inflict upon us.

The civilian defence services of Clacton responded excellently to the sudden call made upon them, in collaboration with the military and Air Force contingents who took control of the scene of the wreck. There was no panic or confusion; police, firefighters, ambulances, and first-aid squads were promptly at their posts, and carried out their duties efficiently. That the A.R.P. system works so well in practice should be an encouragement to the thousands of volunteers throughout the country who are giving their time to it; that it has actually been called upon will remind them all that their long immunity is no reason for the least relaxation of vigilance.

 

COUNTING COSTS AT CLACTON

LOANS FOR REPAIRS

TRIBUTES TO A.R.P.
CLACTON, MAY 2

Men of the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps and civil defence workers have to-day been clearing up the damage caused by the Heinkel bomber which crashed in a residential area here on Tuesday night, causing two deaths and injuries to 156 persons. Twenty-three of the casualties are still in hospital. R.A.F. sentries to-day stood guard over the charred remains of the bomber, and Air Ministry experts directed salvage of parts of the bomber which might yield useful information.

The disaster affords no comprehensive lesson on the correct behaviour to adopt in such circumstances, except that householders should not run towards an aeroplane which has crashed: explosions are always possible. For the rest, some who left their homes escaped being injured by falling glass or ceiling; some who remained in bed, though covered with plaster from ceilings, escaped injury; some had just run out when a whole wall of their house was torn away. An underground concrete covered shelter within 20 yards of the crash stood up to the explosion.

RECORD OF CLAIMS
It is too early to give a figure of the amount of damage to property, but within a few hours of the crash the assessment of damage had been started. Compensation for damage to property arising from enemy action is not payable until after the end of the war, when it will be possible to assess the total extent of the damage done. All damage should be reported as soon as possible, however, and for this purpose arrangements have been made for the receipt of claims and recording of damage by the valuation office of the Inland Revenue. Forms of claims are obtainable from local authorities or at the offices of the local District Valuer, Inland Revenue, and completed claims should be delivered to the local Districk Valuer within 30 days after the damage has occurred.

Meanwhile, loans to cover the cost of repairs to property may be obtained from the Ministry of Health, and no demand for repayment or interest will be made during the war. Provision has been made for compensation for death or injury to civil defence workers and civilians.

SIR JOHN ANDERSON’S STATEMENT
Sir John Anderson, Minister of Home Security, has issued the following statement:-

The crash of the enemy bomber at Clacton, causing the loss of two English lives, injury to 156 people, and great damage to property, is a clear demonstration that any locality may have brought home to it at any moment the value of a well-manned and efficient civil defence service.

The prompt and excellent work of the Clacton A.R.P. services, the great majority of whom are part-time unpaid volunteers, will have caused many people to reflect what would be the plight after such an event, still more after an actual air raid, of a locality which had not provided itself with a proper civil defence organization.

I earnestly hope that the lesson of this event will be taken to heart everywhere, and that it will inspire large numbers to respond to the appeal which I made a few days ago for 250,000 more men and women to offer themselves as part-time volunteers in the civil defence forces.

 

Letters to the Editor

THE CLACTON EXPLOSION

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES
Sir, - I am interested in your article to-day entitled “First Damage in England.” I should like to pay tribute to the injured and the first-aid Red Cross workers. I was the guest of the matron of the Middlesex branch hospital at Clacton, and as soon as the explosion occurred, being a free lance, went to the nearest first-aid post. I was impressed by the courage, selflessness, and fortitude of the injured. Without exception, everyone capable of speech said; “Don‘t trouble about me; others are much worse.”

The behaviour of the workers was magnificent. This was their baptism of blood; they were prepared and now for the first time (please God it may be the last) they were bathing and binding bleeding wounds, comforting the afflicted, and dispensing tea to the shivering. (The tea was a really welcome touch.) Any fears born in anticipation vanished and calm efficiency reigned, demonstrating clearly that the confidence we have in the organized services of our country is well merited. I speak not as a novice but as an old campaigner, having suffered bombardment in Serbia and watched my hospital burn in the fire of Salonika.

Yours faithfully,
Evelyn C. Pearce, Senior Nursing, the Middlesex Hospital.

====

LESSONS OF CLACTON

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES
Sir, - The injuries and loss of life caused by the crash of the Heinkel bomber at Clacton are no doubt only a foretaste of what were must expect when the war develops. One cannot help feeling, however, that this incident should cause the authorities, who have to decide whether or not an air-raid warning should be sounded, to reconsider their present policy of giving no warning when only aerial combat, as opposed to a bombing raid, is anticipated. Your report from Clacton in to-day’s issue of The Times contains the words I have italicized an argument which seems irrefutable in favour of abandoning this policy. Referring to the death of two of the civilian victims, it says:-

“Twenty yards from their house was a concrete air-raid shelter where, if warned of the coming disaster, they would have been safe.”

It is surely worth putting the civilian population to the inconvenience of a number of apparently fruitless air-raid warnings if by so doing they eventually receive the benefit of protection when, as at Clacton, destruction is abroad.

Another aspect of the matter is that more frequent air-raid warnings (where I live in the country there has not been even a confidential warning this year) will not only reduce the likelihood of panic when the time comes for a real air raid but also will bring home to a wider number of people that ever inhabitant of this country is at war - and in peril.

Yours faithfully,
Frank Whitworth, Temple, May 2.

 

Letter to the Editor

LESSONS OF CLACTON

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES
Sir, - Doubtless our authorities have made mistakes but they have made no mistake in withholding an air-raid warning when only an aerial combat, as distinguished from a bombing raid is in progress. Does Mr. Frank Whitworth realize that ain air-raid warning stops munition factories, halts aeroplane works, suspends traffic, and brings much essential national work to a standstill? Mr. Whitworth’s suggestion would be hailed with delight by Hitler. All he would have to do would be to send on or two machines to fly over our coasts continually, and he would bring our war effort to a close.

Nor has your correspondent considered that the promiscuous giving of air-raid warnings would be a great assistance to the enemy’s “war of nerves” against our population, especially the womenfolk, not all of whom are in a condition to defy it. The unnecessary and injudicious “warnings” of last September did a lot of harm with no corresponding gain. If and when bombing raids come, we shall suffer the consequences with fortitude, but there is no gain, except to the enemy, in having the suffering without need.

I am, Sir, yours very faithfully,
H.W.R. Elsley.

 

NEED FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

LESSONS OF CLACTON RAID
The recent experience of Clacton-on-Sea war referred to by Mr. T. Johnston, M.P., National Defence Commissioner for Scotland, when he spoke at the annual meeting of the Scottish Development Council in Glasgow yesterday. Mr. Johnston said that they had in Scotland a regional defence organization which he believed would work successfully should the challenge come. As a result of that organization they might say that any rate a great number of the apprehensions with which the people of this country were imbued at the outbreak of war no longer existed.

There had been, however, too much reliance placed in the task upon someone else to look after them in an air-raid. He believed that the time had come when there must be a great new appeal for voluntary service. The paid warden was no excuse for our avoidance of our manifest duties to equip ourselves and defend ourselves and our homes if events like those at Clacton-on-Sea should unfortunately happen. Not only should there be a great campaign for voluntary service, but there should be someone in every home trained in the use of the stirrup pump against fire.

 

Thanks Tom,

I thought it all deserved an airing, esp. as it was the first incident of its kind. The description of the organizations involved etc and discusion surrounding warnings made for good background.

Of course, we all know worse was to come...

d

 

THE CLACTON AFFAIR

In connection with the crashing of the German mine-laying ‘plane at Clacton it is pointed out that civilians and A.R.P. personnel who have been injured through enemy action will receive Government grants so long as they are unable to work. In cases of death or disablement, pensions are payable. State compensation for damage to property is not payable until after war. It will then be paid “on the highest scale compatible with the circumstances.” When an air raid occurs damage is assessed by the Valuation Officer of the Inland Revenue and is place on record. The provision for civilians applies where the civilian is normally substantially dependent on earnings. Examples of injury grants are man, wife, and two children, treated in hospital, 28s. 6d. a week; single man treated at home, 18s. a week. Pension rates depend on the degrees of disablement, the maximum being 32s. 6d. a week for a single man and 22s. 6d. for a single woman. Married men receive additional allowances for wife and children. The pension for the widow of a man killed is at the same rate as for the widow of a private solider. Pensions are payable also to dependent parents and other near relatives.

====

MINE-’PLANE BLOWS UP AFTER CRASH

SIX DEAD; 156 INJURED IN ENGLISH COAST TOWN
CLACTON-ON-SEA, Wednesday Night.

Two civilians - a man and his wife - and the crew of four Germans were killed and 156 persons injured - 34 of them seriously - when a Heinkel bomber, thought to be laden with mines, crashed into a street in Clacton-on-Sea just before midnight last night and exploded, to spread death and destruction over a wide area.

For many hours it was believed that a third civilian was killed.
The number of injured was also in doubt, until the Ministry of Home Security issued the following announcement:-

“It has been established that he number dead is six, including four Germans. The injured number 156 - 34 cases being serious.”

That the number of cases of serious injury was no higher is generally recognised to be due in part to the splendid work of the A.R.P. personnel in rushing the injured to first-aid posts for immediate treatment by doctors and nurses.

The dead civilians are:
Mr. Frederick W. Gill (52), a retired wool merchant, and
Mrs. Dorothy Gill, his Australian-born wife.

There seems little doubt that the raider was attacked and disabled by British fighter aircraft while on a mine-laying expedition, and it is believed the pilot was trying to come down on the sea near the shore. Instead, after circling overhead for about half and hour, he crashed some two hundred yards from the sea at the junction of the two roads near the High Street, Clacton’s principal shopping thoroughfare.

LIKE PACKS OF CARDS
A few moments later there was a terrific explosion, causing houses to collapse like packs of cards, shattering hundreds of windows and scattering thousands of tiles.

Simultaneously the Heinkel’s petrol tank burst into flames and became a raging inferno, while the fragments of the warplane’s cargo of bombs and mines, flying in all directions, started a number of fires.

Between 25 and 30 houses were completely wrecked, and more than 50 rendered uninhabitable. Backs and fronts had been torn away, great cracks appeared in sagging walls, roofs were opened to the sky, and piles of debris littered the streets.

HOUSE DISAPPEARED
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Gill, struck by the bomber as it crashed, simply disappeared. Spectators, many of them bandaged, arriving on the scene, looked across a large garden covered with bricks to where stood two semi-detached houses badly damaged. They were under the impression that one of them was “Orchard House,” where the Gills lived. But the mound of bricks over which they gazed was, in fact, all that remained of “Orchard House.”

William Gill, 19-year-old son of the dead couple, is in hospital with head injuries, and has not yet been told of his loss.

According to his friend Kenneth Harper, Gill helped to get his father out of the house and then went back for his mother.

“I suppose he found his mother was trapped, and he ran to get help,” Kenneth said. “Then while he was out the house collapsed entirely.”

‘PLANE SEEN CIRCLING ROUND
Kenneth Harper was one of those who saw the Heinkel circling round, and was running towards it after the crash when the explosion occurred. “The next thing I knew debris was flying all around me, and I put my arms round my head and ran.”

The fact that the ‘plane was circling overhead for so long before it finally fell was responsible both for some extraordinarily fine work by the town’s A.R.P. personnel and for a large number of injuries which might have been avoided.

Many people were in the streets or looking out of windows when the crash came, and were cut by flying fragments of glass or pieces of bricks and tiles.

As a chief air raid warden said: “One lesson to be learned from the explosion is that people who had taken cover were uninjured, and an air raid shelter within a few yards of the crater in which the wreckage of the bomber lay was completely undamaged.”

Some residents were inclined to criticise the authorities for not giving an air raid warning. “I think,” said one of them, “that most of the people who were injured were hurt because either they were looking out of their windows, having heard the ‘plane overhead for so long, or were sleeping in upper rooms and had tiles fall in on them. Had they been in lower rooms or in a shelter the majority might not have been hurt at all.”

 

Thanks GH,
Another related find - showing extent of the devastation caused.

YouTube - 1940 Air Crash at Clacton-on-Sea

another link here with more info
SNAFUDIECASTSignPage

During the night and much of the next day the emergency services worked to clear the area and house those made homeless by the explosion. Rescuer workers noticed what they believed to be a hot water cylinder lying among the rubble and Detective Sergeant Barkway remembered resting his foot on it on several occasions. But then someone more curious noticed German words stencilled on the side of the `hot water cylinder'.

As a precaution the area was evacuated and two Royal Naval mine disposal officers, Lieutenant - Commander R. Ryan and Chief Petty Officer R. Ellingworth were called in and identified it as the new `C' type parachute mine. Miraculously the mine had not exploded when the Heinkel crashed and it was defused and taken away for further examination.

 

Thanks Geoff,
Yes this helps a lot. Appreciate you checking this for me.

Dates explained by the accident happening in the night...the army guy - thanks intriguing. I don't know if this means he was def. involved in this accident ... but if so, I wonder was it normal to have army on board.

Kind regards,
D

 

Geoff
Thanks for that.
I'll have a look later on.
d

 

Hi Geoff,
Took your good advice.

These are the entries from the German site. I see straight away that for Oberleutnant Hermann Vagts the date is as for the other three 1/5/1940. Really is annoying that no unit ID is given ...

D

==

Name: FRESEN, KARL-HEINZ
Initials: H
Nationality: German
Rank: Airman
Regiment: German Air Force
Date of Death: 01/05/1940
Service No: 62729 N.R.47
Casualiy Type: Foreign National
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block 5, Grave 111.
Cemetery: CANNOCK CHASE GERMAN MILITARY CEMETERY

Nachname: Fresen
Vorname: Karl-Heinz
Dienstgrad: Unteroffizier
Geburtsdatum: 17.05.1914
Geburtsort:
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 01.05.1940
Todes-/Vermisstenort:
Karl-Heinz Fresen ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Cannock Chase (Großbritannien) .
Endgrablage: Block 5 Reihe 5 Grab 111

===

Name: KOCH, HANS-GUNTHER
Initials: H G
Nationality: German
Rank: Soldier
Regiment: German Army
Date of Death: 01/05/1940
Service No: 62729 NR 34
Casualty Type: Foreign National
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block 5, Grave 113.
Cemetery: CANNOCK CHASE GERMAN MILITARY CEMETERY

Nachname: Koch
Vorname: Hans
Dienstgrad: Unteroffizier
Geburtsdatum: 10.03.1919
Geburtsort:
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 01.05.1940
Todes-/Vermisstenort:
Hans Koch ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Cannock Chase (Großbritannien) .
Endgrablage: Block 5 Reihe 5 Grab 113

===

Name: SODTMANN, HERMANN
Initials: H
Nationality: German
Rank: Airman
Regiment: German Air Force
Date of Death: 01/05/1940
Service No: 72729 NR.7
Casualty Type: Foreign National
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block 5, Grave 112.
Cemetery: CANNOCK CHASE GERMAN MILITARY CEMETERY

Nachname: Sodtmann
Vorname: Hermann
Dienstgrad: Leutnant
Geburtsdatum: 16.11.1916
Geburtsort:
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 01.05.1940
Todes-/Vermisstenort:
Hermann Sodtmann ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Cannock Chase (Großbritannien) .
Endgrablage: Block 5 Reihe 5 Grab 112

==

Name: VAGTS, HERMANN
Initials: H
Nationality: German
Rank: Airman
Regiment: German Air Force
Date of Death: 30/04/1940
Casualty Type: Foreign National
Grave/Memorial Reference: Block 5, Grave 114.
Cemetery: CANNOCK CHASE GERMAN MILITARY CEMETERY

Nachname: Vagts
Vorname: Hermann
Dienstgrad: Oberleutnant
Geburtsdatum: 10.06.1915
Geburtsort:
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 01.05.1940
Todes-/Vermisstenort:
Hermann Vagts ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Cannock Chase (Großbritannien) .
Endgrablage: Block 5 Reihe 5 Grab 114


Possibly their funeral - one plaque states killed in action on 30 April 1940

Nazi Airmen Funeral - England May 1940

 

Just seen this in The First Year Of War In Pictures.