What happened in Rustington and Littlehampton during WW2?

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi Baldie

First of all, welcome to Rootschat and especially the Sussex boards which we think is one of the best.

As a more mature rootschatter, I, like yourself have memories of the war and the bombers going over on route to Coventry.  At this particular time I lived in Nottinghamshire and mum says that a bomber crashed into the ground no more than half a mile from our house and near to the railway station: apparently I walked over the field to the crash site and came home later with some bits of aircraft parts.

Chris in 1066

[Curt32]

Hi Legs
My father was in the Metropolitan Police, and for safety moved his wife and two children to stay first with his mother in Northumberland, then to Rustington to stay with my maternal grandmother in Jubilee Rd. Then we got a council house in Conbar Ave, and my sister and I (DOB1932) attended Rustington school. Later we rented a house in Tennyson Ave. I passed the 11plus and went to Worthing High School, cycling to Angmering station. I joined the Army Cadet Force, and became platoon sergeant at East Preston. The church there had lead caps on the gateposts, covered in lovers' pencilled graffiti dating from WW1 as well as WW2. All troops in the area were Canadian. Between Tennyson Ave and Littlehampton in those days lay open fields. In one the Canadian AA artillery had a Bofors 40mm gun with a poor field of view. They opened fire on a crippled RAF Beaufighter, hitting it as it cleared trees. It crashed in the same field, killing the crew. On another occasion a Spitfire crashed on a bungalow about a mile from our house. In those days concrete roads had been laid to the south-east of our house, but no houses yet built, so we boys had perfect cycling. By Rustington church there was an extensive warren of tunnels, certainly not bombproof. Perhaps practice concealed entrenchments. A burned-out hotel was on the links, which in the lead-up to D-Day had scrambling nets up to the roof. CONT IN MSG 2

[Curt32]

Legs - Continued
My platoon of Army Cadets included three maimed lads (forearm blown off, eye missing etc). Playing with live ammunition or German butterfly bombs was very common, but I never heard of any Canadian attacking a child. We all felt remarkably safe, not to say exhilarated. I watched jeeps entering the concrete-sided boating lake to test their waterproofing. One of our dens was in deep sand under a smart house behind the beach: it had been fortified against a German invasion. Between the park and the links hotel was a large flat area of ponds, ideal for play and watching frogs. We used to cycle out to view crashed German planes. I remember a Ju87 Stuka on Angmering Wild Brooks. The scaffolding anti-landing barriers were ideal launchers for purloined thunderflashes. The trick was to light two and achieve an airburst over the sea. My mother danced with McIndoe pilots: RAF boys with faces burned off. Not many women could do it.

[alllegs]

Wow, Curt,

What great memories.  Thank you for your input.

Legs
xxxx 

[sal j]

hi, i don't know if your still teaching the topic but the seafront was cordoned off with barbed wire there was a blockhouse at the bottom of sea lane the foreshore was full of land mines sometimes if the sea was rough it would set them off.in 1940 twelve high explosive bombs were dropped on the village damaging 50 houses, the village was frequently being disturbed by low flying enemy aircraft nuisance raids appearing suddenly from over the sea with machine guns blazing.the worst raid of the war occurred on 8th may 1942.A bomb demolished a house in Seafield Road.Two people were killed,five seriously injured and many others had minor wounds,most of the large houses and all the hotels were taken over by the armed forces.In1941 the Canadian troops arrived where they stayed for three years.In 1945 a mosquito night fighter from Ford airfield crashed into a house in Chaucer Ave, killing the crew  and three civilians, a baby was badly burnt but survived with her mother

[alllegs]

Thank you Sal,

Yes I am still teaching WW2, we're off to the Imperial War Museum at the beginning of Nov.  I'll certainly tell my class your memories on Monday.

Legs
xxxx

[Divebomber]

Dear Alllegs,

Not sure if previous two messages got through to you, as I am a novice to Rootschat. So for the third time here goes. 1. I suggest you obtain a copy of The Hardest Day (18th August 1940) by Alfred Price ISBN 0 354 0121 93 and check on page 118. The corporal was my late Father. 2. A front page photo and report appeared in the now defunct "The Morning Post" (incorporated into the now "Daily Telegraph" of the dead German WO covered in a parachute on Ham Golf Club surrounded by onlookers. My Father had an original copy and loaned it to a local museum. On later inspection, the curator denied all knowledge of it. 3. My younger Brother has a filler cap of the shotdown JU87, which my Father claimed as a trophy.   Good luck
Divebomber

[alllegs]

Hi Divebomber,

Thank you for you're email and message.  I will look that book up.  However, I've moved year groups this year and am no longer teaching this topic.  Thank you for your help though, I still find it all very interesting!

Legs xxx

[binge]

if you are still about - are you an Old Azurian (ex WHSB)?

James Feest (binge)