Colerne In The Second World War Continued

A Memory of Colerne.

Those of us at Colerne school who passed our 'scholarship' exam at the age of about eleven usually went on to Chippenham Secondary School, which probably goes under a different name now: it's at Hardenhuish, just off the Malmesbury road at Chippenham. We walked from Colerne at about 7.30 a.m. to catch the train at Box, about two miles away. This train consisted of a small tank locomotive and two carriages, and was known as 'the Bunk'. We then had another walk of about a mile from Chippenham station to the school.
Like most boys during the war, I was interested in aeroplanes, so being near Colerne airfield was a bonus for me. I remember the arrival of some of the American aircraft which were supplied to the RAF under the 'Lend/Lease' scheme. In particular, a mock dog-fight over the village, between a Hawker Hurricane and a Curtiss P-40 'Tomahawk'.
As far as I recall, the airfield was bombed once or twice, probably by just one or two aircraft, but in general the Luftwaffe didn't seem to pay much attention to it. However, I do remember a few disastrous aircraft crashes near the village. One, which I saw, and of which the memory has remained with me ever since, was a Vickers Wellington bomber. I forget the exact date, but it would have been in 1941 or '42.
My parents and I were working on our allotment, just off the south side of the High Street, when the aircraft appeared from the direction of the airfield, flying low, and I think with only one engine running. It headed out towards Box, about two miles away. The land there is a broad valley, of uneven terrain and small fields, with Colerne to the north and Box Hill and Kingsdown to the south: not good country for a forced landing in a large and heavy aircraft. As we watched, it became obvious that it was losing height and had little chance of clearing the high ground. It briefly appeared against the skyline, then seemed to hit a clump of trees, rolled to an almost vertical position, and disappeared from view behind the hill.
After a few seconds, a cloud of black smoke arose: it was quite obvious that none of the crew could have survived. I still think about them sometimes.

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