Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Two stories of Yardley, and our neighbourhood, from my 93 year old Uncle, Les Hutton, of his and others’ experiences during the Blitz in the second World War….
The First one is an event also described by and Air Raid Warden, John V Abbott, in his book RAIDERS PAST….a book about his experiences when stationed three doors down from our house now, in Church Road , in E24A Air Raid Post….
"The sirens sounded the 'Raiders Passed' as early as 11.38 p.m. on the 8th November 1940, and after the 'All Clear' had been received, the Wardens returned to their homes to 'Stand by'. On their way from the Post, a party of five or six Wardens, at about twenty minutes past midnight, suddenly heard the noise of an approaching aeroplane, which appeared to be in difficulties. Whistles were blown as the aircraft flew directly over their heads at an extremely low altitude, and almost immediately the plane dropped what appeared to be incendiary bombs in the adjacent Yardley Park. The 'incendiaries' appeared to burn out immediately, and as the Wardens with difficulty made their way into the park, a terrific crash was heard. No trace of the bombs could be found, but the smell of magnesium was strong round the old moat, into which it was presumed they had fallen. After further investigation it was learnt that the plane had crashed about a mile away, on the railway lines at Stechford, and all the occupants had been killed. It was, however, with the deepest regret, that later on in the day the Wardens were led to believe that the plane was a British bomber, and that the 'incendiaries' were, in reality, signals of distress.
Uncle Les’s account is a bit different…
Remembering that night when a Aircraft swooped low over your house in Church Road and low over Yardley Park, where it dropped what appeared to be distress Flares.
My Cousin Harry Hutton and I were close to the other side of the park in fact Queens Road as we both lived off Queens Road at the time. The plane appeared to have crashed landed not far away so we ran like hell down Church Road, and we ran up Church Road towards Hill House Road and the Railway Bridge, where the plane had crashed.
The plane had crashed just the Yardley side of the bridge at the bottom of the embankment, It was all engulfed in flames, far too dangerous to get near. All the crew perished. The plane must have been trying to land at near by Castle Bromwich.
Apart from us two, there were also a number of other people watching it burn at the top of the embankment. On the modern map of the bridge, it crashed on the lines between the bridge and the first bush on the right.
I did not see any structural damage to the bridge, the plane was engulfed in flames when Harry and I arrive on the spot, Had it have come from the City or Coventry direction no doubt it would have hit this bridge, and as I say, It must have been trying for Castle Bromwich Airfield?
It is now known that at first thinking the plane was an Enemy aircraft was in fact A British Avro Anson Bomber. There were no less than 10,996 built and used as from 1936 to 1968 The Plane was noted for its long life.
According to a later report. The Anson flew into a barrage Balloon Cable in nearby Moat Lane, and the plane crashed onto the LMS Railway line near Hill House Lane, Stechford, Killing all of the Crew of 5. The accident was not officially reported until much later…
SECOND STORY (Spooky)
This is a bit of a real puzzler….if he was a drunkard, or a mystic, prone to hallucinations, or ‘seeing things’, I would laugh and tuck it away somewhere safe…but he’s neither….just a VERY astute and normal man….still extremely articulate and sane!
So….here’s his reminisces about a weird incident when he was on artillery duty in Yardley in 1942….
I was on a Anti Aircraft Gun site for 2 1/5 years, before I joined the Royal Navy. The Battery was in Garretts Green, and known as a “Z” Site…and we went into action there several times.
One night I was on my station, when one of the Nissen Huts got a direct hit, and killed nearly all of the ATS in there (more on this at the end).
There were lots of guns on this site, could have been 80 of them and they were Rocket Projectiles, which fired 2 x 6ft Rockets.
I have a strange story to tell about this Gun Site, we had a call out to man our posts, It was a brilliant moonlight night, and in between the row of guns, there appeared to be what looked like a Black Panther type animal with tusks and big eyes, it appeared to have come from a pool which was at the edge of the Gun site Kents Moat.
We had a stand down message through our head phones, and number one on each gun had to shout that out.
The animal just vanished like a flash! Several of the Gunners also saw this animal including Gil Merrick Birmingham’s Goal keeper as he was in the same Hut as we were.
I shall never forget seeing that strange animal and no way was it a dog. It was like it appeared from another dimension in time. We watched the animal slowly walk down the path then stop to sit down, I estimated it to be some 3ft high sitting, it remained motion less for about one and a quarter minutes, and vanished into thin air when the men shouted out the Commands.
It was like a sabre-toothed Tiger in form, but jet black, and the teeth stood out clearly like that of Ivory. It was like a creature out of a Time Warp.
It would be a time when all the Gunners would be stressed out waiting to get the order for action and fire some dozens of Rockets, but I am sure that’s what we saw…..
OTHER REMINISCENCES
My Brother Tom had to remain on the Garretts Green gun site after I had left and put up with a new number 2, apart from Tom’s service on the gun site, he was also attached to ENSA as he also had his Dance Band at this time, and he used to go to several Army Barracks to entertain the troops( It was during this time, he first got to know your Dad when he used to sing in bands) apart from all this Tom used to work 8 or 9 hours as a Tool setter in the Screw Trade. My Dad was a Foreman there, Cranes Screw Co in Floodgate Street.
The ATS NIssen Hut that was hit by what was then thought to be a German bomb, turned out to be a Rocket which had been wrongly set, from another “Z" Battery located in Swanhurst Park BIrmingham. Ooops….
"Z" Battery Garretts Green
Arriving at the main gate to the Garretts Green “Z” battery, on the right hand side of the driveway, there were several Nissen Huts, some were offices, others where we used to sleep, and Command posts Cookhouse etc.
On the left hand side, the Rocket Projectiles were set up in rows. The first row was just behind the row of houses, at the edge of their back gardens if you like. This row was in those days called "ACK section the next rowcalled Bravo, then Charlie and so on. I cannot recall how many Projectiles there were but my guess would be between 60 to 80 of them. Tom and I manned one in the Charliesection.
Orders to each of the Guns were sent by telephone link from a command post to Number 1 and then repeated by him to number 2 by shouting out loud. Number 2 had the hardest job as he had to fetch 2 Rockets from the bunker, then set the fuses on the nosecap of both, then load them onto the rails, he also had to do the elevations, so Number 1’s job was the easiest.
It was only a 4 1/2 Volt battery that used to fire the rockets, there was a small dim car bulb size lamp just above where you had to set the fuse of the nosecaps, so your eyesight needed to be good, and the Rockets were some 6ft long and around 4" Diameter.
I remember during a practice on a Sunday morning, some guy whilst running with a Rocket on his shoulder, allowed the nose of it to hit the ground, which would block the nose cone vent holes. He had a good dressing down by the Battery Commander in front of the whole battery, so we had to be careful of things like that.
If my memory is correct many years ago I was in touch with Alton Douglas about something or other and I think His Dad served on this site during the war. Alton’s real name is Douglas John Price and his Dad was Sidney Price. Although I don’t remember him as a person, as he may have been in another of the huts.
There were also two Brothers who owned Jewels the Butchers, both were Sgts, and they were always very smart in their turnout.
Another bloke I knew well was named Eric Mott, and he lived at Lea Hall, He was a Dunkirk Veteran, and they gave him a Pip soon after he joined us and became an instructor.
The First one is an event also described by and Air Raid Warden, John V Abbott, in his book RAIDERS PAST….a book about his experiences when stationed three doors down from our house now, in Church Road , in E24A Air Raid Post….
"The sirens sounded the 'Raiders Passed' as early as 11.38 p.m. on the 8th November 1940, and after the 'All Clear' had been received, the Wardens returned to their homes to 'Stand by'. On their way from the Post, a party of five or six Wardens, at about twenty minutes past midnight, suddenly heard the noise of an approaching aeroplane, which appeared to be in difficulties. Whistles were blown as the aircraft flew directly over their heads at an extremely low altitude, and almost immediately the plane dropped what appeared to be incendiary bombs in the adjacent Yardley Park. The 'incendiaries' appeared to burn out immediately, and as the Wardens with difficulty made their way into the park, a terrific crash was heard. No trace of the bombs could be found, but the smell of magnesium was strong round the old moat, into which it was presumed they had fallen. After further investigation it was learnt that the plane had crashed about a mile away, on the railway lines at Stechford, and all the occupants had been killed. It was, however, with the deepest regret, that later on in the day the Wardens were led to believe that the plane was a British bomber, and that the 'incendiaries' were, in reality, signals of distress.
Uncle Les’s account is a bit different…
Remembering that night when a Aircraft swooped low over your house in Church Road and low over Yardley Park, where it dropped what appeared to be distress Flares.
My Cousin Harry Hutton and I were close to the other side of the park in fact Queens Road as we both lived off Queens Road at the time. The plane appeared to have crashed landed not far away so we ran like hell down Church Road, and we ran up Church Road towards Hill House Road and the Railway Bridge, where the plane had crashed.
The plane had crashed just the Yardley side of the bridge at the bottom of the embankment, It was all engulfed in flames, far too dangerous to get near. All the crew perished. The plane must have been trying to land at near by Castle Bromwich.
Apart from us two, there were also a number of other people watching it burn at the top of the embankment. On the modern map of the bridge, it crashed on the lines between the bridge and the first bush on the right.
I did not see any structural damage to the bridge, the plane was engulfed in flames when Harry and I arrive on the spot, Had it have come from the City or Coventry direction no doubt it would have hit this bridge, and as I say, It must have been trying for Castle Bromwich Airfield?
It is now known that at first thinking the plane was an Enemy aircraft was in fact A British Avro Anson Bomber. There were no less than 10,996 built and used as from 1936 to 1968 The Plane was noted for its long life.
According to a later report. The Anson flew into a barrage Balloon Cable in nearby Moat Lane, and the plane crashed onto the LMS Railway line near Hill House Lane, Stechford, Killing all of the Crew of 5. The accident was not officially reported until much later…
SECOND STORY (Spooky)
This is a bit of a real puzzler….if he was a drunkard, or a mystic, prone to hallucinations, or ‘seeing things’, I would laugh and tuck it away somewhere safe…but he’s neither….just a VERY astute and normal man….still extremely articulate and sane!
So….here’s his reminisces about a weird incident when he was on artillery duty in Yardley in 1942….
I was on a Anti Aircraft Gun site for 2 1/5 years, before I joined the Royal Navy. The Battery was in Garretts Green, and known as a “Z” Site…and we went into action there several times.
One night I was on my station, when one of the Nissen Huts got a direct hit, and killed nearly all of the ATS in there (more on this at the end).
There were lots of guns on this site, could have been 80 of them and they were Rocket Projectiles, which fired 2 x 6ft Rockets.
I have a strange story to tell about this Gun Site, we had a call out to man our posts, It was a brilliant moonlight night, and in between the row of guns, there appeared to be what looked like a Black Panther type animal with tusks and big eyes, it appeared to have come from a pool which was at the edge of the Gun site Kents Moat.
We had a stand down message through our head phones, and number one on each gun had to shout that out.
The animal just vanished like a flash! Several of the Gunners also saw this animal including Gil Merrick Birmingham’s Goal keeper as he was in the same Hut as we were.
I shall never forget seeing that strange animal and no way was it a dog. It was like it appeared from another dimension in time. We watched the animal slowly walk down the path then stop to sit down, I estimated it to be some 3ft high sitting, it remained motion less for about one and a quarter minutes, and vanished into thin air when the men shouted out the Commands.
It was like a sabre-toothed Tiger in form, but jet black, and the teeth stood out clearly like that of Ivory. It was like a creature out of a Time Warp.
It would be a time when all the Gunners would be stressed out waiting to get the order for action and fire some dozens of Rockets, but I am sure that’s what we saw…..
OTHER REMINISCENCES
My Brother Tom had to remain on the Garretts Green gun site after I had left and put up with a new number 2, apart from Tom’s service on the gun site, he was also attached to ENSA as he also had his Dance Band at this time, and he used to go to several Army Barracks to entertain the troops( It was during this time, he first got to know your Dad when he used to sing in bands) apart from all this Tom used to work 8 or 9 hours as a Tool setter in the Screw Trade. My Dad was a Foreman there, Cranes Screw Co in Floodgate Street.
The ATS NIssen Hut that was hit by what was then thought to be a German bomb, turned out to be a Rocket which had been wrongly set, from another “Z" Battery located in Swanhurst Park BIrmingham. Ooops….
"Z" Battery Garretts Green
Arriving at the main gate to the Garretts Green “Z” battery, on the right hand side of the driveway, there were several Nissen Huts, some were offices, others where we used to sleep, and Command posts Cookhouse etc.
On the left hand side, the Rocket Projectiles were set up in rows. The first row was just behind the row of houses, at the edge of their back gardens if you like. This row was in those days called "ACK section the next rowcalled Bravo, then Charlie and so on. I cannot recall how many Projectiles there were but my guess would be between 60 to 80 of them. Tom and I manned one in the Charliesection.
Orders to each of the Guns were sent by telephone link from a command post to Number 1 and then repeated by him to number 2 by shouting out loud. Number 2 had the hardest job as he had to fetch 2 Rockets from the bunker, then set the fuses on the nosecap of both, then load them onto the rails, he also had to do the elevations, so Number 1’s job was the easiest.
It was only a 4 1/2 Volt battery that used to fire the rockets, there was a small dim car bulb size lamp just above where you had to set the fuse of the nosecaps, so your eyesight needed to be good, and the Rockets were some 6ft long and around 4" Diameter.
I remember during a practice on a Sunday morning, some guy whilst running with a Rocket on his shoulder, allowed the nose of it to hit the ground, which would block the nose cone vent holes. He had a good dressing down by the Battery Commander in front of the whole battery, so we had to be careful of things like that.
If my memory is correct many years ago I was in touch with Alton Douglas about something or other and I think His Dad served on this site during the war. Alton’s real name is Douglas John Price and his Dad was Sidney Price. Although I don’t remember him as a person, as he may have been in another of the huts.
There were also two Brothers who owned Jewels the Butchers, both were Sgts, and they were always very smart in their turnout.
Another bloke I knew well was named Eric Mott, and he lived at Lea Hall, He was a Dunkirk Veteran, and they gave him a Pip soon after he joined us and became an instructor.
