Jimmy recalls the night Canadian pilots fell out of the sky at Dryden
Jim Hogarth with the Dryden field map of where the spitfire came down.
REMINISCENCES from readers about the crash of an RAF Beaufighter in the Dryden area near Selkirk during the Second World War are still generating plenty of interest in Selkirk and beyond.
Now living in Kelso, Jimmy Hogarth BEM served in the RAF himself, maintaining the engines of the giant Sunderland Flying Boats. A founder member, and president of, the Borders (Milfield) Gliding Club, near Wooler, he has been enjoying the thrills of flight for more than 40 years.
However, at the time of the Beaufighter crash in April, 1943, Jimmy was the nine-year-old son of the shepherd at Greenhill Farm, next door to Dryden.
He told us the newspaper stories have brought back vivid memories.
“I was only nine at that time and remember vividly that particular aircraft disappearing behind a small wood between our cottage and me. I realised it was crashing because of the noise it was making and by the angle of its descent,” he explained.
“I could not see the crash site because of the wood, but I heard an enormous explosion - a noise like thunder. Very soon after, and still looking skywards, I spotted a parachute descending, which came down quite heavily approximately 100 yards from me.
“Thinking it was a German airman, I took to my heels and ran back to my house as fast as I could.
“Arriving back at the house I saw my father and the farmer, Mr John Mills, talking to the other crew member who turned out to be the pilot. The pilot asked me if I had seen the other parachute land and asked me if I could go and get him.”
Jimmy quickly located the Beaufighter’s navigator, who was unhurt barring a bash on the head, and who was heading for another nearby cottage.
“The Rae family lived in that cottage and the pilot gave them the ‘D’ ring from his parachute to keep as a souvenir and I remember seeing it hanging on their living room wall,” recalled Jimmy.
On listening to the conversation between the pilot and his father, Jimmy learned the aircrew were Canadian and that the aircraft was a Beaufighter.
“From memory, I am sure he said they had a torpedo on board – I doubt if I could have imagined him saying that – but it could have been the reason for that very loud explosion.”
Jimmy’s father ended up with the pilot’s flying boots as a souvenir.
“They made an excellent pair of boots for the motorbike, especially as my father was a dispatch rider in the Home Guard!” he laughed.
“In the weeks following the crash, a Beaufighter flew over the house doing victory rolls – we could only assume it was the same crew. The crash site is only a short distance from the base of the Ashkirk radio mast and I have a plan of the layout of the fields on Greenhill and Dryden, one of which is now marked ‘Aeroplane Field’.”
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Weather for Selkirk
Thursday 24 May 2012
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