How boat diversion kept crew from raid on base
Observers thought at first the Stuka dive bombers that devastated Detling air base – which I wrote about last week – were headed for Rochester, the home of aircraft and engine manufacturers Short Bros and Pobjoy.
But at 4pm the 86 shrieking planes streaked almost vertically down, to deal out death and destruction on Detling.
The reputedly bomb-proof roof of the control room collapsed, killing many inside, including the station commander Group Captain Edward Davis.
In his book Kent’s Own, about the county squadron, Robin Brooks quotes squadron leader SW Jarvis, who was on the staff at Detling.
“I was surprised to see the explosions of two 1,000 lb bombs on the roof of the operations room,” he said.
“As soon as the all clear was sounded ambulances were quickly on the scene. The dead were left where they were, and it was necessary to collect them up ready for the undertaker. I told the warrant officer I would take that job if he could find half a dozen men to assist me.
“We had no stretchers and the dead were carried three or four men to each body. Some had parts of their arms and legs blown off. When we had finished, we covered them with blankets….36 bodies and one pile of oddments.”
Pilot Douglas Pain recalled returning to the airfield from a Coastal Command mission to find utter devastation.
“Our patrol had been uneventful,” he said, “Whilst returning over the Thames Estuary we found a wrecked ship and decided to have some gun practice on it.
“As we approached there seemed to be something strange about the airfield. Scars of yellow earth all over the surface. Then the hangars – good God, they looked rather like badly-damaged kitchen colanders.
“It was unbelievable that this could happen to our home. “The ops room had clearly taken a 1,200 pounder right in the centre.
“The messes had been blown to bits except the WAAF’s dining room.
“We landed the Ansons carefully, picking our way through the craters that covered the aerodrome. We had missed the whole show because of our dallying during our return. How lucky can you be?