THE 80th anniversary of a horrific wartime tragedy which shook Bournemouth will be marked with a memorial service.
On March 21, 1944, an RAF Handley Page Halifax bomber, tail number JP137, took off from RAF Hurn shortly after 1am.
It was bound for the Mediterranean Allied Air Force base in Morocco but would never reach its final destination.
The aircraft was laden with cargo and may have been on a mission for the Special Operations Executive.
For reasons unknown, the engine on the Halifax failed almost immediately after take-off.
Despite the efforts of its crew to retain control, the bomber plunged to the ground in Wimborne Road, Moordown.
All seven of the crew, as well as two civilians who were either in bed or preparing for bed when the heavy bomber spun upside down into their homes, sadly died.
The plane burst into flames as it had a full fuel tank.
- Read more on the tragedy: Remembering fateful 1944 day a bomber crashed down
Ray Sheppard’s parents lived in a flat just a couple of doors down from where the plane crashed, and Ray was just weeks away from being born.
They had not long moved to the town from Portsmouth, where they had been ‘constantly bombed out’.
“This particular night, they went and stayed with some of the other family who lived in Coronation Avenue,” Ray said.
“My mother woke up in the night and heard this terrific racket, which was the Halifax in trouble.
“In the morning, she told the rest of the family that she was sure she heard a plane come and crash in the night.
“They told her, absolute rubbish, you must have been dreaming because you’re pregnant.
“My aunt went off to work on the corner of Hillcrest Road and Wimborne Road.
“No sooner than she had gone, she came running back saying yes, you are right, you did hear a plane crash and its crashed right next to your property, it’s not destroyed but it is pretty wrecked.”
The 79-year-old said all the fire brigade were able to save from his cot, and it was thought his mum would miscarry him due to the shock.
Once the flats had been refurbished, his parents moved into the ground floor flat in the building with newborn Ray.
Here, he spent his whole childhood.
“As the years progressed, that became my local playground. Like kids do, you dig up and you muck around and you end up finding things,” Ray said.
“I dug up a wooden carved man, about 12 inches high, but it was all covered in oil. To me, it meant nothing at the time so eventually it got lost.
“I also dug up the tailfin of a bomb. We used to chuck it around as kids, and again thought nothing of it.”
Reflecting on the tragedy, Ray said: “My parents are lucky they weren’t staying there that particular night because the outcome could have been a bit different and you never know I might not have been here, 80 years down the line.
“Like a lot of the people in the war, they didn’t like talking about it because it was so horrific. My mum suffered terribly from what happened with them getting bombed in Portsmouth, it affected her a great deal.
“She survived it but shame these airmen and the other people didn’t. [It was a] horrific thing to happen.”
A memorial to the crash was built on the scene by the Moordown 2010 Committee local history group, who have shed light on the incident.
A service will be held at the memorial on the 80th anniversary on Thursday, March 21. It will begin at around 10.30am, with a prayer at 11am in memory of those who died.
The memorial can be found on the corner of Meadow Court Close with Wimborne Road.
Victims of the crash
Civilians
Dorothea Bennett, 59, of Flat 9 Meadow Court, Wimborne Road
Percy Chislett, 49, of 1027 Wimborne Road
RAF Volunteer Reserve
Pilot Sergeant Denis Evans, 20, of Middlesex
Navigator Sgt Henry Roberts, 35, of Gloucestershire
Bomb Aimer Flying Officer Stanley Appleton, 30, of Wembley
Wireless Operator Sgt George Alexander, 23, of Bedford
Flight Engineer Sgt Stanley Gent, 22, of Portslade
Air Gunner Sgt Kenneth Green, 20, of Hull
Royal Canadian Air Force
Air Gunner Sgt Reginald McGregor, 21, of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
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