F/O Franek.Surma from 308 ‘City of Krakow’ Sqn RAF Baginton, Coventry . Spitfire R6644 Malvern

On a rare sunny Trip out to Malvern Worcestershire I headed to the small hamlet of Madresfield where on Jennet Tree Lane is a memorial to F/O Franek.Surma from 308 ‘City of Krakow’ Sqn RAF Baginton, Coventry .
F/o Surma in Spitfire R6644 scrambled on the afternoon of the 11th May 1941 with another Spitfire flown by Sgt Widlarz and headed to intercept a radar contact over Kidderminster finding nothing the pair patrolled south until they were near Malvern Link ,flying over the town Spitfire R6644 without warning caught fire trying to get the plane down F/o Surma began preparing to force land but oil spraying from the failing engine blocked the pilots vision with no options the pilot turned the plane away from Malverns houses, rolled the plane on its back and bailed .

R6644 dived into an open field near the Memorial ,F/o Surma landed safely and was taken to Bosworth Farm where he was well looked after until taken back to base .
F/o Franek Surma an Ace with 5 confirmed kills and 5 damaged or probables was lost during combat with 109's in Spitfire AB930 on the 8 November 1941 over Dunkirk , sadly his remains were never recovered

The small memorial built by the Malvern Spitfire team was unveiled in September 1987 along with a excavation of the crash site for much more on the history on this crash and F/o Surma it is well worth finding a copy of 'The invisible thread ' or 'Spitfire voices ' by Dilip Sarkar MBE

Junkers Ju-88 Werk No 7188 FL+BT 12/3/1941 Wychbold Sgt Jankowiak , 307 Squadron

During the night of 12/3/1941 over Birkenhead,Liverpool Junkers Ju-88 Werk No 7188 FL+BT from KG76, Chateaudun , France had just released its bombs the bomber which had also been damaged by an encounter with a Defiant flown by Sgt Jankowiak , 307 Squadron when it was stuck by flak  setting the starboard engine on fire the pilot Feldwebel G.Unger knowing his plane was lost ordered his crew to bail out , after the crew left Unger directed the bomber towards the sea and parachuted himself .

7188 without a crew decided to head south east instead flying for an amazing 100 miles until finally it could fly no more, skimming low over Droitwich and past the Large Transmission towers just south of the town the bomber clipped the garage at a large house near Wychbold [much to the distress of the Home guard sheltering there] the plane broke up and burned in the field behind the house one bullet cooked off and hit a window in the house but luckily no one on the ground was hurt although the 80 year old owner and family was given a mild start and all went back to bed after a look at the wreck.

Finding the house today nothing shows the events of the night so long ago the house has not changed , though no one was at home I did get a good view of the site from the lane The second from last picture is is taken from the long out of print but well worth a hunt for book [took me 10 years to find a copy ] 'Forgotten Heroes' By Glyn Warren  the last is of Sgt Jankowiak with his 307 Squadron Defiant after his kill of an He-111 .
Crew =
Fw G Unger,
Uffz F Bergmann,
Fw A.Meier
Oberfw W Dirk
all POW.

Wellington Mk II W5356 ,Highfield farm Wythall , January, 9th,1942. 12 Squadron RAF Binbrook ,Lincolnshire

On a trip out around the southern midlands I took the time to visit a few sites the first is the crash site of Wellington Mk II bomber W5356 ,PH-T which impacted a field on Highfield farm Wythall , January, 9th,1942.
The Bomber of 12 Squadron RAF Binbrook ,Lincolnshire took off with a six man crew to take part in a raid on Cherbourg ,heading back over the UK the Bombers port engine seized due to a glycol leak caused most likely from battle damage , nursing the crippled wellington North the bomber past over RAF Wythall the home of No 6 barrage balloon unit with no height left the pilot attempted a forced landing, passing under power lines the aircraft sadly struck a large oak tree which slewed the plane into the field where it burst into flames on impact .

Two crewmen survived the crash and with the help of a nearby local managed to get their crew mates out of the plane tragically 3 were beyond help the fourth passed away due to injuries 2 days later .

After gaining permission from the land owner and much to the local horses amusement I took off across the paddocks in about 8 inches of mud, nearing the hedge a small fenced area gave away the memorials position looking back beyond the memorial there stood the power lines the bomber passed under still running along the same line, a short way into the field a change in the ground and grass growth shows where the plane burned out .
Crew lost =
Sgt D.Butterworth
Sgt B.Franklin
Sgt C,Morrey
P/o W,H [Bunny ] Burnham.RNZAF [passed away 2 days later ]
Crew survived but injured =
Sgt B,Cable
P/O B,Breck
Both Canadian