GERMAN FIGHTER BOMBER CRASH LANDS NEAR 'CRIFTINS FARM'
AFTER BLITZ ON HULL - FROM CLARE GILES

One night in May 1941 when Hull was suffering one of its worst bombing attacks of the war David Kirkwood, then 13 years old and his father were watching the German fighter planes returning over Criftins Farm heading out to sea on their journey home.

Suddenly one damaged Heinkel fighter-bomber flew low and circled back over Farnton Wood, heading straight over the fields and just missing the end of the farm buildings, towards the house. Two airmen had been seen to bale out successfully, another had his parachute caught up on the tail fin of the plane as the injured pilot desperately looked for a place to crash land the aircraft.

To this day David can still remember the terror of seeing the plane flying straight for his home, knowing that his mother, sister and younger brother were inside. He felt the rushing draught of air as the Heinkel passed only yards from the house; he recalls vividly seeing the dead crewman being dragged behind the aircraft as it skimmed the hedges before crash landing in the field just beyond his home.

By this time his father had dashed inside and, armed with a 12 bore shotgun, he ran across the road towards the plane, quickly finding the injured pilot crouching in the ditch beside Catwick Lane. In the meantime David's mother had cycled to the village in order to telephone the police, who then alerted the army. Very soon members of Catwick Homeguard were on the scene and the pilot was taken to the Beverley Military Hospital to be treated for shot wounds to his knee.

The aircraft was taken away some days later to be examined by the RAF before being driven through Hull, Coventry, Leicester and other badly bombed cities, aimed as being a morale booster for the inhabitants. The plane finally came to rest in an Aircraft Museum.