The first German plane shot down in England?

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from BBC London/CSV on behalf of Daphne Doreen Smith with her permission. Daphne Doreen Smith fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

My first memory of the war was when I was about two years old. I saw the first German plane shot down. My mother was standing in the front garden of our house in Broomfield in Essex and holding me in her arms. I remember everyone pointing to the sky. A plane had been shot down and had crashed into the Bishop of Chelmsford’s garden in a place called Springfield.

Many years later, I think it was in 1956, I was training as a nursery nurse in one of Dr Barnado’s Homes in Barkingside, London. The Sister in charge of the baby unit and I were discussing the events in Suez, Egypt, and it brought to mind the memory of the first German plane being shot down. She was working at Dr Barnado’s in Springfield, next door to the Bishop’s garden!

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