The survivor of a wartime plane crash that killed his mother and sister has this week talked about the tragedy.
Jack Bridge, now 86, was just 10 years old when an aircraft which had taken off from Croydon Airport for a young pilot's first solo flight, crashed into nearby Foresters Drive, Wallington.
The Bridge family's house was all but destroyed.
Jack's mother, Doris, was killed, along with his sister, Jill, who was just five years old. The young pilot also perished.
His father survived but suffered severe burns and for many years was traumatised by the event that claimed the lives of his wife and daughter.
This week, Jack, of Waterfield Drive, Westhall Road, Warlingham, reflected on the incident.
On the evening of Saturday, February 24, 1940, that Mr and Mrs Bridge and their son and daughter were in the front room, making blackout curtains as the threat of bombing increased.
Suddenly they heard a roaring noise and swiftly headed for the kitchen door at the rear to get into the garden away from any falling debris as the plane ploughed into the house, bringing it crashing down in flames and smoke.
On the 50th anniversary of the crash, Jack had told a reporter: "I remember we were in the front room making blackout curtains when suddenly we heard the most almighty crashing sound."
Jack had rushed out first – perhaps because he was so young and nimble. He was a little burnt and bruised but survived. His father, Montague, 37, also made it, but was badly burnt. Tragically, Jack's mother, who was 35, did not. Neither did his sister.
The casualties were taken to hospital in Carshalton where Mrs Bridge and Jill were the next day confirmed dead.
"For some reason we all tried to get out of the house through the back door and were in the kitchen when it blew up," said Jack.
"If we'd left through the front door, we would probably all have survived."
After the accident, Jack was put up by a local doctor whose son attended the same school.
"My father was very badly burned," said Jack last week. "Afterwards he very rarely talked about it. I think he suffered at times from what they now call post-war trauma syndrome."
Montague Bridge was a director and later owner of the building contractors, Bridge Walker, which was later sold to Trafalgar House, a large finance company.
Days after the incident, Jack and his father went to live with his paternal grandparents in Herne Hill, South London.
Montague found happiness the following year when he met Eileen. They married in 1941. They had no children but Montague, a Rotary Club member, worked hard to look after his new wife and his son.
During the war, Jack attended Caterham School. He left in 1945 and at the age of 16, went to Brixton School of Building then entered the family business.
Bridge Walker built the former Good Companions public house at Limpsfield Road, Hamsey Green, in the 1950s.
Jack joined the Rotary Club at Brixton and became its annual president in 1965-6. He believes he was the youngest Rotary Club president in the country.
In 1967 Jack married Joy. They had no children and he has immersed himself into the life of the community, serving for many years with Caterham Harestone Rotary Club.
Croydon Airport played a significant role in the Second World War military operations.
The run-up to the war saw a massive rise in passenger numbers as British holidaymakers returned from Europe. In the final days of August 1939, Croydon saw passenger numbers increase three-fold to 1,500 a day.
On August 30, Croydon reverted to its original role of defending Britain from aerial attack. The civil airlines moved out and London Airport was now known as RAF Croydon, forming part of 11 Group, Fighter Command.
Over the next months, many aircraft arrived or transited through RAF Croydon at Purley Way: Gloster Gladiators, Hawker Hurricane Mk1s, Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk1s and other aircraft. Squadrons based there included Nos 3, 85, 111, 145, 605, 607 and 615.
The base was a prime target in a massive Luftwaffe attack on August 15, 1940. There were hits on the airfield, airport terminal and a direct hit on the armoury. The factories around the airfield were heavily targeted. Sixty-two people were killed and more than 200 injured.
In 1943 RAF Transport Command was established at RAF Croydon and over the following years transported thousands of troops in and out of Europe.
The book, Croydon Airport and the Battle for Britain, first published in 1984, contains a Daily Mirror report of events at the Bridge family's home which says Jack was having tea at the home of a schoolmate shortly before the plane crashed.
Jack says this is not true: "The father of a school mate, Ian Grant, was passing when the plane hit the house. He took me back to his house in Foresters Close. No one knew I was there until I was picked up next day by [my] Aunty Gladys."
The report said Jack's father, being a builder, had added a wing to the family's home and in this was Jack's sister Jill's bedroom.
The crash killed the young pilot from 92 Squadron and led to a change in official policy at Croydon Airport. The plane had failed to gain height after take-off and the underpart had hit the Bridge family's house and that of a neighbour.
The pilot was Pilot Officer Reginald Jervelund Whitmarsh, who was aged just 20 and came from Devon. He had been under instruction from Flight Lieutenant Vincent Byrne and had completed three circuits and landings on the airfield before being told he could go solo.
He had graduated from Acting Pilot Officer on October 31, 1939.
The book on the airport's history quotes from the squadron's logbook.
"A night flying programme was started at dusk. The weather was clear beneath high cloud, nearly 10/10. At night, 19.00, PO Whitmarsh, who had just completed about one hour's night dual took off on his first night solo. For some reason – not yet determined – he crashed from a low altitude into houses on the west boundary of the aerodrome... PO Whitmarsh was the sole occupant of the aircraft Blenheim 1.6724. Night flying ceased."
In the early 1980s, some more research was conducted by aviation historians and published in Night Solo to Eternity. It describes the tragedy on the ground.
"Scots Guardsmen John Lyall and William Mackenzie were outside the west guardsroom of the aerodrome when the Blenheim crashed. Running towards the scene of the disaster, they saw a house enveloped in flames; as they climbed the boundary fence, a man and a woman with two children ran out of the burning house into the back garden.
"The woman and one child, a girl, were on fire.
"Guardsman Lyall tore the clothes off the child and carried her to the guardroom, accompanied by the boy.
"Meanwhile, another soldier, Guardsman Ronald Burpitt had arrived in time to help Mrs Bridge into the next-door garden and carry her into the house.
"Wrapped in an overcoat, her hair singed and her face charred, the unfortunate woman was naked, her clothes having been burnt off.
"Strangely, Mrs Bridge seems to have been allowed to wander away alone, wrapped only in an overcoat, before meeting Dr William S Moore.
"Dr Moore helped her to his surgery at 50 Foresters Drive, and laid her on a couch where, upon examination, he found she was extensively burnt on her lower limbs.
"Leaving his daughter to apply tannic acid jelly to her poor flame-scorched body, he went in search of an ambulance. He found an RAF ambulance driven by AC1 William Watterson, and Mrs Bridge was carried out on a stretcher and taken to Carshalton War Memorial Hospital.
"With her was her husband and badly injured daughter.
"Little Jill Bridge had been taken to 37 Foresters Drive after leaving her burning home.
"At the hospital, she was found to be suffering from second and third degree burns... Sadly, mother and daughter died in the early hours of Sunday, February 25."
At Croydon Police Station, Police Constable J Herner was working in the telegraph room and received the official report of the crash.
The Daily Mirror reported: "It was not really his duty. He was deputising for a sick colleague. As he began to transcribe the report sent in by the officer at the scene of the tragedy, Police Constable Herner said to a comrade: 'Foresters Drive. That is getting mighty near to my aunt's house.' His aunt was Mrs Bridge.
"Then he learned the names of the victims and knew that his aunt and cousin were dead. He was allowed to leave duty and he went at once to Wallington.
"Eight people were hurt in the crash. Besides Mr Bridge, they were Reginald Balmer [sic] (Palmer), and his wife, Jane, both aged 45; Robert McWilton and his wife, Gladys, both aged 50; Frederick Whiting [sic] (Whiteing), aged 40, and his wife, Emily, 45, and their niece, Eileen Whiting, 22."
It transpired that Eileen Whiteing was, in fact, the daughter-in-law of Mr and Mrs Frederick Whiteing, and not their niece. Her wartime memories have been published.
In these she writes: "Saturday, February 24th began as a lovely day and we went into Sutton in the afternoon for shopping and afternoon tea at the Plaza cinema, together with Dennis's [her husband's] parents.
"We all returned to the Foresters Drive house to spend the evening and have supper, little dreaming of the tragic event that was to take place there at 6.45pm, when an RAF Blenheim bomber plane took off on a night training flight from Croydon Aerodrome (which adjoined our back garden), failed to gain height and crashed on to the house next door.
"The wing of the plane demolished the corner of our own house, the actual wing-tip finishing up on the spare-room bed."
The Daily Mail, in a story headed "They drew the curtains in Foresters Drive", quoted Mr Frederick Whiteing as saying that he used to be very proud of his house and garden but now never wanted to live there again and was taking his wife right out of the district.
Eileen Whiteing, however, is reported as saying that the house had been requisitioned, and the family was already looking for alternative accommodation, at the time of the crash.
At the RAF's court of inquiry, it was determined that there had not been adequate lighting around the airport on the night in question. A recommendation was made that procedures for night flying at Croydon should be reorganised.
It was also suggested that an error of judgment had been made in allowing Whitmarsh, who was inexperienced, to fly under the prevailing weather conditions.
The Air Ministry was informed that the completion of runways at other aerodromes had rendered the occupation of Croydon unnecessary and it would have to be evacuated "as soon as possible" (except as a satellite opration).
The squadrons stationed at Croydon would be moved to Biggin Hill and Kenley.
However, the coming Battle of Britain later in the year meant any such idea was abandoned and Croydon, in times of crisis, was still needed.
The dead pilot, Reginald Whitmarsh, was buried at Plymouth on February 28, 1940 and on the same day, Mrs Bridge and daughter Jill were cremated at Norwood. Flight Lieutenant Byrne and two other officers of 92 Squadron attended the latter's funeral.
Once, Jack Bridge went to West Norwood Cemetery to visit the graves of his mother and sister but the cemetery manager asked to see Jack first. He told Jack that very sadly, due to bombing raids, the graves had been blown up and the headstones demolished. Only the area where the burials took place could be identified.
Yesteryear would like to point out that the wartime picture in our issue of October 29 showing Redhill Aerodrome, had Beaufighters in the background, but the larger planes at the front were Bristol Bombays.
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