Newport Stories:
Heinkel Crash
In 1940 Francis Beswick was a young teenager when a German aircraft was brought down by a barrage balloon on Stow Park Avenue. His uncle Stanley Beswick was a doctor on the medical staff at St. Woolos Hospital in Newport.
This is his story.
During the early hours of September 13th 1940 a Heinkel HE111P (2670) was caught by a mobile barrage balloon cable while flying at low altitude above Bellevue Park. Barrage balloons were an integral part of Britain's defences during the Second World War and by September 1941 2,748 were in use. By forcing German planes to fly above 5000 feet, barrage balloons reduced the accuracy of the German bombing and also made the aircraft more vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire.
The ARP recorded that at 0400: "An enemy plane has crashed on No. 31 Stow Park Avenue. One parachutist bailed out and picked up in Queens Street and taken to Royal Gwent Hospital. No particulars of any other occupants.”
The plane actually crashed into No.32 Stow Park Avenue killing two children, Malcolm and Myrtle Phillips. Mr and Mrs Phillips escaped. The pilot, Oberleutnant Harry Wappler, was the only survivor of the aircrew. After hospitalisation for his injuries, Wappler was sent to Grizedale Hall Officer’s Camp No. 1 in Cumbria until the spring of 1941, when he was moved a few miles away to Shap Wells hotel near Penrith. After a failed escape attempt in November 1941, Wappler was sent to Canada where he remained until the end of the war.
The war had come to Newport and Stanley Lewis would incorporate this tragic incident in the top left quarter of The Home Front painting.
"The night of 13th September 1940 was a memorable one by any standard. The German aircraft involved was a Heinkel 111 operated by a crew of five. When disaster struck the pilot was able to escape through a panel above his head. The rest of the crew were not so fortunate and perished in the resulting crash.
(My uncle Stanley) performed the necessary autopsy examinations. The pilot landed in Queen Street close to the Royal British Legion Club. The steward at the time was a Mr. Tamplin (the father of a close friend of mine) and he with the use of a very out of date weapon from the club held the airman until the arrival of the police.
In the meantime the crash had generated a very serious fire and attempts were made by neighbours and the emergency services to rescue the victims. One of these neighbours was a fellow pupil of mine from the Newport High School. His efforts failed but he was rewarded with a Scout gallantry medal."
- Francis Beswick, April 2005
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