Was the story pieced together?

Last month a blog here revealed an account of a crashed Avro Lancaster bomber on a training flight on 23rd October 1943, and very close to Warren Farm, Colney Heath.  The details of the event had been meticulously recorded, but what brought the story to our attention was the account of a group of scouts allegedly in the area at the time and who carried out the very brave deed of removing bombs from the stricken plane and carrying them a safe distance from the farmhouse, without knowing that they were not carrying live ordnance.

Further research has now been carried out and it seems likely that two separate stories may have been conflated, and no further information about a group of scouts related to a plane crash has yet been revealed.  There is still the possibility that scouts were present, but rather later, and were not participants in the recovery.  Scouts at camp enjoy retelling stories around a camp fire.  No-one that I can recall from my scouting days ever told me that I could not share a story unless it was true – the phrase "camp fire yarns" comes to mind, and a yarn definitely leans towards a story with an invented core!

Both Colney Heath and St Albans Fire Brigades were in attendance after the crash, with Jack Deuxberry driving the St Albans engine.  Jack was one of those who is said to have removed the ordnance onto a waiting lorry.  Possibly to offer encouragement the Chief Officer suggested this would be medal work.  However, awards would later be denied because the bombs were not live.  Sections of the Lancaster were strewn over a wide area, including Smallford, the nearby bypass and Colney Heath itself.

Inevitably, I doubt whether we have heard the last of this event.  There are many wartime photos of crashed Lancasters, but it seems the Herts Advertiser did not publish this one, even if it could have  identified the location as "somewhere in Southern England".

Fire! Fire! Pour on water.

Much concern has spread among us recently concerning the significantly increased risk of fires breaking out on the parched and dust-dry open spaces, some of which, inevitably, lies close to where people live.  We would prefer to believe that such fires may start entirely accidentally.  When storms throw their lightning bolts groundwards, for example.  We would hope people are not careless enough to leave glass bottles around, discard cigarettes, or light portable barbecues in this kind of weather.  Whoever is to blame, or no-one, we expect to call the fire brigade, and the fire-fighters will sort it.  But it won't always be a happy ending.

The County Brigade in St Albans (which used to be the City Brigade) has had many homes: London Road is its latest, having moved from Harpenden Road.  Before that it was Victoria Street.  There was no retained brigade, nor retained horses to hook up to the fire "engine" – a water storage tank with a few useful tools.

A fire broke out at Hill End farm – not at all close to the city – in December 1878.  Some pride was expressed that attendance to the farm was no more than twenty minutes after leaving the new Victoria Street fire house, formally opened on the evening of the previous day.  It had taken fifteen minutes to amass the fire fighting party from their various places of employment, receive delivery of the horses which were usually on other duties but on fire standby, and prepare the fire truck.

What was not stated in the Herts Advertiser article (Dec 21st 1878) was the time taken for someone from the farm to be dispatched to an officer in the city to present the alarm.  Nevertheless, for the period in question, an hour or so, the time was probably no less than expected.

The old thatched timber barn containing a mixture of farm equipment, hay, seeds and corn, together with adjacent stores, were totally destroyed.  As much water was probably used by relays of Tyttenhanger villagers as was used by the brigade once it had arrived.  We should not forget either, that a prime function of the ubiquitous farmyard pond, was to contain a ready supply of water in case of such emergencies.

Mr R W Gaussen, who owned the farm, stated that the property had been insured with the London & Liverpool Fire Office; which is  probably as close at it got at the time to product placement.  Mr Gaussen did not appear concerned about the cost.

In addition to the City Brigade a second person had been despatched to the County Brigade and arrived at the scene within a few minutes of the City men.  It is assumed the County fighters came from Hatfield, but this has not been confirmed.