| Lincolnshire Echo, Saturday 12th June 1943: Ten Killed, Three Seriously Hurt, Four Houses Wrecked By ’Plane Crash In Lincoln TEN PEOPLE WERE KILLED AND THREE SERIOUSLY INJURED WHEN A ’PLANE CRASHED ON HOUSES IN HIGHFIELD-AVENUE, LINCOLN, EARLY LAST NIGHT. Eight people —five members of the crew of the ’plane and three civilians —were killed instantly, and another member of the air crew and a child died later in hospital. The civilians killed were: Margaret Marriott (11), of 25, Highfield-Avenue, Mrs. Thacker, 24, Highfield-avenue and Miss Gwendolyn Whitby (42), of Hykeham-road, Lincoln. Laurie Thacker (4), who was admitted to hospital with burns, died during the night. The three injured who are detained in hospital are: Harry Bishop, of Highfield-avenue, his wife, Mrs. Esme Bishop, and Anthony Thacker (aged three), of Highfield-avenue. At the hospital to-day it was stated that all three were suffering from burns and are seriously ill. A number of other people were injured but were not detained in hospital. Four houses, two on each side of the road, Nos. 22 and 24, 25 and 27 were totally wrecked by the crash. One house, No. 23, was set on fire and burned out. One of the six houses, No. 27, was unoccupied. From the wreckage of No. 24 were recovered the bodies of Mrs. Thacker and Miss Whitby, a friend who was visiting Mrs. Thacker to look after her children. Of Mrs. Thacker’s four children, the two boys were in the house but the two girls were away from home. At No. 25 Margaret Marriott, aged 11, was in the house alone doing her homework and was killed. Her mother and father were on their allotment. At No. 25 lived Mr. And Mrs. F. Scrimshaw, their two young children and Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. The members of the Scrimshaw family were injured, but not detained in hospital. The plane crashed at teatime. Mrs. W. H. Hallsworth of Cherry-grove, Swanpool, told the Echo she saw the plan zig-zagging and losing height. She thought the pilot was trying to reach open fields which were nearby. Mrs. C. J. Darker, or Cheery-grove, described how the plane banked steeply just before it crashed. A boy who saw the crash from his bedroom window about 30 yards away said the plane came roaring over very low from the direction of Skellingthorpe towards the Newark-road. It hit the houses and burst instantly into flames. The crash was not followed by any heavy explosions. Mr. W. H. Chester, of 20, Highfield-avenue, gave a vivid account of the crash. “We heard the roar of engines”, he said, “I remarked to my wife ‘Surely this is crashing’ and we dashed to the back door. The plane was just coming over the house-tops behind Highfield-avenue. As I got to the doorway he seemed to be heading straight for our house but he dipped one wing and banked away slightly. The dipped wing struck a telegraph post and it snapped it off, and the same wing then struck No. 24, the Thacker’s home. The impact toppled the plane over so that it crashed into the houses on the opposite side of the road and finished facing in the direction from which it had come. As it struck the houses there was a blast of exploding petrol and oil was thrown over our garden. The plane burst immediately into flames, I was told later that one of the crew escaped by jumping out. After getting my wife and two children to safety I saw a man in the back garden of Trackers’ house who shouted to me that there still some children in the house. We could hear them crying out for help and tried to batter in the back door with timbers. When we had broken in the panels, however, we could see it was hopeless to make any progress there because the way was blocked by debris. I saw that the corner of the house was still standing and ran round to the side where I found the bathroom window open. In the bathroom we saw Mrs. Thacker’s two little boys, Laurie aged four, and Anthony, aged three. Their clothing was on fire. I got Laurie out and somebody also rescued Anthony. Mrs. Thacker was on her knees against the door, and apparently her legs were trapped by debris. She was a mass of flames, and when we came back to try to get her out more wreckage had fallen and buried her, but I think it must already have been hopeless. The house seemed to have collapsed just beyond the bathroom door, and it looked as though Mrs. Thacker had pushed the children into the safety of the bathroom as the building commenced to crash on her. Other neighbours had seen Mrs. Thacker come out of the house to look at the approaching plane just before the crash, and she ran back into the house to the children.” Mrs. Scrimshaw told her mother, Mrs. Evans, of Bargate, Lincoln, “We were all just about to have tea when it happened. I was taking some fish to give to the children when the plane crashed on the house. The plate of fish burst into flames in my hand as the burning petrol fell on it.” Mr. Scrimshaw received burns and was given treatment at the hospital. Mrs. Scrimshaw and her daughters, Brenda (11) and Sheila (6), were not badly hurt. Although they were only a few feet away, Mr. And Mrs. Bishop received more serious burns. Fire and first aid parties were quickly on the spot to supplement the efforts of the neighbours. The flames were prevented from spreading, and a number of people were given first-aid treatment. |