Pilot marks 80th anniversary of plane crash on Worthing beach and highlights how the crew’s names have gone down in history

Bev Pook, who writes about history on his 'old codgers musings' blog, said: "I wonder how many people who live in and around Worthing are aware of the Lancaster bomber that on December 17, 1944, tried to ditch on the beach west of the pier, particularly those who live in Durrington, where roads are named in dedication to the crew, and the RAF station they took off from.

"I have researched the incident in this important year using information off the internet, Worthing Herald pieces dated 1944 and 1948 and 49 Squadron records."

On the night of December 17-18, 1944, four consecutive operations were scrubbed before 17 of 49 Squadron's aircraft eventually got away from Fulbeck, bound for Munich.

It was another exclusive No.5 Group RAF attack using 280 Lancasters led by eight Mosquitoes. Although there was some undershooting, most crews reported the bombing to be fanning out from the sector as planned.

Four Lancasters from the group failed to return that night. The squadron's aircraft started landing back at Fulbeck at around 2am. After some time, F/O Edward Essenhigh in Lancaster PB355 and crew were overdue and reported as missing.

It was established later in the day that their aircraft had in fact crashed on Worthing beach at 5.55pm the previous evening, en route to Munich. The aircraft had blown up, luckily without loss of civilian life.

Only one crew member was found in the wreck, F/Sgt Gordon Callon. His body was recovered from the rear turret and at the time caused some consternation to those at the scene, as he wore pilots wings.

Sgt Callon was one of the volunteer pilot/rear gunners operating the rear turret. The bodies of the remainder of the crew have never been found. Their whereabouts and indeed the reason for the aircraft's demise still remains a mystery.

Gordon Callon is buried in Littlehampton, while his fellow crew members are remembered on the Runnymede Memorial.

The other Lancaster PB355 crew who were killed were the pilot F/O Edward Gordon Essenhigh, flight engineer Sgt Harry Varey, navigator Sgt Leonard Bertie Bourne, wireless operator F/S Frederick Bernard Rees, air gunner Sgt James Worrall Moore and bomb aimer F/O James Andrew Thomson.

There are nine roads in Durrington named in their honour - Squadron Drive, Fulbeck Way, Essenhigh Drive, Varey Road, Bourne Close, Callon Close, Thomson Close, Rees Close and Moore Close.

The Worthing Herald reported the details of the Lancaster coming down on Friday, December 22, 1944, under the headline 'Crippled plane crashes on beach'.

"With live ammunition exploding every few seconds, a Worthing N.F.S. (National Fire Service) crew, under Company Officer A. Duffield, attacked a fiercely burning plane on Worthing beach recently.

"Eye witnesses, a few minutes earlier, had seen a plane in obvious difficulties. Through the dusk of the early evening they had watched the pilot's struggles as he fought to avoid crashing the crippled plane on the town. Directly in its path was the Plaza Cinema.

"It was on the water's edge - literally within a few hundred yards of this cinema - that the aircraft struck. An explosion followed – then a tongue of red flame as the wreckage caught fire. Numerous smaller explosions followed as the plane's ammunition exploded.

"The N.F.S. were quickly on the spot. Police and wardens were also there to lend a hand. A line of hose was run out and the men ignored the flying missiles until they had recovered the body of a sergeant-pilot. It has been stated that the remainder of the crew had baled out, but no confirmation can yet be obtained.

"There was extensive damage to windows in the town's coastal area and, in certain freak instances, far inland, Montague-street suffered heavily. Traders worked by the lights of their shops - for a while the dim-out was not so dim - to clear up the broken glass with which the beach was strewn."

Five months later, on Friday, May 28, 1948, the Worthing Herald reported on a rescue attempt under the headline 'Engine in sand defies explosives'.

"Explosive charges were used by R.A.F. maintenance men on Wednesday evening in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy a plane engine embedded in the sand off Heene-road. The engine has been there since December, 1944, when a R.A.F. bomber crashed on the beach, after the pilot had skilfully guided his damaged machine over the town. The pilot lost his life in the crash.

"Several attempts have been made to dislodge the engine, which has caused an obstruction to local fishermen and boatmen. Cranes have been used, and efforts to drag it clear by means of tow ropes attached to service Lorries also proved ineffective.

"On Wednesday police kept people from the foreshore while an R.A.F. demolition squad, under the command of Warrant Officer J. V. Evans and Sargeant. G. Lipscomb, from Thorney Island, placed gun cotton charges near the engine. These were detonated and pieces of wreckage were blown over the sands.

"Windows of hotels and houses on the front were shaken by the explosion, but the main part of the obstruction still remained un-disturbed."

It was not until Friday, August 12, 1949, that the Worthing Herald was able to reveal the name of the pilot hero, under the headline 'The man who sacrificed his life nine days before he was due to be married'.

"A woman walked into the office of Mr Ernest G. Townsend, O.B.E., Worthing's Town Clerk, on Wednesday, and gave him information which for nearly five years the townspeople have wanted to know – the name of the pilot of a crippled bomber who sacrificed his life by deliberately crashing his plane on the beach to avoid buildings in the town.

"The pilot was Flying Officer Edward Gordon Essenhigh, of 54, Bishopthorpe-road, York. His aunt, Miss Ethel Maud Essenhigh, visited the Town Clerk to see if she could obtain any further details of her nephew's death, which occurred on December 17, 1944. She also revealed that five other members of the crew were killed in the crash.

"Flying Officer Essenhigh was on his 'Black Gremlin' mission – the thirteenth. The bomber was bound for Munich, where a special target was to be attacked. The next day he would have been celebrating his 24th birthday, while nine days later he was due for a spell of leave and intended to marry his fiancée, Miss Eileen Colley, also of York.

"Flying Officer Edward Gordon Essenhigh, who was 6ft 2½ins tall, was trained and commissioned in Canada. Before joining the R.A.F. he was a chemistry apprentice.

"Worthing residents will remember that the plane, after being in difficulties at dusk, came from a northerly direction. Eye-witnesses stated that it looked as though the pilot was trying to avoid the built-up area near Montague-street. The plane limped over the Plaza Cinema and then crashed near the water's edge opposite Heene-terrace. The bomber immediately exploded and burst into flames.

"Members of the N.F.S. and Civil Defence who extricated the body of the pilot came under a hail of fire from exploding ammunition. The faces of houses along the Front suffered extensive damage and shops in Montague-street had windows blown out.

"Afterwards, letters poured into the Herald office suggesting that a form of memorial should be erected in recognition of the pilot's action. The Mayor at that time, Alderman (then Councillor) H. W. Shalders, said that until he was in possession of fuller information of all the facts he could take no action."

Bev points out that the whole crew of Lancaster PB355 have now been commemorated by Worthing Council in the naming of the roads behind Tesco Extra in Durrington, and that this year marks 80 years since the crew lost their lives that night in December 1944.