THE BROMBOROUGH Ju88 INCIDENT

In October 2010, New Ferry Regeneration Action Group collaborated with the Birkenhead Historic Society, the Hooton Park Trust, Fort Perch Rock Museum, and the Northern Forties Re-enactment Group to organise an exhibition to commemorate the shooting down of a Ju88 German bomber in 1940 by a squadron of Hurricanes flown by Czech pilots from Speke Airport. The aircraft crash-landed by the side of the River Mersey, close to the entrance to Bromborough Dock.

A joint exhibition was held at Bromborough Library and subsequently at Fort Perch Rock using the wartime Luftwaffe pilot collection owned by New Ferry resident Mark Anthony Craig, and a scale model commissioned and now owned by Mr Craig.  The model was constructed by fellow Northern Forties member Phil Allen who lives in Chester.

A commemorative e-book, written by Colin Schroeder from the Hooton Park Trust as part of the event, is available here for you to read and download.

You can also view a gallery of photos of the model below. 

The model differs slightly from the actual story in that it places British troops approaching the stricken aircraft to arrest the downed pilots.  In reality, the pilots had already been taken away to a nearby building before the troops arrived.  The decision to alter the model was taken to add more drama to the model theme and create a more interesting composition.  Rather than represent a capture of one second in time, the model brings together the events of over a 15 minute period - Harry Gill is shown approaching the pilots, two of whom are injured, in their positions according to his witness statement, whilst the British troops are shown both approaching and inspecting the wrecked aircraft and looking at the dead observer still in his seat inside the plane.