Big come down created a Donnington sensation
Aviators sometimes say that if you can walk away from it, it's a good landing, but nevertheless this aircraft which came down at Donnington nearly 80 years ago created a local sensation.
Peter Hutchinson of Bayston Hill was surprised to see this photo which we used the other day - as he was there to witness it all those years ago.
The Avro Anson trainer had forced landed at Donnington in October 1938 - nobody was hurt - and attracted a big crowd before it was able to take off again.
Mr Hutchinson said: "Though not myself on the picture, I went to see the plane with my father, walking all the way from St Georges to see the spectacle.
"There were not many planes about in those days. 1939 (the advent of war) soon remedied that.
"Though not apparent in the picture, the nose of the plane protruded through the hedge close to the canteen of C & W Walker's works. It was jolly lucky that it came down in 1938 because in 1939 Walker's had built a gasholder on the very spot."
In our previous article a gentleman recalled that the face of Italian Fascist leader Mussolini was supposedly in camouflage paint on the side of that gasholder during the war, and Mr Hutchinson can also remember this.
"I believe Hitler also featured in the artwork. As an apprentice with C & W in the early 1950s I went on top of the gasholder for a look around, but could not detect any likeness to anyone."
Going back to the plane, he added: "On the way back to St Georges Mr Tranter, the undertaker, pulled up in his hearse and shouted to my father: 'Joe, do you want a lift?' So we had a ride home.
"Donnington Depot, or the 'Dump' as it was known, was in the course of construction in the late 1930s and Walker's fabricated some of the steel for the new buildings, being on the doorstep, so to speak. No doubt other local companies also benefited."
