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North-East Diary
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Post-War Events |
All censorship to end in the UK.
The clothing ration was cut to only 36 coupons per year.
British Summer Time to end.
In October 1945 the two Free French Air Force squadrons ceased to be part of the RAF and left Elvington airfield, near York, for Bordeaux, France, taking with them many of the Halifaxes which had been presented to them by the British Government. This ended in tragedy for one of them when the pilot lost control temporarily after a 'shudder' at 800'. The starboard outer engine then caught fire which spread to the airframe. The Navigator baled out but it was too low and he was killed. At 12.06 the aircraft force-landed at Sheep Walk Farm, Deighton, Yorkshire. Two crew members were killed, eight injured and two were saved unhurt.
The fishing boat 'Margarita M' caught an unexploded German WW2 mine three miles off the Tyne last night. Royal Navy bomb disposal experts took it to sea and blew it up.
An army Bomb Disposal Squad was called to A and P Appledore, the ship repairers at North Shields after 22 shells of various calibres from WW2 were discovered. They were found to be harmless. It is believed that they may have been removed from a damaged ship whilst repairs were in progress.
Police have issued a warning to beachworkers after a W.W.II anti-tank mine was found on a stretch of coast near Redcar in Cleveland, that other mines may still be hidden and if found should not be tampered with. The fifty year old mine said to be in good condition, came to light after strong winds blew away the sands concealing it, near the mouth of the river Tees. Army bomb disposal experts, who said that the mine was still capable of killing, safely detonated it during the night.
Residents in Whitley Bay can expect a big bang when Mine Disposal experts blow up a 600lb WW2 mine. The mine was trawled up in the nets of a fishing boat almost two miles off the coast. A Royal Navy Mine Disposal unit from Rosyth in Scotland is working with Northumbria Police to detonate it. Residents are warned that there will be a loud explosion.
Two Tyneside fishermen sat for more than five hours with a quarter tonne bomb rolling on the deck of their tiny boat. Jim Bilton and skipper Tommy Watson poured seawater over it to stop it exploding while waiting for a Bomb Disposal team to arrive to detonate the WW2 German bomb ..... it was netted just off the Whitley Bay coast by the men who have been fishing partners for nineteen years ..... He has dragged in relics of the war on two other occasions ..... Ben Cartwright of the Scottish and Northern Ireland Royal Navy Diving Squad said it was one of the biggest they had seen and was in perfect condition ..... About thirty are found each year, between Holy Island and Whitby. - This article refers to the Teletext report of yesterday the 10th March 1994. There seems to be a little confusion as to whether the object found was a mine or a bomb. However whatever it was, was safely detonated on the sea-bed by the Royal Navy team.
Work is due to start on renovating the last remaining Second World War destroyer 'HMS Cavalier' which will be the centrepiece in a long planned maritime heritage centre at the former Hawthorn Leslie Yard in Hebburn. It is hoped she will be ready to open to the public during a week of 50th anniversary events planned for South Tyneside, to mark the D-Day celebrations this summer. 'HMS Cavalier' a 1710 ton destroyer, was built in 1944 by J.S. White in Cowes, and was destined as long ago as 1974 for preservation as a museum ship.
A Durham police officer wounded during a wartime bombing raid, is finally being honoured - 38 years after his death. Special Constable Nichol Brown was seriously injured by shrapnel as he ushered civilians to the safety of a shelter at Seaham Harbour in 1940. Doctors said his injuries contributed to his death in 1956. His name is being added to a Roll of Honour in Coventry ..... The following day the Newcastle Evening Chronicle also had an article on the same incident which revealed that Special Constable Brown had been wounded by machine-gun fire and that it had happened in August 1940 - he had spent months in hospital and had, had several operations - he was 65 years old when he died in 1956 - he was a deputy overman at Dawdon Colliery. The Roll of Honour concerned was that of the Book of Remembrance in Coventry Cathedral dedicated to the memory of 529 Specials killed in the line of duty over the past 175 years.
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Brian
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