Willards Farm Spitfire Crash

A Spitfire Mk XIV of the Flying Training Wing crashed at Willards Farm Dunsfold on 19th January 1945. The pilot – Flying Officer Fisher – bailed out and was injured.

Has anyone further information and about the cause of the crash and what became of the aircraft?

Spitfire Mk XIV similar to that involved in the crash at Willards Farm Dunsfold

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4 Replies to “Willards Farm Spitfire Crash”

  1. Lord Portarlington commented:

    I lived at Willards Farm with my mother from 1940 until she died in 1963. Although I don’t know the cause of the crash or what happened to the aircraft, I remember the incident well. Aged 5 years, I heard the crash at school half a mile away, only to find the wreckage half buried in our chicken run at the end of the garden when I walked home from school. The Home Guard appeared and secured the site, but spent most of their time in our kitchen drinking copious cups of tea!

    A large tracked RAF rescue crane and low loader eventually came to remove the wreckage, but promptly shed one of its tracks and blocked our drive for a further day – more cups of tea!

  2. Hello Lord Portarlington,

    This is a really good piece of information. Thanks for sharing. We live in Mill Lane and have two keen junior historians keen to find out more. Where in relation to the house was the crash site? Was it near the house?

    I know that there is much renovation going on at Willards currently, so would be keen to see if we can go for a hunt whilst the ground is being turned up. Otherwise a little piece of history might be lost forever!

    Kind regards,

    Ben

  3. We are currently living at Willards Farm. Where was the chicken run in relation to the pond (or any other land mark). It would be interesting to know exactly where.

    1. The drive runs straight through an avenue of trees, then veers to the left when it reaches the pond.

      The spitfire landed in the chicken run, which was located on the bank about 20ft from the near right edge of the pond

      Portarlington

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