Quote Originally Posted by silva View Post
Yes - Interesting fellow that old Sexton with his Military Pattern. He was a trained marksman and a regular in the first world war. So how much fluke really was involved ?

Though it was the Messerschmitt that got him in the papers at the time. It came to light that in May 44, just before D-Day, he also shared a Dornier reconnaissance aircraft with the local anti aircraft battery. The war was going better for the Allies then, so it wasn't so much of a propaganda coup. Plus the government was in the process of standing down the Home Guard.

The rifle, with some fragments of fuselage and a chronograph from the BF109, was displayed in the vestry until the late 1970's. Its last listing is in the Church Wardens Ecclesiastical Inventory of 1978.

After which building works took place at the church and it disappeared in the refurbishment.

Just as a historical footnote - Did you know that the Romney Hythe and Dimchurch railway (15inch track) is actually accredited with shooting down a lone German Stuka dive bomber during WW2?

Apparently it lined up for a bombing run, then dove into the banking beside the track because the pilot assumed (from the altitude he was flying) that the train was a full scale engine:
"... It is also thought that a German plane crashed when trying to shoot at the train, the pilot misjudging the height owing to the scale of the train... "

So - if a model railway can bring down a Stuka, who says you can't shoot down a fighter with an air rifle!!!