On 11 May 1944 the Liberator bomber, registration 41-29481 – one of 36 Liberators – took off from Lavenham airbase in Suffolk for operations on marshalling yards and other strategic targets in central Europe. The plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire South of Chartres and had to abandon the mission. It had been very badly shot up – in fact, one of the crew said that underneath ‘it looked like lace’.
One of the engines caught fire, and the pilot told the crew to bail out. He then pointed the aircraft towards the English Channel and bailed out himself. Just then the other engine caught, and the aircraft turned inland on its own.
It came down near to the Roman amphitheatre in Chichester and crashed at 3.55pm on what was known as the Electric Laundry. Fortunately the three bombs still in the bomb bay didn’t go off, but the fuel did, so there was a considerable explosion. The bombs were made safe the next day.
Three people died as a result. Leonard Price – father of former Observer columnist Bernard Price, had been ‘digging for victory’ on his allotment and he died three months later with severe burns. Elizabeth Tees, one of the laundry workers ran back for her handbag, and died a few days later on the Sunday.
But killed instantly was May (Maisie) Grainger, a fourteen year old girl who had just started working in the laundry.
Saturday 11 May 2024 was the eightieth anniversary of the tragedy.
A small group of local people felt that this should not pass by without some sort of commemoration. Represented were the Chichester City Council, the Royal Sussex Regimental Association, the Royal Naval Association and Chichester Local History Society. Accordingly they gathered at Portfield cemetery, and at 3.55pm a wreath was laid on May Grainger’s grave by Ken Emery of the Royal Sussex Regimental Association. Most poignantly, a lone Spitfire flew overhead as the wreath was laid.
Ten years ago the son of the American pilot of the Liberator came to Chichester to lay flowers on his father’s behalf.
The event is commemorated in the naming of flats at the end of Winden Avenue in Chichester – LIberator Place, with three blocks of flats – Price House, Tees House and Grainger House. Local historian Ken Green (who recently died) wrote a New Chichester Paper No. 1 on the event ‘The Day the Liberator Crashed on Chichester’, which is available at Kim’s Bookshop in South Street or from the Chichester Local History Society.
It is felt that it would be nice if a permanent marker be put on this grave of a young girl who was the victim of war. However, consent for this would be needed from members of May’s family, who hold the 99 year lease of the grave. If anyone is aware of anyone related to May, perhaps they would come forward and be willing to give consent for the raising of a fund to mark her passing.
I have recently discovered that May Grainger’s mother remarried after the war and became Mrs A.T.J.Deadman who had a son who would be May’s half brother. Perhaps he would be able to give consent for a proper gravestone.