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On the evening of 7th March 1917, there was a group of German Gotha heavy bombers on route to London to cause damage. They were probably using the Thames as guidance.
Captain A B Kynoch from No 37 Sqn RFC (formerly Duke of Wellington's Regiment, who was flying BE12 C3208 set off from Stow Maries airfield to intercept the foe. Captain H C Stroud of No 61 Sqn RFC (formerly Royal Engineers) who was flying SE5a B679 also set off to tackle them from Rochford airfield.Unfortunately both airplanes collided in fog over Dollyman's Farm, Shotgate at midnight and both airmen were killed.
Two memorials were erected where each plane crashed. The title deeds of the farm were amended to show that those two parcels of land shall never be sold and shall ever be held sacred.
So why am I telling you all this? A new loop of eight trads called Henry's Loop passes both memorials and I had a very pleasant walk yesterday walking the route. All the caches were well hidden and some tricky to extract from their hidey holes. The walk was said to be three miles and I completed it in 90 mins but I did spend some time at the memorials. Captain Kynoch's memorial is shown in the photograp.
So this was something else that I would never encountered but for geocaching.😀
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