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Authority to establish a Balloon Barrage at Newport was given by Balloon Command for the purpose of protecting the Docks, Marshalling Yards, Iron Works, Munitions Works, Aluminium Works and Main Road Bridge The scale of the defence was originally laid down as 24 Balloons but later this was increased to 32 Balloons and finally 40. Preliminary reconnaissance was carried out by S/Ldr Harrison and F/Lt Stock on July 20th and 21st 1940 and further reconnaissance was made by F/Lt Bond and F/Lt Stock on July 24th 1940 and by S/Ldr Harrison and P/O Marsh on August 15th & 16th 1940 .On these various occasions sites and Headquarters were chosen; Full Air Staff and Administration reports were included in letters from HQ 32 (BB) Group to HQ Balloon Command dated 25th July 1940 Ref: 329/S.4025/4/AIR and August 17th 1940 Ref: S.4023/4/AIR.
Balloon Command instructed 33 (BB) Groups top form a squadron to be known as 966 Squadron and to consist of five flights of 8 crews each. S/Ldr J Jordan of 916 Squadron, No.6 Centre was appointed as Commanding Officer & F/Lt C.K.Horne of 916 Squadron No. 5 Centre as Squadron Leader in charge of Administration. Both these appointments were made by Balloon Command. Detailed Instructions as to the formation of the Squadron are included in a letter from HQ 33(BB) Group 15,16 and 17 Centres dated August 19th 1940 ref 33G/S/2827/5.
In brief this letter instructed:
No 15 Centre to provide 18 crews of 12 men.
No 16 Centre to provide 18 crews of 12 men.
No 17 Centre to provide 18 crews of 12 men.
The remainder of the squadron & Flight Personnel was detailed by the three Centres and by the Officer in charge of Records.
The following Officers were appointed by ££ (BB) Group:
F/Lt Admin........................F/Lt W. Maxfield 938 Squadron
"A" Flight..........................A/F/Lt T. Sample 15 Centre
P/O N.S. Todd 15 Centre
P/O Stokes 15 Centre
"B" Flight..........................A/F/Lt G. H. Brown 15 Centre
P/O M.N. Hardy 15 Centre
"C" Flight...........................A/F/Lt S.T. Carrier 16 Centre
P/O E. Shaw 16 Centre
P/O Mitchell 16 Centre
"D" Flight...........................A/F/Lt C.B North 17 Centre
P/O Hutchinson 17 Centre
"E" Flight............................A/F/Lt S Wilson 15 Centre
P/O G.F. Sharp 17 Centre
P/O A. E. Caen 16 Centre
966 Squadron was formed on the 23.8.40 and was made up of 3 units form 15 Centre ( Newcastle), 16 Centre (Sheffield) and 17 Centre ( Hull). An advance party of 58 Officers and airmen left for Cardiff from each centre on 23.8.40 and arrived same day. Meanwhile on the 24.8.40 back at Newcastle an inspection of "A" +"B" flights was made by AOC 33 BB Group. The following day 25.8.40 at Sheffield an inspection of "SHQ" +"C" flight was made by AOC 33 BB Group, the following day 26.8.40 at Hull an inspection of "D" flight was made by AOC 33 BB Group. A party left all 3 centres for Cardington with A/Fl/Lt CARRIER in charge, they were to collect 92 vehicles of various descriptions and head for Newport. On the 27.8.40 back at Sheffield an inspection of "E" flight was made by AOC 33 BB Group.
On the 27.8.40 the convoy left Cardington and arrived at Newport on the 28.8.40."E" flight arrived same day. The Squadron Headquarters had been previously occupied at 42 Fields Park Road on the 23.8.40 and taken over completely by 26.8.40. The airmen were accommodated in billets and tents were made available.
The first balloons were inflated and flown from sites 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 27, 28,29, 31, 32 on the 31.8.40, little did they know that they would make history for Balloon Command.
966 Squadron, No.14 Balloon Command was based at a place called Tredegar House at Tredegar Park, near Newport, Monmouthshire, South Wales.They have the honour of being the first Barrage Balloon Unit to bring down a German aircraft in WWII. In 1940 Newport was beginning to feel the war as 7,000 evacuee children arrived in the town, to be distributed around the county. During June, the town has 50 air raid alerts, the first of 480 to follow in the next 12 months. It was June 26th when the first bombs fell on the town, the bombs landed on St.Julians and Dewstow Street. The Squadron Operations Record Book shows that on Friday September 13th:
13.9.40 :"Balloons on sites 6,10, 20, 33, and 36 were deflated and lost".
But there is more to the deflation and loss of the balloon at site 10 as we can now find out.
An additional entry after the 14th September records:
13.9.40: Time 03.15 " HEINKEL III brought down by impact with cable on site 10 .Cable pulled right off storage drum although brakes were on. Plane also fouled cable on site 8 & finally crashed into a house in Stow Park & burst into flames. Three of the crew were killed & the Pilot was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital with broken arm and a cut in head. Visit by AOC 31 (BB) GRoup and O.C. 14 Centre to all Headquarters & one site in each flight. In attendance S/LDR THACKER & P/O BACON (31 GROUP) and FL/L THOMAS ( 14 CENTRE).
14.9.40 Congratulatory telegram received from A.O.C. BALLOON COMMAND withy reference to HEINKEL III.""
What had happened was a Heinkel 111 bomber,returning after a raid on Liverpool was passing over the park and hit the barrage balloon cable of one of the mobile Fordson winches scattered at various sites across the park.
The aircraft, once it had hit the cable was doomed, since at this stage in the war aircraft had no defence against the cable and it sliced into the wing and made the aircraft stall and swing around the cable wildly. The doomed aircraft began its final descent to earth. The crew of 966 Squadron included 528399 Sgt John Sanderson, the balloon crew knew they had scored a "hit" and raced across the park anticipating the arrival of a German aircraft on the green swathes of grass, however the plane by ill luck managed to stay aloft until it reached Newport. Realising that there was no hope the Pilot Ober Lieutenant Harry Wappler baled out. The three remaining crewmen were unable to bale out. The aircraft landed on Stow Park Avenue at the top of Stow Hill, hitting the ground floor the house of the Phillips family of No.32 Stow Park Avenue, filled with incendiary devices, it exploded on impact, killing the son Malcom and daughter Myrtle, of the family and all the remaining crew members. Ironically they had been made to sleep in the downstairs room for safety.
Ober Lieutenant Harry Wappler probably had much easier egress from the plane than the other crewmen who might not have realised what had happened and were probably stuck in gun turrets as this particular aircraft had three sets of gun turrets below above and at the front. His parachute deployed correctly and he landed in a Queen's Street, just off the Cardiff Road and near to the British Legion Club. His landing was affected by the parachute snagging in a tree and he suffered a broken right arm. He was quickly captured and disarmed although he realised there was no point in putting up much resistance. Such German crewmen who managed to bale out successfully, were always afraid of the possibility of vigilante action by the outraged British public, and being captured gave then some protection from the likelihood of a lynch mob. The town was shocked at the news as the family were well known in business in the area and ran a Tobacconist shop in Dock Street. A number of fuselage fragments were taken by some of the crew and in a time honoured ritual of servicemen, the flying boots of the airmen had their leather tongues removed as souvenirs.
A Heinkel 111 Bomber
The newspapers ran the sad story of the crash and the street was full of local people who had come to see the war and its affects at close quarters.
The newspapers showed photographs of the crash site.
The crash scene as pictured in the local paper
Map of Site and balloon site 10 and showing crash site superimposed on a 2006 map.
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