Miscellaneous Items of the 467th BG(H)

V-2 Rocket Crater

Late afternoon on October 4th 1944, a German V-2 rocket came to ground very close to the base at Rackheath in what could have been catastrophic circumstances. It is not thought the rocket was aimed specifically at the base, the guided navigation was far too rudimentary, more likely aimed at the city of Norwich a few miles away.

Local man, Tommy Dungar, recalls the incident: "I finished work at 5:00 o'clock and rode my bicycle from Wroxham and was almost as far as the Green Man Pub when I noticed this B-24 from a strange Group, with a yellow and black tail marking, trying to land and firing red flares, and as the planes were part of life then, I stopped with one foot on the bank to watch him land. There was this strange rush of air, just like a large flock of birds. I looked up and just for a fraction of a second saw this vivid, grayish, large dart-shaped object hurtle down to earth, a very loud explosion, and the next thing I knew I was in the ditch with the old bike on top of me. I got up, straightened the handlebars and rode in the direction of the bang. It had landed in area known locally as Mud Corner. Only a few local people knew just how lucky Rackheath was that day, as it is was only about a quarter of a mile away from the Base Bomb Dump".

Pictured below is Group Bombardier, "Ted" Gerringer, standing in the huge crater created by the V-2 Rocket on the afternoon of October 4th, 1944.

Pictured 60 years after the photo above is Bob Gerringer (son of Ted Gerringer) standing on the same spot where the V-2 came to earth as his father in the photo above.