Messerschmitt ME 109 WW2 Bullet Holes Truro Station Footbridge 2017

WW2 Messerschmitt Bullet Marks, Truro Station

Bullet indentations on exterior footbridge panel          Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

                 

During World War Two At around 7:30 on the evening of Thursday the 6th August 1942, Truro railway station, Cornwall, came under attack from a lone German Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft - better known as the Messerschmitt ME 109.

The physical results of this terrifying incident can still be seen in one of the east-facing side panels of the platform footbridge spanning the tracks where two bullets slammed against the bridge metal; one almost penetrating it.

                       Bullet indentations on interior of Truro station footbridge panel                                            Photo: Charles Moorhen

               Bullet holes on Truro footbridge panel just above platform roof gutter on right    Photo:  Charles Moorhen     

At the time of the attack the mail train from Penzance to London was standing in the station, and it is widely believed that it was the presence of the train which momentarily distracted the attention of the German pilot away from his main target - the city of Truro itself.

As the ME 109 flew on towards Truro, to join the raid which killed 14 people and resulted in the injury of another 100, it left behind two fatalities and a number of wounded.

Messerschmitt ME 109

Those who died were railway worker, Mr. P. Williams, 52, and postman, Mr. E. Pentecost, 41.

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While on the subject of Cornish railways and WW2, it is worth noting that many children were evacuated by train to Cornwall at some point during the years of hostilities.

Here are just two brief examples:

On Friday the 1st September 1939, 544 evacuee children and their teachers arrived at St. Austell station, Cornwall, on the 6:30 from Paddington, London, on Evacuation Train No.103.

On the 3^rd September 1939, an evacuation train with the identification number 116 painted across the front of the engine boiler, brought 230 children and mothers to Truro station from Acton, London, to be billetted in Truro and the surrounding area.

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