7:10am Wednesday 25th November 2009
A TIN of chocolate that was looted from a German aircraft shot down in wartime is going on display in Wimborne.
The circular tin was retrieved after the Heinkel crash-landed into watercress beds in Sturminster Marshall in the early hours of August 12, 1940.
The item has now been given to The Priest’s House Museum and will be displayed when the museum reopens for two weeks after Christmas, when admission will be free.
Sturminster Marshall historian Bill Coomer, who ran the village Post Office before he retired, acquired the souvenir when he was writing a book about the village in the war and asked if anyone had any memories or souvenirs.
One person came forward with the tin, with two round blocks of chocolate wrapped in clear film and dated 1938.
It is believed to have been the German aircrew’s rations in case they were stranded.
Bill’s wife Rita said: “We have had it all those years. That was in the 1990s. We are now in our 80s.
“Although we have been offered money for it, my husband didn’t want it to go to a private collector. He wanted it go somewhere anyone could see it.
“I think it’s quite rare.”
Mrs Coomer would not identify the donor, other than to say that the person had been “young” when the aircraft crashed.
Delighted James Webb, assistant curator at the museum, said: “It’s a fantastic addition to the museum collection.”
Daily Echo archives from 1940 record that the Heinkel was shot down at 6,000 feet.
There has also been Press speculation about a possible dogfight over Hengistbury Head.
The Poole and East Dorset Herald reported that the bomber circled the village twice and rained petrol from its badly leaking tanks before it crashed.
Press reports said there were “plenty of souvenirs” gathered up before officials arrived, including toothbrushes, hairbrushes, boxes of chocolates, whisky and rum, first-aid appliances and even a collapsible rubber boat.
Five people, including the pilot, Lt Gunther Lohring, a rear gunner and three others, were found and rounded up.
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