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When I was about 8 years old an American Liberator plane crashed off Barton's Point.

They got the aircraft over the sea-wall and put it onto the land by the nearby canal.

My friend Alec and I went to see it, we hid behind the covered way. When the armed American guard was walking the other way, Alec being older than me said "you go the plane to see what you can get, while I keep watch". So, off I went and climbed into the plane without being seen by the guard. I managed to take a machine gun bullet from the belt. When the guard turned the other way I ran back to the covered way.

The covered way was in front of a firing range. When it was in use no one was allowed to walk along the sea wall. You had to use the covered way. The bullets really made you jump when they pinged off the wall.

My dad was in the Royal Flying Corps and one of the first to join the Royal Air Force. He served on "The Glorious" an aircraft carrier. He was in WW1 and WW2.

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