Friendly Fire Tragedy – Imber 1942

Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire is the largest military training ground in the United Kingdom and plays host to exercises with all members of the worlds armed forces, but this is not just something that came about recently. During the Second World War this whole area was vital to the military as it prepared for D-Day invasions and the later Victory in Europe.

During this testing time, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was to see a demonstration of military power and amongst the planned displays was a fleet of 12 aircraft that would attack a collection of vehicles and dummies in a series of manoeuvres that would install both pride and confidence in the might of the British fighting force.

On 13^th April 1942 a dress rehearsal began in weather that was pretty hazy but not bad enough to cancel the flying. People from all over had come out to see this, including a few members of the Home Guard and they were excited at the thought of seeing real training action up close.

Six Hawker Hurricanes from the RAF’s 175 Squadron and another six Supermarine Spitfires from 234 Squadron swooped over the village and did their demonstration, first the Spitfires, which made their pass without firing, then they were closely followed by the Hurricanes.

But the final Hurricane in the line was flown by a 20 year old pilot of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Sergeant William McLachlan. He got into position and lined his aircraft up with the dummies as planned and raked them with machine gun fire. Confident that he had put on a successful display he carried on the routine until the job had finished.

What he didn’t know was that he had accidentally opened fire on the crowd of spectators and the result was devastating. The death toll that day was 23, another two succumbing to their injuries over the next few days with another 71 injured. Five of the dead were members of the Home Guard.

A court of inquiry was set up and the pilot was cleared of any wrongdoing, the official blame being placed on the weather at the time and also that of McLachlan’s error of judgement due to him losing the rest of the other aircraft in the hazy conditions and believing he had genuinely found the correct target to fire upon.

A later inquest returned a verdict of misadventure and recorded the deaths as being attributed to gunshot wounds. Again the pilot was called forward to give evidence and he confirmed that he had mistaken the people on the ground for the dummies.

As with any wartime situation there are never any real winners and tragically on 28 June 1942, just 1 ½ months after the Imber incident, McLachlan was once again at the controls of his Hurricane on a mission over France and was shot down and remains missing to this day, presumed dead.

After the deaths of the 25 spectators at Imber it became apparent that having a bunch of civilians smack bang in the middle of a military training ground was both dangerous and reckless. As the houses were owned by the military, plans were drawn up to have the rest of the area requisitioned. On 1^st November 1943 the entire village was called to gather in the schoolroom for a public meeting where they were told the devastating news that they had just 47 days to vacate the village.

Today Imber is a shell of its former self, open for visitors in controlled numbers in guided tours that can take a small number of people to the church and the village centre just a few times a year.

The victims are today remembered in a plaque that was unveiled on the 70^th anniversary of the disaster at St Giles Church in Warminster after a campaign by the Wiltshire Historical Military Society. Recently former MP Michael Portillo featured the village in his series Portillo’s Hidden History of Britain with a book of the same name. A fascinating yet tragic chapter in English history.