War always seems to usher in a new generation of innovative technology, and the Second World War was no different. A new weapon against air raids was the searchlight, which lit up the undersides of enemy aircraft so AA gunners could see their target.
Healing had a searchlight battery of its own, which was located on Wells Rd. It's easy to see why a searchlight battery would be located there: there's a slight hill, good visibility, conveniently close to the HAA gun emplacement at Stallingborough and a concrete public air raid shelter (future article alert!) a short distance away. There aren't many visible remains left, but I believe I have found an important piece of evidence:
A concrete plinth, which may have been used to stop the searchlight from falling into the mud. Below, there is a possible drainage hole:
As you can see, it's blocked up with weeds now. The idea is that the rain would run down into the soil via these holes, however, I couldn't see to the bottom, so I cannot confirm this. The plinth is covered in moss now, but if you scrape some of it away...
Very clearly concrete.
Regards,
James
Taken from the ARP log book:
ReplyDelete"Saturday May 11th [year?]. Bombs dropped on river bank between Grimsby and Immingham - probably some in Grimsby but not sure. Plane machine-gunned Wells Rd searchlights and its engine appeared to cut out over the village and was not heard again - officer from searchlights made enquiries as someone reported plane down at Healing with no confirmation [unreadable] to 05:00."
It turns out there was no plane crash over Healing.