On 26th August 1940, a german Dornier Do 17Z-3 U5+ was hit and seriously damaged by gunfire as it attempted to bomb Suffolk airfields, possibly that at Chevington. The stricken plane crashed at 3.40pm in a mustard field north of Straight Rd. The crash site can be seen from the back of the Community Centre situated on the rising ground in a north easterly direction. An eye witness, Mr C.W. Boreham, who had been working int he fields loading wheat, was the first to reach the scene. He described how he had seen the plane at a height of about 400 feet losing height rapidly and with only one engine working. One parachute had emerged before the plane crashed. When he arrived at the scene, pitch fork in hand, he found two of the crew lying wounded on the ground having crawled out of the wreckage. A third member, a boy of about 15 or 16 was standing near the fuselage and spoke to him in german. It was clear that the boy was asking for help for the pilot who was trapped in the plane. Mr Boreham and another farm worker set to work to free him. Although badly wounded the pilot was conscious and indicated that his leg was trapped and that they would need to free him from behind the steering column. This was accomplished and the pilot removed to hospital while the rest of the crew were disarmed and taken prisoner. The Dornier was sent to the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough for examination by intelligence experts. The pilot was Heinrich Schaffer aged 26. He died of his injuries a month later and was buried in the military cemetery in Honington in company with the war dead of five nations. His grave is still there.