The funerals that followed the Luftwaffe bombing in Bournemouth

These six pictures show the funerals of RAF men just six days the Luftwaffe blitzed the town on a low-flying “tip and run” raid, raining four tons of high explosives on the centre.

The date was Sunday, May 23,1943 when the greatest loss of civilian life was recorded at the Metropole Hotel at Lansdowne, the Central Hotel in Richmond Hill.

And nearby the Punshon Memorial Church stood in smouldering ruins while Beales department store and West’s Picture House in Old Christchurch Road also took hits.

In all, 22 buildings were destroyed and 3,359 damaged.

The grim death toll is thought to have numbered 208 people.

It was mainly Canadian airmen who were killed when Focke-Wulf fighter bombers attacked the Metropole as they were settling down to lunch.

RAF funeral going down Holdenhurst Road

The attack also resulted in the deaths of British, American and Australian troops, along with 77 or more civilians. Several bodies were not recovered.

After the raid, numerous servicemen from across the Empire were buried in Charminster Cemetery, Bournemouth.

Among them were five RAF aircraftmen, one unidentified, and a lieutenant serving in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.

Fiveways Cemetery Bournemouth 1943 B. RAF funeral picture taken by Cyril Milner of RAF in May 1943. Brought in by Roy Pearce.

It is almost certain that the Bournemouth funeral portrayed in these historic photographs was for RAF men who were killed in that fateful warm spring day raid.

The photos were taken by Cyril Milner, a corporal in the RAF and were discovered in Sheffield by Sylvia and Keith Hutton many years ago, following the death of Keith’s great auntie who had been Cyril’s husband.

Cyril Milner of RAF took the picture from the RF funeral in Bournemouth in may 1943. Brought in by Roy Pearce.

“They were just in a suitcase in the bedroom,” Mrs Hutton told the Echo at the time.

Rather than throw them out, she contacted Roy Pearce who was chairman of the Kinson Historical Society at the time and sent them to him.

“In the photos you can see that the cortege of what looks like seven RAF down Holdenhurst Road, past the railway station and Kennedy’s,” he said at the time.

The other four pictures were taken at Bournemouth’s North cemetery near in Strouden Avenue, Charminster - identified as ‘Fiveways’ on the backs of the photos. In one, you see a firing party preparing to salute.

Fiveways Cemetery Bournemouth 1943 C. Military salute at RAF funeral picture taken by Cyril Milner of RAF in May 1943. Brought in by Roy Pearce.

“The Canadian airmen who were billeted around the Lansdowne used to congregate for lunch at the Metropole and probably some RAF men would meet up with them there, too,

“Corporal Cyril Milner may have lost friends on that day and just been lucky that he was not at the Metropole himself when the bombs fell.”

“He returned to Sheffield and married Betty Hutton, working in the steel or cutlery industry,” said Mrs Hutton, of Occupation Lane, Sheffield..

“Sadly he died quite young, in his early 60s we think. But they were a happy couple.”