Where they belong! Abbotsbury WWII retired POW Ex German Gnome Pilots. They were trained in the war to serve as miniature fighter pilots alongside the Luftwaffe aeroplanes in small, scaled down Fokkers, to go on secret missions to bomb the fake miniature villages, that cities like Bristol and Achechester were using to divert the air squadrons, in the larger bombing raids. To save fuel, the Gnomes aircraft was elevated up under its tail, then released within 10 miles of its targets, then glide, and drop their charges. Some made it gnome, some never. Wooden portable wheeled Watch towers were placed all down the South Coast of Britain, next to many pill boxes, to watch for the little fokkers. Two weeks before the terrible London Blitz, the little fokkers were released over Kent by light high wing German gliders, to bomb the small, miniature towns in gardens in suburbs of Victorian pensioners, who had worked a large portion of their retired lives to build them, as they were also know decoys. The little fokkers had many successful missions, in the latter part of WWII, along side their bigger counterparts. A few made it home and were decorated. There has been many small, short books written about their exploits over their 3 year air reign. A popular read of true accounts of wing master Robin Bobbins and his crew. He retired and married his Elf sweetheart and became co manager, working a permanent night shift, in a shoemakers shop, in Munich. He died in 1963 leaving a wife and 17 children. There is a museum of Gnome History and their war effort, in the Museum of German History in Murrghart.
