Cowplain WWII bombing

Had a look in the Ratepayer magazine this week, probably the first time I have done that for years. It usually goes straight into the recycling bin.

What attracted my attention was the picture of the Hawker Hurricane on the front page and inside the magazine is an article by Don Foyle about life in Cowplain during WWII. I thought it was an interesting accurate account until I got to the bit about a bomber dropping bombs on Park Lane in Cowplain. The account states that 'enemy agents' were using lights in the woods to guide a single bomber to bomb a torpedo depot located where Lidl is now situated today.

The bit about enemy agents sounds a bit unlikely to me. Far more rumour and speculation than reality. The article states that German bombers passed over Cowplain on the way to London. What is more likely is that a stray German bomber came back from London on the way back to France and seeing the Channel coming up, decided to drop its load on Cowplain before crossing the stretch of water.

I know that a German fighter took pot shots at houses along the Hambledon road in another separate incident. A lot of these types of attack were not planned, they were just opportunistic. Bomber crews would not want to carry bombs back to their bases.
The allies did the same thing towards the end of the war once they had air superiority over Europe. If after the main attack, they had ammunition left over, they would seek out secondary targets.