大象传媒

June 1944 - probably the 16th. It was a sunny day and everyone was cheerful. The D-Day Invasion of Normandy (part of France) had gone well and our Allied troops were pushing the Germans back in France and Italy. We had seen it all on the Path茅 News at The Savoy Cinema, our local. The Grown-ups seemed to think the war would soon be over.

At our house (Brooks), 18 The Green, East Acton, Jasmine (5) was playing on the back doorstep with one of older sister (15) Beryl鈥檚 old hard baby dolls. Mum (40) and I (Brian, almost 10) were in the back garden. I was practising 鈥榙og-fighting鈥� (as it was called) with a toy Spitfire and a piece of wood, as the Jerry 鈥榩lane. The Jerry got shot down every time, of course! Mum was sitting on a chair by the kitchen window, doing some darning, or knitting. The weather was lovely.

I heard an aircraft and looked for it in case it was a Spitfire. There wasn鈥檛 an air raid on so he must be friendly, probably heading for Northolt. The engine sound came from beyond the Middleton鈥檚 house (No. 17) and sounded wrong, like an old juddery motorbike. Mum was standing up, looking now, 鈥淚t sounds as if he鈥檚 in trouble鈥� she said. Then, there he was, quite small, just appearing from beyond Mrs. Hatswell鈥檚 roof (No. 16). I pointed:鈥滻 think he鈥檚 on fire!鈥� you could just see a flame coming out of the back. 鈥淚 hope the poor pilot gets down safely,鈥� Mum said as the 鈥榩lane disappeared behind the roofs of the houses on The Bye. The sound died away in the distance.

The next day we learned that the pilot didn鈥檛 get down safely 鈥� because there was no pilot, it was a robot 鈥榩lane. We had seen one of the first V1鈥檚, Hitler鈥檚 Vengeance Weapon Number One, a rocket powered 鈥榝lying bomb鈥�. Grown-ups always gave funny names to frightening things so they called them 鈥楧oodlebugs鈥�, because they 鈥榙oodled鈥� about the sky and 鈥楤uzz-bombs鈥� because of the buzzing noise they made. The war wasn鈥檛 鈥榥early over鈥�, for us on the 鈥楬ome Front鈥�, it was back on.

From those first few 鈥楧oodlebugs鈥� the Germans sent wave after wave, day and night. They must have had hundreds ready. The grown-ups were scared, not only because they were a huge bomb and did a lot of damage, but because there was no crew. At least a bomber鈥檚 crew risked being killed or captured, which was fair. But they found these empty rocket planes really creepy, like something science fiction by H.G. Wells.

Mum鈥檚 sister Aunty Glad (Ames) and Adrienne were with us in the shelter most times now. There would be the AA guns firing, and then you would hear the 鈥楧oodlebug鈥�, the juddery engine getting slowly louder and louder and louder then - stop. The grown-ups would huddle and screw up their faces and hug us, holding their breath. They knew that when the engine stopped it went into a steep dive. After a painfully long silence, really only seconds, you heard the deep rattling 鈥榗ruumpumpp鈥� of high explosive. And everyone let out that breath, smiling at us in relief, although nearly in tears.

A bit of gabbled talk and nervous jokes then faded away as the unmistakable sound of another 鈥橠oodlebug鈥� was heard getting louder and louder and louder. The grown-ups looked grey as the blood drained from their faces and the whole thing happened again. This was when my toy Spitfire got kicked under the bench and lost.

I think it was Aunty Glad who came up with an idea to keep us kids occupied, or was it to distract the grown-ups? When there was a thunderstorm we used to count the seconds from the lightening 鈥榝lash鈥� to the 鈥榗lap鈥� of thunder, and this was supposed to tell you how many miles away the lightening was. Now, when the 鈥楧oodlebug鈥� engine cut-out, we counted until we heard the explosion. 鈥淥h, six miles away, that鈥檚 good!鈥� someone would say, laughing. I knew there was also relief mixed with guilt when the 鈥楧oodlebug鈥� chugged-chugged on and faded away in the distance. 鈥淣ot us, this time!鈥� Mum would say quietly.

This attack seemed to last for months. Two V1s hit East Acton Lane so they probably came from the same site in France. Just a few seconds more flight would have brought them down very close to us. Our lives now depended on settings made by a German Army engineer somewhere in France鈥� a fraction either way could make all the difference to us. We heard from Aunty Glad that one had hit John Sanders shop and the shops and hotel opposite in Ealing, and also factories near her in Park Royal. 鈥楧oodlebugs鈥� all came the same way from France, it was called 鈥楤uzz-Bomb Alley鈥�.

My sister Jasmine and Cousin Adrienne were now at John Perryn School and getting to know the school鈥檚 air raid shelter.

One night it was very quiet, no AA guns firing, nothing. Although we didn鈥檛 know until much later, most of the guns had been moved to the coast overnight, gambling on a quiet period. Now, although we still had air raids and heard 鈥楧oodlebugs鈥�, most were being stopped before they reached London. The RAF was pounding the V1 sites and railway lines, we were told on the 大象传媒 news on the wireless, so it was just a matter of time.

Just as it seemed that the grown-ups could relax again there was a gas main explosion in Chiswick, just a few miles away from us, although we didn鈥檛 hear about it for a day or two. What we also didn鈥檛 hear was that there had been another 鈥榞as main鈥� explosion at the same time near Epping. Weeks later it was announced that we were under attack by huge rockets. This was the V2, Hitler鈥檚 Vengeance Weapon Number Two, a rocket that went up to a great height, then fell so fast that you couldn鈥檛 see it coming. There was no warning, the first they knew about it was the huge explosion.

We were still getting air raids for 鈥楧oodlebugs鈥� but they were fewer and fewer, although some were still getting through. (The last one to hit London was at Greenford, not far away.) Our Anderson shelter was getting smaller as I got bigger, but it was still a safe, secure place. Then the raids stopped. The grown-ups were thinking, had Hitler got some other secret weapons ready to send over us?

V1 EXHIBITION
We went on one more visit to an exhibition (in the bombed John Lewis store) at Oxford Street, West End, London. This one had a lot about the V Weapons. There was a V1 cut in half and laying down. It was full of sparkly cotton wool stuff which stung when you touched it, an RAF man on the stand said it was called Spun Glass Fibres. Fibres spun from glass sounded very strange. There were balls inside, bigger than a football, wrapped round and round with wire. The V1 we had seen from our garden last year looked quite small, seeing one close up, and 鈥榩hotos of dozens of them flying in, showed just how much danger we had been in.
Then: Adolf Hitler was dead, he had committed suicide. The news that the evil monster was finally dead was a great relief to everyone. The war against Germany really was almost over after nearly six years, and we had used our shelter for the very last time.

Revised extracts from 鈥楢 Sheltered Childhood ~ Wartime Family Memories of an East Acton Child鈥�

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.