The attacker's view from the Focke Wulf 190 cockpit. This shot was taken by one of the German pilots over Brighton
- Contributed by听
- Brighton CSV Media Clubhouse
- People in story:听
- Peter Lancing
- Location of story:听
- Brighton, East Sussex
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A2931617
- Contributed on:听
- 19 August 2004
One of my most vivid memories of life as a 15 year old school boy in Brighton and Hove during the war occured in 1941.
I used to travel just a short distance from my house to the local park to play football or cricket with my friends. At the South East Corner of the park there was a tall tower, ontop of which was a boffers gun with a barrage ballon attached. The gun was used to rasie the feild of fire above the house tops.
Hit and run raiders frequently arrived under the radar and so we did not take much notice of the raid raid sirens, but relied instead on the imminent danger speakers close by.
On one occasion I was playing in the park, when the hooters sounded and the dived for cover in the bushes.
A Focke Wulf 190 made a low pass across the park and dropped a 1000 pound bomb at a shallow angle. The bomb hit the tarmaced swing area at the North-east end of the park, amazingly the children continued to swing - unaware that the bomb had bounced and not exploded until it hit houses in the next street.
Soon after this event I quickly made my way home and when I had reached the street on the other side of the park I saw the tail piece of the bomb smouldering in the gutter!
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