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This story was added to the People's War Site by a volunteer from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Newcastle on behalf of FJ Newby. FJ Newby fully understands the site's terms and conditions and the story has been added to the site with his permission.

I was born in Jarrow on April 27th 1926 and moved to North Shields in 1934. I was 13 years old when War broke out on September 3rd 1939, and I can still remember our Prime Minister Chamberlains’ radio broadcast declaring war on Germany and that Sunday morning, (we were having roast pork for lunch that Sunday).

Leading up to war.

Certain things started happening before that Sunday. In July Barrage Balloons appeared in North Shields, and all along both sides of the River Tyne up to Newcastle, and they were a great source of interest to us boys at the time, talking to the RAF chaps who manned then, and we used to give the balloons names like Annie, Charlie etc.

Eventually there were about 50 balloons in the Tyneside Barrage by 1940. The balloons were to help stop low-level bombings by the Luftwaffe when the war started, and one of the prime targets would be the Battleship King George V building at Wallsend Shipyard.

Anti-Aircraft guns also made an appearance in our town, with some searchlights on the outskirts, again causing much interest with the boys.

We had been issued with gas masks early in 1939 and when war started we had to carry them at all times, and I can still remember the smell of rubber when you put them on during a test.

The War.

In 1940 the North Shields Fish Quay, (in time of peace home to scores of fishing trawlers and drifters) was converted to a Minesweeper Base (a great many trawlers were converted to Minesweepers during the war). We boys used to cycle down to the Base to watch the Grey painted Minesweepers coming in from and going to sea.

All the beaches at Tynemouth, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay were covered with barbed wire and mines were laid. Light AA guns were installed along the coast.

In 1940 we got the occasional Luftwaffe Flying Boat sowing mines off the coast, and also the occasional Reconnaissance aircraft over area. This resulted in Air Raid alarms being sounded, an undulating sound as a warning and a steady sound for the all clear.

During the Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe made the only large scale daylight raid on the North East coast, at lunchtime on the 15th August 1940. This raid involved some 100 bombers and 30 long range fighters. Most were intercepted by RAF fighters and 19 were shot down with no loss to the RAF. The RAF bomber airfield at Driftfield was the only target they managed to hit, destroying some 10 Whitley bombers. I actually was able to observe some of the action off Tynemouth, but I was escorted to an air raid shelter by an ARP Warden, much to my displeasure.

Along certain roads along the river Tyne, the Army installed Smoke Screen Generators in 1940 and they activated these on moonlight nights when a raid was in progress to obscure targets along the Tyne. Living on the East coast, and with prevailing west winds we used to get a lot of foul smelling smoke.

Back to the Balloon Barrage, we always knew when the balloons were flying at night even when you could not see them, as their cables made a ‘singing’ noise made by the wind which was clearly heard, and if they were flying we knew to expect a raid, as the RAF had prior warning to fly the balloons (they were usually flown at a height of 3000 feet.)

The air raids really started in early 1941, and on the night of 9th/10th of April 1941, with a clear full moonlight night, a quite heavy raid started about 9pm, and lasted about 6 hours, the all clear sounding at 4am.

Some 70 German bombers were involved, dropping about 250 high explosive bombs and some 5,000 fire bombs. Flares and searchlights adding to the moonlight, and along with AA shells and bombs exploding, it was quite a raid.

It was in this raid that my road was hit by a 500lb bomb, the second in a stick of 6, exploding in the garden of a house three doors down from my own. It killed one of our neighbours, a Mr. Thompson, and demolished three of the houses. My family, father, mother, brother and myself were in the house at the time the bomb exploded, blowing off all the roof slates and doors, blowing out all the windows, bringing down all the ceilings, and causing terrible damage to everything in the house, plus everything covered in a layer of soot. We did not have a shelter at the time and were in the large cupboard under the stair, (the safest place during an air raid) and were not hurt, but my mother was very shocked when she saw the state of our house. About 28 people were killed in North Shields that night, with a number badly injured.

On the 3rd of May 1941 a great tragedy struck North Shields during a raid that night. A bomb made a direct hit on Wilkinson’ Lemonade Factory, which had a large shelter in the basement, and that night some 250 people were sheltering there and of that number some 128 were killed when the whole factory collapsed into the shelter. In some cases many members of the same family were killed.

We boys thought the air raids were exciting, and took great interest in visiting bomb sites. We also made collections of shrapnel from AA shells, bomb splinters, spent bullets, and burnt out fire bombs, much to the dismay of our mothers.

During the war everything was rationed, food, clothes, petrol, chocolate and sweets, fruit, but we did not starve; in fact it has been proved that the wartime diet was very good, as we got all the basics.

The Dig for Victory campaign was a great help in providing fresh vegetables from gardens and open spaces which were turned into allotments and gardens.

There were queues for everything and nobody got annoyed, they just took it all for granted, and took it all in their stride, everyone helped one and other, especially in air raids, the whole country pulled together during the war.

Air raids were few and far between after 1942 in the North East mainly because the German invasion of Russia, when most Luftwaffe units moved to the Russian Ford.

In May 1941 I joined No. 346 Tynemouth Squadron of The Air Training Corps, as I was most interested in joining the RAF as soon as I could. We were instructed in Food Drill; Morse code; Aircraft Recognition; Principals; of Flight; Rifle Shooting; Arms Drill and Maths. I also attended Annual Camp at RAF Tranwell (No.4 Air Gunner School) near Morpeth, where we were taught to strip and clean Sten Guns and rifles while waiting for an air experience flight in either an Anson or Botha training aircraft. This ATC training stood me in good stead when I joined the RAF later in the war.

I volunteered for the RAF in November 1943, and was enlisted in the RAFVR in March 1944 when I was 17 years 11 months old. I spent a total of three years six months in the RAFVR, being demobbed in August 1947. I enjoyed my wartime service, and after, in the RAF, and would not have missed it for all the tea in China. In fact I re-joined the Air Training Corps again in 1974 as a WO Instructor and served for 10 years, the last 5 as Commanding Officer of Hexham Squadron.

(My complete RAFVR service is another story)

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