大象传媒

Doodlebug was the nickname given to the German VI flying bomb. It was a pilotless aircraft, with a jet engine, launched from sites in Northern France and it carried an explosive warhead.

After D-Day in June 1944, the skies over Kent were filled with aircraft going to bomb targets in either France or Germany. On their way back to their airfields, we often saw damaged planes limping home, trailing smoke. So we were not surprised when, one night, one of my sisters came into our bedroom to say a plane was flying round and round with flames and smoke coming from it. She was worried because she thought it was trying to land somewhere and afraid that it was going to crash. I was sleeping with a younger sister at the time, and so all three of us went to look out of the window. My Mother, hearing us, came into the room and after we had explained, said, 鈥淧oor devils, I hope there is no one wounded on board, but there is nothing we can do, so you had better get back to bed鈥�. My younger brother, Ron, who was only about eight years old, was rather nervous, so Mum sent him to get into bed with Dad. Now Dad, who was very deaf, said, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 up son?鈥� Ron said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a plane flying round on fire鈥�, and Dad, mishearing him, said, 鈥淔iring on the church! The swines, what next?鈥�

The next day when we went out, we found that these things were still flying over, not one, but a continuous stream. Mum said that these must be some of those secret weapons that Hitler had been boasting about, but we had to go to work and school so off we went. People everywhere were watching the skies, the air raid sirens were sounding, stopping, going again, but after a while, a permanent alert remained on all the time. Fighter planes were shooting at the flying bombs, and anti-aircraft guns were also firing but many of them were getting through to London. Later on, the Government made a statement that most of the bombs were flying past London and that the Germans had miscalculated the range. The Germans heard this and shortened the distance; this caused a large number of bombs to fall short, which was good for London but not good news for Kent. Large numbers of Barrage Balloons and anti-aircraft guns were moved south and with these and the fighter planes, more and more of the bombs were being destroyed.

I remember one day when I was aged about 18, I was gardening at home. My brother-in-law was talking to me when we heard this terrific roar. Looking up, we saw a doodlebug just skimming out neighbour鈥檚 chimney pots. I dashed indoors and afterwards my brother-in-law said, 鈥淥ne minute I was looking at Daph鈥檚 backside and the next minute she'd disappeared鈥�.

We heard later, whether true or not, that the bomb had glided down into a field in Southborough, about a mile away and had failed to explode. It got tangled in some barbed wire, and unfortunately, a man working on his allotment was swept up in the wire when it came to a halt. He was lying alongside it, unable to get free, till someone came to release him. I should imagine that he had a few more grey hairs than before.

It is believed to be the first V1 flying bomb to have been recovered intact, but I cannot vouch for that.

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