大象传媒

This story was submitted to the Peoples War site by volunteer John C Haywood 大象传媒 Radio Lincolnshire Action Desk on behalf of Mr Alex Clarke, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Clarke fully understands the site terms and conditions.

I was just approaching my teenage years at the outbreak of the second world war, and we lived at Shorne in Kent, quite near to the river Thames, and very near to Gravesend fighter station (Spitfires). We were very privileged to be able to witness a great deal of action from comparatively safe position. At this time we would listen to the German bombers on their way to London, and watch the local searchlights and anti-aircraft guns trying to stop them.
During one air raid we saw a parachute coming down and jumped on our bikes to rush and see the German pilot, only to be told he was a Spitfire pilot.

The next vivid memory is of German bombers attempting to reach London and other targets in day-light, and our fighters engaging them in the well known 'Battle of Britain'. On one occasion we were awakened by the sound of machine gun and small arms fire, and we thought the invasion had started. We found out the next day to our relief that parachute flares had been dropped near the aerodrome and the gunners had attempted to bring them down quickly. One night we saw what we thought were German aircraft that had been hit and were on fire, only to learn later that it was the first of the Doodle Bugs or V1 rockets.
The most exciting experience was to see our aircraft (I think Typhoons)use a developed method of bringing them down by lifting the wing tip of the V1 with the tip of the aircraft wing to change it's course.

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