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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Contributed byÌý
People of the Nothe Fort and Weymouth Museum
People in story:Ìý
Roger Fry
Location of story:Ìý
Woodford Cheshire
Background to story:Ìý
Civilian
Article ID:Ìý
A4161854
Contributed on:Ìý
07 June 2005

Born in February some 10 miles from Manchester, my WW2 experiences are necessarily few but very vivid, especially the night-time decamps from cosy warm bed to the cold, damp and smelly Anderson shelter in the back garden, so horrible that over time the family went no further than under the kitchen table or into the small cupboard under the stairs.
My father (an RN convoy signalman in WW1) was in the Home Guard (Dad’s Army) and kept his rifle and helmet at home. He was also a fire watcher at night on the roof of his place of work, Manchester Central Library.
My grandparents lived on the Chester Road, Woodford, Cheshire with fine views across fields to the runways of Avro factory. Perhaps because I knew that my step-brother was a Sergeant Navigator in Wellington bombers, whenever I stayed I would listen night and day for Merlin engines of the Lancaster bombers warming up. When the wind was right, on some days one would rush into the garden just in time to see a new Lancaster, wheels down, just leaving the ground and struggling to gain enough height to clear the chimneys — the roar of the engines was tremendous and I can still recall it now.
Excitedly I would wave to the pilot as he set off to bomb Hitler………I now know that the gloved hand which sometimes waved back was not a bomber ace but another unsung hero — or heroine, a ferry pilot, frequently female delivering yet another Lancaster to an operational squadron.

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