- Contributed by听
- 大象传媒 Open Centre, Hull
- People in story:听
- Mrs Nan McDonald of Goole.
- Location of story:听
- Scotland
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4504655
- Contributed on:听
- 21 July 2005
At 11 years of age I was sat outside in the garden when the Air Raid Siren sounded. Civil Defence Wardens started blowing their whistles and shouting for everyone to get inside and under cover. There was a strange unfamiliar sound above and on looking upwards I saw puffs of 'cotton wool' bursting in the sky. This was the anti-aircraft shells announcing the first German air raid on Britain when German bombs fell on British soil.
The raid took place on the Firth of Forth (Scotland) on 16th October, 1039 when the Forth Rail Bridge and the Royal Navy vessels were bombed.
I did not know at the time that it was a young Group Captain Dunholm, a man from Bo'ness - my own home town, that commanded and led the 603 City of Edinburgh Squadron of Spitfires which shot down the first German plane over British soil in WW2.
Group Captain Denholm with the 603 Squadron flew to Hornchurch in 1940 and it was one of the top scoring Squadrons in the Battle of Britain.
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