大象传媒

We were schoolgirls (aged 13) who had been evacuated to Aberdare (in South Wales) with our friends. We carried gasmasks with us everywhere and when the sirens went our classes were sent into the sandbagged quadrangle at Ilford County High School. The author Nina Bawden was headgirl of my school and she too was evacuated to Aberdare. Her book 'Carrie's War' was based upon the experience we all had there. We tried to live an ordinary life -style so we would go on cycle rides into the countryside around Hainault and Epping Forest and when we heard an ominous noise approaching high above in the sky we would jump off our bikes and lie in the nearest ditch - a doodlebug was flying overhead - it had the noise of an angry wasp - and once the engine cut out we knew it would dive to earth with disastrous results for people on the ground. A Doodlebug was a pilotless aircraft destined for London from Germany. Because they flew over Essex we would often see them dropping from the sky.

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