Bombardier
05-04-05, 17:34
Here is an excerpt from Middleton Guardian (http://www.middletonguardian.co.uk/) which covers some incidents during WWII
World War II
JOHN Bagot recalls... "We were very lucky in Middleton. There were many casualties amongst our men and many heartaches, but nothing so devastating as during the First World War.
And although few bombs were dropped there was little damage and no casualties. The first bombs were dropped in a line across Middleton Junction. Not one of them exploded.
One dropped in Grimshaw Lane near to St Gabriel's School. I went there as soon as it was light and found a RE officer examining a largish bomb, one of a stick of five that had been dropped.
The officer showed it to me. It bore the mark of the Skoda factory in Czechoslovakia. It and all the others had been sabotaged at the factory. They were without detonators. Later one very large bomb was dropped in Manchester Old Road at Croft Gates where a deep crater appeared and various mains were severed.
One day I was driving back to Middleton when, while crossing Slattocks bridge I noticed men working on the road were flinging themselves down. I stopped, jumped out of the car and promptly ducked my head.
For flying low over the railway line was a large plane bearing German markings. As it flew low, obviously following the railway line towards Middleton Junction, I could see the bomb doors slowly opening. When it appeared to be over the Junction the plane gained some height. Then in the distance I could see a sudden flash and heard a rumble. That German had dropped his load on Avro's huge factory. The pilot circled and made off over the Pennines at speed.
That night, I heard the renegade Englishman known as Lord Hawhaw broadcasting from Hamburg to tell of the raid, claiming the destruction of a large aircraft factory in Lancashire and the safe return of the plane and its crew. What he didn't know was that this was one of the few days throughout the war when the factory was closed and most of the damage was caused to the canteen.
The saddest part of the story is that although there were anti-aircraft guns and heavy machine guns mounted on the roof of the factory they never came into action. The same thing happened at the big RAF station at Bowlee when another lone German plane machine gunned the parade ground at the time of an inspection of personnel. We heard afterwards the two WAAFs were killed and others wounded, but security was so tight that what really happened never became public knowledge.
Here again though a few guns were mounted, none were fired."
World War II
JOHN Bagot recalls... "We were very lucky in Middleton. There were many casualties amongst our men and many heartaches, but nothing so devastating as during the First World War.
And although few bombs were dropped there was little damage and no casualties. The first bombs were dropped in a line across Middleton Junction. Not one of them exploded.
One dropped in Grimshaw Lane near to St Gabriel's School. I went there as soon as it was light and found a RE officer examining a largish bomb, one of a stick of five that had been dropped.
The officer showed it to me. It bore the mark of the Skoda factory in Czechoslovakia. It and all the others had been sabotaged at the factory. They were without detonators. Later one very large bomb was dropped in Manchester Old Road at Croft Gates where a deep crater appeared and various mains were severed.
One day I was driving back to Middleton when, while crossing Slattocks bridge I noticed men working on the road were flinging themselves down. I stopped, jumped out of the car and promptly ducked my head.
For flying low over the railway line was a large plane bearing German markings. As it flew low, obviously following the railway line towards Middleton Junction, I could see the bomb doors slowly opening. When it appeared to be over the Junction the plane gained some height. Then in the distance I could see a sudden flash and heard a rumble. That German had dropped his load on Avro's huge factory. The pilot circled and made off over the Pennines at speed.
That night, I heard the renegade Englishman known as Lord Hawhaw broadcasting from Hamburg to tell of the raid, claiming the destruction of a large aircraft factory in Lancashire and the safe return of the plane and its crew. What he didn't know was that this was one of the few days throughout the war when the factory was closed and most of the damage was caused to the canteen.
The saddest part of the story is that although there were anti-aircraft guns and heavy machine guns mounted on the roof of the factory they never came into action. The same thing happened at the big RAF station at Bowlee when another lone German plane machine gunned the parade ground at the time of an inspection of personnel. We heard afterwards the two WAAFs were killed and others wounded, but security was so tight that what really happened never became public knowledge.
Here again though a few guns were mounted, none were fired."