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Post by everso on May 3, 2010 22:24:17 GMT
Has anyone been watching "Blitz Street" on Channel 4? It's presented by Tony Robinson (the downside for me, but nevertheless..) and it focuses on civilian bombing that took place in the UK in WW2, demonstrating this by blowing up terraced houses specially built on a remote military base. Tonight they showed the effect a V1 (doodlebug) would have had.
They interspersed this with film of the actual devastation in various cities around the country and interviews with people who were teenagers at the time (now in their 80s). One man interviewed had lost his mother at the beginning of the war in a bombing raid, only to lose his father and sister later on to a V1 explosion. He was 18 at the time and said all he had left in the world was what he stood up in. "Still, I just had to get on with it", he said. Unbelievable. It's so easy to forget what today's older people had to live through at that time.
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Post by Weyland on May 4, 2010 6:52:22 GMT
Has anyone been watching "Blitz Street" on Channel 4? It's presented by Tony Robinson (the downside for me, but nevertheless..) and it focuses on civilian bombing that took place in the UK in WW2, demonstrating this by blowing up terraced houses specially built on a remote military base. Tonight they showed the effect a V1 (doodlebug) would have had. Didn't see it, but I did see this the other week, at the RAF Museum in Cosford . . .  V1 in front; V2 at the back. The web is littered with references to the V1 as a rocket. It wasn't. It had a jet engine, called a pulse- or ram-jet. The V2 was a rocket. Almost as many of both hit Antwerp as hit London. Antwerp is much smaller. Not many people know that. |
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Post by everso on May 4, 2010 9:24:11 GMT
No, the V1 wasn't a rocket. It had to be catapulted into the air. The fuel used in the doodlebug was (according to my grandad) called "Arsalight".
My mum, auntie and uncle (plus my grandparents) spent a good deal of time in their air raid shelter. Over the years I've heard (and still hear as my auntie is still alive) so many stories about their life at that time that I often feel I was there with them. They lived in Romford quite near the railway line into London, so saw plenty of action. Working at Plessey in Ilford, they were in reserved occupations.
My dad lived in London's East End (Stepney) and had plenty of stories about the Blitz, so this programme is of great of interest to me.
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Post by alanseago on May 4, 2010 15:13:30 GMT
We used to be woken up in the middle of the night to go and sit on the stairs. Strongest part of the house apparently.
No-one would go near the 'Anderson shelter'. Not to be trusted we were told, quite possibly true. It was flooded most of the time.
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stephan
Lovely, Happy & Gorgeous!
Posts: 278
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Post by stephan on May 4, 2010 16:54:25 GMT
Despite marrying my father(we all make mistakes) my mum was not always daft.
Her only war tale was of cycling to work with a friend when a Heinkel fly over-they turned their bikes around and pedalled the other way
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Post by trubble on May 4, 2010 19:14:51 GMT
Despite marrying my father(we all make mistakes) my mum was not always daft. Her only war tale was of cycling to work with a friend when a Heinkel fly over-they turned their bikes around and pedalled the other way  |
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Post by alanseago on May 4, 2010 20:18:05 GMT
Thank you Trubble, I understand much more clearly now.
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Post by Patrick on May 4, 2010 22:38:39 GMT
Despite marrying my father(we all make mistakes) my mum was not always daft. Her only war tale was of cycling to work with a friend when a Heinkel fly over-they turned their bikes around and pedalled the other way  My Nan's favourite story was that there was nothing wrong with her house -- the only thing wrong with it was the corner of the porch where the supporting bit of wood was slightly out of true with the rest of the house, and a couple of bricks above it from when a buzz bomb landed across the road. |
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