Coventry & Warwickshire in WWII

Hi Kaga. I think that you are about 7 or 8 years older than me so perhaps you were more aware of the dangers than I was. I was never really afraid during a raid but I suppose like most 9 year olds I thought that I was immortal. I, with my brother, frequently visited a lady across the road who was terrified during a raid and she would sit under the stairs shaking with fear. She feared the screaming bombs most. Always saying "This one's for us" but with the screamers one could land on your head or half a mile away, just couldn't tell. The night fell almost silent, just a distant crump sound of bombs dropping some distance away. As we left to go home we heard the familiar sound of an enemy aircraft overhead but thought little of it. Probably lost. In home we prepared for bed, past midnight, no school tomorrow. A huge bang, the windows blown in, door off its hinges. We went out to the street and realised that our friends' house was just rubble. Our house stood like that for days, no windows, no door. It was vacant for most of the day but not a thing in the house was stolen. Strangest thing I remember was during a raid, heavy bombing, past midnight. A slight tap on the front door, a small package lay on the mat. I wouldn't touch it because we knew that the Germans dropped sweets in packages and packs of John Player cig's that if opened would blow ones arms off. But, if dropped, it wouldn't go through the letter box? My sister eventually opened the package and it contained just a slice of cake. Never found out who would be abroad, early hours during a raid, just to post cake.

Norman stated in his post above "I wouldn't touch it because we knew that the Germans dropped sweets in packages and packs of John Player cig's that if opened would blow ones arms off". Hi Norman, all, I thought I knew a lot about the blitz on various British cities having studied it, but this is the first time I have ever heard of this! Is there anything to substantiate it or was it just rumour??

Hi Wearethemods. Answer, I really don't know. I never saw such devices but that doesn't mean that they never existed. At the age of twenty I was taught how to select and use explosives and continued to use them on a daily basis for the following decade. I saw your post yesterday evening and sat down with pencil and paper to design a detonator that would be small and reliable, I failed. So I got to thinking about some lesser stable explosives like nitrogen triode.That's OK but would be difficult to deliver and probably would not survive a fall from an aircraft Of course German explosive experts may have got over the problem as they may have had wider knowledge of their subject than I have. If I was to chose another name for myself it would be Wearetherockers.

Hmmmmm!

Wearethemods, I doubt it, I never ever heard of such devices, never heard that rumour, never read it in a newspaper, 'not' in 1940 time. People on here can read the old papers to find out if fact or fiction. They wouldn't be practical, blow a kid's arm off, would not stop production one bit or even affect morale, people would be just mad, and at the beginning of the war I doubt anyone would have the knowledge. I had never heard of letter bombs in those days, we had mines and grenades and these were a bit dodgy in 1940, we were hardly past the gelatine, wires and detonators state of the 1st war for personnel bombs. Norman, as you say it would be difficult to deliver. By the time you were twenty we had advanced lot in bomb making. If one had a personal grudge then yes a small bomb, but to waste men and machines early forties? I read somewhere a long time ago there where two gas bombs dropped (not on Coventry) but my memory quits on this one.

As I implied Kaga there was no proof that such devices existed. Just rumours I suppose but accepted as fact by us young children. It could have been possible but I wouldn't like to have been on an aircraft delivering them. The incident I described above was not in Old Church Rd or Arbury Ave but in Nunts Park Ave. Across the road from where we stayed the terraces were only half built. The first half dozen or so were occupied but further along the new builds were still clad in scaffolding. Our friend was tenant in the last of the new blocks to be finished and the first house in the blocks to be hit. Towards the end of the avenue was just a tangle of the old wooden scaffold poles and the rope that was used to bind them. That quarter of the avenue was left unfinished until after the war. This was just a residential area and I think the only target for some distance was the Dunlop. No idea if that was ever hit. Interesting point, if you travel along Nunts Park from Meadow Rd now you may notice a subtle difference in the construction from those built 1939 to those built post war. All council houses and presumably built to have a similarity. I think that both sides were cautious about the use of gas. Memories of 1914 were still in peoples minds.

Hi all, new poster so go easy on me! Does anybody know of or have info of a lone Luftwaffe raider that dropped his bombs on Courtaulds? My grandad says he made it back to France but the only thing I've found is one who was shot down in Rugby? Many thanks

There were two Courtaulds in Coventry. I know that Courtaulds Main Works had some bomb damage but compared with some other manufacturers the damage was slight.

Kev180. Welcome. The only German plane I know of that came down in that area was a Junkers 88, in the fields nearer Wolvey than Rugby. I know because I picked up one of the crew's 'thumb' in a hedge (it was an unnerving experience). But I do believe it crashed after a night of heavy bombardment from a number of planes. I spoke to people from Wolvey the next day and they described the screaming sound of the crashing plane as it hurtled to the earth, and the tremor of the ground when it struck. One can't really pin-point any individual plane, we heard the sounds and heard the rumours, to me any individual plane plane that dropped bombs was in trouble and was jettisoning his cargo, a one-plane flight to Coventry would make no sense at all. But we will never know the full extent of things that happened in those far off days.

Hi all This might help you. The Courtaulds topic.

That plane fell on Hopsford Hall farm near Withybrook.

I think that Kaga and Matchless are talking about the same incident. My stepmother obtained parachute material from the crew of that plane. But, and a big BUT, there were many bombers shot down and Warwickshire had its share.

matchle55, yes, you are quite correct, and the local info I got was from outside the Half Moon pub in Withybrook, after visiting the site. I was about 13/14 at the time. The engines were buried deep in the ground, such was the force of its plunge to earth, but no one could say from what squadron or station, or number of planes or target it had belonged to, these things were kept from the public at the time. That's if they were known. There was what we called a lone raider attacked Shilton Station, its engines much louder, meant it was lower, and only one 'stick' was dropped, but it disappeared into the night sky, and the same thing happened when they hit Sutton Stop, loud engines, one 'stick' and gone, from where, and to where, was unknown. But 'matchless' I'm intrigued to know if your info was at first hand, or handed down?

During the 1980's I was shown an old Wartime Register which was in the possessoion of Leek Wootton Police Training College. This recorded all the Plane Crashes / Air Accidents over Warwickshire giving details of the Aircraft type, Reason for crashing . Injuries sustained and the all too common number of fatalities (which was totalled at the bottom of each page). The number of trainee Pilots (a lot from Ansty Aerodrome ) who were killed is unbelievable. Some planes are listed, (including Heavy Bombers such as Lancasters) as crash landing on their way back from a raid on Germany, or mid air collisions in Trainers as well as enemy aircraft. The custodian copied the pages for me (however the register was foolscap size slightly larger than A4) but I haven't set eyes on them for years. I'll try and find them .

Kaga, aviation history and archaeology is a passion of mine and has been for some 50 years, there was a report of this crash in a magazine that I used to subscribe to, at the moment after much searching I cannot find it otherwise I could give a lot more detail. Edit, it was a Junkers JU88 which hit a balloon cable, 2 crew were killed and are buried in Oaston rd cemetery in Nuneaton and 2 parachuted to safety and capture.The date was 16th September 1940. Regarding local crashes, I have recently read a potted history of the wartime activity of Wellesbourne airfield and plotted all the crashes of aircraft from this airfield and others onto an ordnance survey map, total is over 100.