Bombs away…

Finally got it to work tonight and as I mentioned on another forum just now, I found a hit that was on a church around the corner from where I lived in Raynes Park. A babysitter showed me a picture of the shell of the church – I was six years old in 1977 when living there but those sort of things stick in your mind – thanks Mrs Clark 🙂 Amazing site though, quite an undertaking I would think…..

UXBs

It strikes me that one way to spot where unexploded bombs were is to follow the obvious line of a stick / salvo / whatever-you-want-to-call-it and see if there’s a gap. I spotted several such gaps just mooching around the site looking at places I know for five minutes. One would hope the majority of those UXBs had been dealt with already, but I wonder if anyone has ever looked at the bomb disposal records too and done the analysis?

Let’s get a sense of proportion here. I very much doubt it shows all bombs dropped during the period, or even most of them. How would they know? Presumably it shows the location of whichever bombs happened to be recorded.
It would be interesting to have an estimate of what proportion of total bombs dropped were recorded in the surveys.
It would be even more interesting to know where the unexploded ones are. The only one I know of is in a S. London cemetery.

Try this document..

http://www.contaminatedland.co.uk/sere-dip/estd-uxb.htm#KEYWORD-ONE

Let’s get a sense of proportion here. I very much doubt it shows all bombs dropped during the period, or even most of them. How would they know? Presumably it shows the location of whichever bombs happened to be recorded.
It would be interesting to have an estimate of what proportion of total bombs dropped were recorded in the surveys.
It would be even more interesting to know where the unexploded ones are. The only one I know of is in a S. London cemetery.

would be interesting to see a similar project for Berlin from say 1943 to 1945

Nibb100

It might be something to do with the fact that the Thames flows nearby, is readily visible at night, and the Luftwaffe, not without reason, associated the Thames with the London docks and other war important industries – just a guess.

I lived at East Sheen during the 60s and 70s and apart from the extremely large bulk of the Watney’s factory there were a number or riverside buildings that could have been mistaken.

one thing I noticed was that in East Sheen next to Richmond Park it seemed that most of the bombs were dropped on open spaces,

makes me wonder what instructions were given about bombing the suburbs,

when you look at the map, Richmond Park got it’s fair share but much smaller open spaces were peppered with bombs even cemeterys weren’t exempt

The site shows bombs dropped during the 1940/41 blitz only, so before V1 and V2 attacks in 1944. Which is what you recall, John. Hopefully these will be included at some point in the future.

Being rather ancient, I was a witness – albeit a young one – to much of the carnage caused by the Luftwaffe especially in my neighbourhood – South West London/Surrey borders.

I recall plenty of notices of ‘unexploded bombs’ posted at the entrances to streets. Land mines/parachute mines were on a parachute because they were almost all ‘delayed action’ weapons the firing mechanism of which could have been damaged by an abrupt contact with the ground eg. without a parachute.

One stick of high explosive bombs landed on Knox the newsagents shop in Tooting High St. only about 30 to 40 yards from my house. The blast went in another direction otherwise I probably would not now be writing this. A V2 rocket missile descended on Nutwall St. about 150 yards from where I lived.

A V1 doodle bug arrived without so much as ‘a by your leave’ on Totterdown St. this time, about one mile from my home. All things equal, quite an exciting time. Unless, as some have commented, there is a problem with the website mentioned, none of the above were featured, which is a bit strange.

I do not recall any casualties with any of these attacks, not even another stick of HE which landed on Himley Rd. a short distance away which flattened half of the street. Perhaps as a child I was sheltered from anything gruesome

Flak guns – 3.7 and 4.5 inch sited on Tooting Bec Common near the round pond where I used to sail a toy yacht and fish for sticklebacks, were very noisy but gave encouragement to most who were affected.

I had a go at this site a week, or so, ago (before the public announcement). It appeared to have a number of ‘hiccups’ then – which may, or may not, have been connected with bandwidth problems?
My main criticism is that one cannot (yet???) search for bomb plots on a particular day (well, if you can then I can’t find how to do it!).
Good site. Lot’s of interesting stuff there. Needs tidying up!
HTH
Resmoroh

If this site is to be believed, the number of UXB is relatively low

http://www.contaminatedland.co.uk/sere-dip/estd-uxb.htm

I tend to think there must be others though

Also re parachute bomb comment-what was the obvious benefit of using them instead of “free fall” bombs-were they on delay time fuses-set to disrupt things-well after the raids were over etc??

I’m going to pass comment on this, because if I’m wrong I will be put right very quickly!

As far as I am aware the “land mines” (the parachute bombs) were naval mines and presumably were dropped largely for blast effect as they weren’t going to penetrate the ground. They could do surprisingly little damage – although Navestock Church in Essex was badly damaged by one that fell in the churchyard, considering that the sundial in the photo marks where the thing fell, by all the rights it should have been utterly flattened…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barryslemmings/250398154/

I don’t think they were dropped with any particular accuracy (plus the higher they were dropped, the further they could drift) – my parent’s village in NW Essex stopped two one night, main damage a wood stripped of leaves and a number of broken windows – but they were fifty-odd miles from London, and five from the nearest likely target, RAF Debden.

Adrian

P.S. Has the Wail blamed the Huns yet?

Just think of all the tonnage still laying on the bottom of the Thames, would be interesting to see if any have turned up over the years.

Likewise with others comments-have found several close to where I grew up and also can recall family discussions-about the “big one that fell down such and such a road etc”-plus found one in which my Mum was injured-by flying glass. (a Land mine as she called it-but technically a parachute bomb I think?)

I have a question though-??
a huge number seem to be scatterred well around the suburbs and not neccesarily close to obvious industrial targets.
Did the Luftwaffe bomber squadrons normally set off with a specific target in mind-or was it just a question of dropping anywhere around London-to cause general disruption and lower morale etc.
I know that some raids were particularly notable for targetting say-the docks/main line stations etc-and can recall family members saying things like-they were trying to bomb the radio valve factory/school/local shops and so on-but suspect this was more just local popular myth/talk in the pub etc??

Also re parachute bomb comment-what was the obvious benefit of using them instead of “free fall” bombs-were they on delay time fuses-set to disrupt things-well after the raids were over etc??

Great site but bandwidth overwhelmed at present. Found a bomb hit very close to my grandmother’s house in Tottenham, but fortunately my mother had been evacuated to Lincolnshire..otherwise maybe no me!!

I used to leave in Southampton Way near Burgess Park, South London.
I can remember a street where an old victorian lamp post had a shrapnel hole in it. Often wondered what the story was. Now I can check!
Very dissapointed when a few years ago I went back to find the ornate lamp post had been replaced with a cheep and nasty modern one 😡

I mum was very small but can remember the V1’s flying overhead. My dads school was destroyed in a raid.

Fascinating site but a bit overwhelmed with demand at the moment.

Moggy

Wow! As a Londoner, it’s rather sobering to see this (when the link is working!). Already found bombs dropped in roads where I have lived or worked (and even went to school). I think I have matched a comment by a relation made many years ago who witnessed it to a bomb marked in one particular street.