Croydon 15th August 1940 Introduction

 The bombing of Croydon Aerodrome (RAF Croydon), Thursday 15^th August 1940

Britain had been at war just under one year but in that time Germany had forced the surrender of first Poland, then Denmark and Norway, then the Netherlands, Belgium and – unimaginably – France.  Most of the British army in France had evacuated from Dunkirk but without the tanks and artillery crucial to modern warfare.  Hitler threatened invasion and the RAF was fighting for control of the air in the Battle of Britain. 

At 6.50pm on that sunny day, German aircraft attacked the aerodrome at Croydon, in peacetime London’s foremost civilian airport but now an RAF fighter base and home to one operational squadron (number 111) and one Canadian squadron gaining experience and upgrading their equipment prior to becoming operational (number 1 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force).

About 20 German planes were involved, mainly Messerschmitt Bf-110s.  Each plane was capable of carrying two 500kg high explosive bombs to destroy buildings.  Accounts suggest some bombs may have contained oil designed to set buildings alight and also incendiary bomblets.  In addition, each plane had machine guns, mainly for defence against attacking aircraft but also used to ‘spray’ the target area with bullets.

Walter Martin was an anti-aircraft gunner on the roof of the Aerodrome Hotel: “We were in the mess room at Croydon when the tannoy yelled ‘One, one, one – come to readiness!’ followed by ‘Scramble!’ [One-one-one was the squadron’s number, 111]

By the time I reached my station only one plane was left on the field. I heard a whistling noise, just as I had heard in the Talkies and my immediate feeling was disbelief. A moment later I was convinced. Everything shook as the bomb exploded on Purley Way, on the footpath in front of a public surface shelter. While the debris was still shooting skywards, there was a second whistling and a bomb was aimed right at the back of my neck. It fell against the hotel wall beneath us.

The whistling and exploding continued in rapid order, and all seemed very close indeed. Any moment the next one would exterminate us, seeing that we were sitting on top of the target. Ready to shoot, we looked up and saw two white twin-engined planes, one of which was diving directly towards us. At that moment the huge cloud of dust and smoke drifted over. We were in a dense fog and could not see a thing. We craned our necks and swung the guns around looking for a chance to shoot but the chance never came. It was bad, standing there, waiting to be blown to pieces and not being able to hit back. We disobeyed orders and fired blind.

Silence descended and the smoke began to clear. It was all over. There was a strong smell of cordite and the roof of the hotel was covered with earth and debris. We had suffered no casualties but we were very shaken. As we remained poised, waiting for the return of the raiders, the air raid warning sounded, so we had every right to expect another blasting.  We didn’t have one.  The ‘all clear’ sounded minutes later but it was a long time before we were allowed to ‘stand down’.

Some members of our troop had a narrow escape. A bomb had come down between two gun pits, broken through the concrete roof, gone down to the basement and set off ammunition which exploded like fire-crackers.  Five airmen had been killed.

Rollason’s aircraft repair works was blazing and I could feel the heat on my face. Most of the damage seemed to be among the works and hangars. A red bus stood askew in Purley Way and looked as if it had been thrown aside by the force of the explosion.”

(quoted in Ogley, page 48)

Jean Bodger, was at home in Wallington, close to the aerodrome:

“Suddenly I heard the sound of aircraft followed by a lot of noise and was so frightened that I headed straight into the back garden where we had excavated and installed a very primitive air raid shelter. I tried to get Ruff to come in with me, but he was barking ferociously at the planes overhead.”

Alice Bodger, Jean’s mother, wrote a letter to her sister in Wolverhampton:

“I suppose you heard on the wireless about the bombing of Croydon Aerodrome. I was just walking up Foresters Drive with Daisy Fildew and we noticed the sky seemed alive with planes - but, being used to seeing so many go up from the drome, we looked up and I said ‘Bless their hearts’.
We stood calmly gazing and suddenly heard explosions of some sort. Then we heard a terrific noise and between the houses backing on the Drome, I saw mountains of smoke. We dashed for our lives to Daisy's shelter and it seemed as if all the bombs were let loose all together. The bombing was marvellously accurate. There are factories on that side of the drome and I understand they were hit and I'm afraid there will be many casualties in one as they were still at work. It's a factory which makes aeroplane parts.”

(http://195.188.87.10/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/87/a4040687.shtml)

Brian Haines was living in Hamilton Way, just to the west of the aerodrome.  “[A]ll of a sudden there was a terrific roar from the airfield and it was the fighters taking off.  I always dashed to see this spectacle, it really was rather like some ancient cavalry charge – knights in armour – as these fellows went thundering up and away … This time, the aeroplanes took off to the west, and that was it as far as I was concerned – show over …

Perhaps five or six minutes went by while we were stuffing away the ham and cos lettuce, and suddenly I heard another extraordinary noise like an aeroplane coming down out of control …

[A]t that moment there was the most God-awful crash. I have never heard anything like it in my life. It was as if the whole sky had split open – not just a bang but … very, very difficult to describe, it wasn’t so much a noise as a sort of physical phenomenon, and a great gout of earth and stuff rose into the air from the gas company sports ground.  This character had presumably been aiming at the hangars on the north side and the factories, and he’d missed.”

After seeing his mother and sister into shelter he went back to watch. “There was another Messerschmitt 110 climbing away in the general direction of Peaks Hills and Hillcrest Road and two Hurricanes, one coming up and one going down, and I thought to myself, ‘Well, there’s one that’s had it – he won’t get very far.’ I remember that there was a tremendous tinkling and clattering of spent cartridge cases.  I knew very well that Tug Wilson and Bill Light, the two RAF friends of mine who were anti-aircraft gunners, had 20 millimetre Oerlikon cannons in this big emplacement where Plough Lane jutted out into the aerodrome, and I heard their cannon open up. It fired about 20 rounds and stopped and I thought someone must have hit them; and yet there was nothing happening over there – the attack was on the north and east.”

(quoted in Cluett et al page 71)

Jean Gough saw the attack from the chemist’s shop where she worked on Wallington High Street.  She had a date with a Canadian sergeant who should have met her at work at 5.30 but actually arrived at her home at 10pm; he said he had been on a trolley bus going past the airport and that during the raid the power cables were cut so he went back to help with casualties. (quoted in Wicks)