Unexploded V1 Bomb: A memory of Welling

Unexploded V1 Bomb

A Memory of Welling.

My wife was living in Northhumberland Avenue when a V1 doodlebug passed by very low, to land unexploded at the top end of the avenue. She lived at number 208. The house number it landed at was about 220 to 230. It was on a Sunday afternoon. The man living there was in the kitchen having his lunch, and walked along the V1 to turn off his gas and water! My wife remembers quite clearly the V1 coming up the street, getting lower and lower with no noise. She and her friend Hazel ran indoors to get under the table shelters, there was a crashing sound but no big bang, so they were very lucky. The whole of the top end of the road was evacuated for 3 nights. They were told that it was the first V1 that had not exploded.

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Added 07 November 2009

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I recall reading some time ago the memory of a young concentration camp survivor. She sated that her mother was a forced labourer in a factory making V1'S and had at one time swallowed a vital part of the mechanism to disable the bomb. With its sharp edges the part caused her mothers death but apparently she comforted herself with the hope that she had saved some lives by her action. It would be nice to think that the Roy's wife and her friend, not to mention several others owe their lives to this heroic victim.

By Chris Scott on Sun Dec 12th 2021, at 5:43 pm

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