[Tech1] A badge - V1 Doodlebugs

[Graeme Wall]

I have a distinct memory of seeing a tram in London, they stopped running in 1952 when I was three years old.

— 
Graeme Wall


> On 6 Dec 2020, at 13:11, Peter Fox via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> Ok here’s a fairly precise toddler memory measure. I was taken to Stone Park maternity hospital in my uncle’s  Flying Standard car to fetch my baby sister home and I clearly remember the big green swing doors opening and her coming out, as a bundle of course.  I was two years four months and twenty days old plus a few days of recuperation time which mums got in those days. Apparently they had already asked some time before if I would like a baby sister and I said “No, I would rather have a bus”. I don’t remember saying that but I do clearly  remember the tin plate bus which I towed around on a piece of string. It’s long gone so no appearance on Antiques Road show despite my being an antique. I don’t specifically recall doodlebugs and bombs.
> I really was too young, a few days old when another wing of Lewisham Hospital was bombed in April 44, but for years I was disturbed by droning aero engines, and seeing searchlights at night but I think that was all postwar logistics and the soon to be disbanded anti aircraft teams going through the motions. I seems I missed all the fun.
> 
> Peter Fox
> 
> On 5 Dec 2020, at 22:28, Nick Ware via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
> 
>  I wonder how many of you guys actually remember seeing those V1 Doodlebugs in action? I’ve always believed that our earliest permanent memories begin from about age four. But when I was barely three years old (1944/5) we lived in Guildford, up on the Hog’s Back. Directly out of my North facing bedroom window you could see all the way to London, and all the flashing and fire and smoke that went on there lit up the sky every night. 
> And nearby in line of sight was the very conspicuous part-completed chancel of Guildford Cathedral. A bit South of us is Shalford, where there was a big ammunition factory and a railway line that carried munitions between Horsham and Guildford, and thence to wherever they were needed. German aircraft used St Martha’s church a bit further to the Southeast on the Pilgrims’ Way as a visual navigation landmark for targeting the heavily defended ammunition factory, and the Cathedral was a visual marker heading towards London. From my window we could see German bombers and the V1’s passing overhead making their eery pulse-jet sound, that would suddenly cut out causing the V1 to nosedive to the ground and explode. That spike on the nose was the detonator. Plus of course, we saw all the British aircraft intercepting them.
> I know I shouldn’t theoretically be able to remember any of that, but I’m convinced that such was the horror of it all, I still see and hear it vividly, and not because of film footage I’ve seen since then. All made worse by the fact that my Dad’s brother and family, and his mum, my Gran, lived in the Clapham area, and my poor Dad had no way of knowing if they were OK. 
> So, who else here lives with those memories? We don’ t need badges to bring it all back. Maybe CV1 and CV2 would be more appropriate!
> Nick.
> Nick Ware - Sent from my iPad mini 5
> 
>> On 5 Dec 2020, at 20:12, Graeme Wall via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
>> 
>>  You wouldn’t need a second jab after this one:
>> — 
>> Graeme Wall
>> 
>> <V1 flying bomb on ramp.jpg>
>> 
>>> On 5 Dec 2020, at 20:05, Bernard Newnham via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Already a talking point then
>>> 
>>> On Sat, 5 Dec 2020, 18:56 Keith Wicks, <keithwicksuk at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> But they make you look like a nerd specialising in German bombs!
>>> 
>>> KW
>>> 
>>> On Sat, 5 Dec 2020 at 17:55, Bernard Newnham via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
>>> I thought maybe that there'll be a financial opportunity for someone next month. Get the jab, wear a badge -
>>> 
>>> <v1.jpg>
>>> 
>>> <v2.jpg>
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