Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Moderators: John, Sharon, Fossil, Lucky Poet, crusty_bint, Jazza, dazza

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby yoker brian » Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:30 pm

the researcher wrote:
yoker brian wrote:
Socceroo wrote:Fascinating Bomb map brian.

I don't think Bankhead School was completely destroyed, only a wing of it which was rebuilt in a fairly similar style to the remaining School.


Copied from a map in the city archives

if you have a month and year it would have most likely have been reported in the paper probably the daily record, would be worth a trawl through them to find the newspaper report about it check the newspaper index in mitchell library as it may be listed in that


It was the first night of what was to be known as the Blitz on Clydeside - 13/14th March 1941 when it took a direct hit from a German Parachute landmine - 39 people were killed

It wasn't reported as such in the papers of the time - due to the heavy wartime censorship & restrictions. it would have been reported as an incident in a west coast town.

The school was being used as an First Aid & ARP Post and Auxiluary Fire Station - it is well documented on the internet (including this forum) and in various books published about the war on clydeside.

I live about half a mile away from the school - I know it well, and a former colleague's mother was a pupil at the school at the time of the incident and later went on to be a teacher at the same school. The lady in question, lived with her parents directly opposite the school and the house was badly damaged when part of the school building was blown across the road and a girder crashed into the first floor bedroom - don't think I can get any better than a first hand account from someone who lived through it and can recall it as though it was yesterday

I do spend a fair bit of time at the Mitchell and familiar with the various sources of information and search tools available
Milk Sucks, Got Beer?
User avatar
yoker brian
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1425
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2004 9:28 pm
Location: Im here, where are you?

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Guacho » Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:32 pm

yoker brian wrote:
the researcher wrote:
yoker brian wrote:
Socceroo wrote:Fascinating Bomb map brian.

I don't think Bankhead School was completely destroyed, only a wing of it which was rebuilt in a fairly similar style to the remaining School.


Copied from a map in the city archives

if you have a month and year it would have most likely have been reported in the paper probably the daily record, would be worth a trawl through them to find the newspaper report about it check the newspaper index in mitchell library as it may be listed in that


It was the first night of what was to be known as the Blitz on Clydeside - 13/14th March 1941 when it took a direct hit from a German Parachute landmine - 39 people were killed

It wasn't reported as such in the papers of the time - due to the heavy wartime censorship & restrictions. it would have been reported as an incident in a west coast town.

The school was being used as an First Aid & ARP Post and Auxiluary Fire Station - it is well documented on the internet (including this forum) and in various books published about the war on clydeside.

I live about half a mile away from the school - I know it well, and a former colleague's mother was a pupil at the school at the time of the incident and later went on to be a teacher at the same school. The lady in question, lived with her parents directly opposite the school and the house was badly damaged when part of the school building was blown across the road and a girder crashed into the first floor bedroom - don't think I can get any better than a first hand account from someone who lived through it and can recall it as though it was yesterday

I do spend a fair bit of time at the Mitchell and familiar with the various sources of information and search tools available


My Granny doesn't know how to suck eggs! Anyone free? :D
User avatar
Guacho
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 558
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:22 pm
Location: Scotstoun

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby yoker brian » Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:58 pm

Guacho wrote:
My Granny doesn't know how to suck eggs! Anyone free? :D


::):
Milk Sucks, Got Beer?
User avatar
yoker brian
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1425
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2004 9:28 pm
Location: Im here, where are you?

Re:

Postby The Egg Man » Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:16 pm

Peekay wrote:
escotregen wrote:My interest in the Sussex was ignited by an old guy seemingly havering about the sinking of 'a battleship' in the Clyde blitz. .


Not during the Blitz but this was Britains biggest naval loss after the Royal Oak( Torped in Scapa Flow) which also rests in the Clyde. An converted aircraft carrier called HMS Dasher
Image

The story;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dasher_(D37)



Confidential documents relating to the sinking of an aircraft carrier in the Firth of Clyde are to be made public by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

HMS Dasher sank off the coast of Ardrossan on 27 March 1943 with the loss of 379 of her 528 crew.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-17861288
I hear the people sing.
The Egg Man
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2702
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:07 pm

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby dingdong » Sat Apr 28, 2012 1:47 pm

Just been reading some of this thread perhaps I missed it but dont see any mention of the ack-ack site behind wayside cottage on the road to Drymen clearly shown on google maps,also the house destroyed on Glenburn St,Gilshochill.
dingdong
First Stripe
First Stripe
 
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Fossil » Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:10 pm

dingdong wrote:Just been reading some of this thread perhaps I missed it but dont see any mention of the ack-ack site behind wayside cottage on the road to Drymen clearly shown on google maps,also the house destroyed on Glenburn St,Gilshochill.


fire up the linky
Bum tit tit bum tit tit play yer hairy banjo
User avatar
Fossil
-
-
 
Posts: 12310
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2004 12:07 am
Location: Pitt Street

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Pgcc93 » Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:41 pm

dingdong wrote:Just been reading some of this thread perhaps I missed it but dont see any mention of the ack-ack site behind wayside cottage on the road to Drymen clearly shown on google maps


It's not in this thread as that gun site was post ww2 c.1947 as a radar controlled gun emplacement. There's a topic on here somewhere it you want to search for it.
User avatar
Pgcc93
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 4104
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2003 8:12 pm
Location: Hotel Du Vin

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby moonbeam » Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:57 am

The Drymen road gunsite was constructed in 1947/48 to combat the Russian"threat". It had massive naval type gun emplacements and was radar controlled.The RAF took over air defence in 1955 and these gunsites became unused as missile battaries took over.I recall Alexanders blue single deckers going out the Drymen road with "Gunsite" on the destination screens. So we got the bus to Auchengillan. I dont know if I mentioned before that Garscadden Mains gunsite at the present Jedworth Ave in Drumchapel was the second radar controlled gunsite in Scotland. Radar- miles of chicken wire- was installed in January/ February 1941.
moonbeam
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:32 am

West Ends Luftmine UXB

Postby Socceroo » Sun Sep 23, 2012 9:05 am

Earlier in this thread, the Luftmine which landed at the corner of Queen Margaret Drive at Queen Margaret Road is noted. I read with interest in Andrew Jeffrey’s “This Time of Crisis (Glasgow, the West of Scotland and the North Western Approaches in the Second World War)”, that it was one of two Luftmines that were dropped at around the same time, in the same area during the Clydeside raids in March 1941.

“The second mine crashed through the roof of the Aberholme Hotel at 84 Kelvin Drive and came to rest on the landing, fortunately without exploding. More than eight feet long and two and a half feet in diameter, black and with its green parachute still entangled on the roof, it was made safe by a naval mine disposal party the following morning.”

A very lucky escape for that corner of the West End. Given that a Luftmine could cause serious blast damage to a radius of about half a mile, we can imagine the devastation that would have been caused if the Luftmine had exploded.

84 Kelvin Drive is shown in the google earth overlay below


Image
User avatar
Socceroo
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1369
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:51 pm
Location: Mount Flo, Glasgow

Re:

Postby An Taigh Sear 14 » Sun Sep 30, 2012 6:34 pm

Socceroo wrote:I would agree with you Crusty, the Easterhouse Ack – Ack site appears to be Wellhouse Road. Where would that fit into the list below? – Queenslie Industrial Estate?

From various websites, books and the Mitchell, the following is given as the addresses of the main Anti – Aircraft Installations and Support :

Main Clyde Valley / Glasgow Anti – Aircraft Sites

North Clyde

N1 – Queenslie Industrial Estate
N2 – Rushyhill, South Lenzie
N3 – Blackhill Farm, Balmuidy
N4 – Bearsden at Chesterton Road / Station Road
N5 – Craigmaddie
N6 – Khyber Pass, Craigend
N7 – Duntiglennan Farm, Duntocher
N8 – Gooseholm Farm, Dumbarton
N9 – Geilston, Cardross
N10 – Upper Helensburgh
N11 – Garelochead
N12 – Coulport, Loch Long

South Clyde

S1 – Blantyre Farm
S2 – Aitkenhead Road, Kings Park
S3 – Ralston Golf Club
S4 – Foxbar at Paisley / Barrhead Road
S5 – Neilston at Barrhead / Lugton Road
S6 – Linwood
S7 – Drumcross Farm, Bishopton
S8 – Whinhill, Greenock

Anti – Aircraft Support

Anti – Aircraft Divisional HQ – Sprinkell Avenue, Pollokshields, Glasgow

Command Supply Depot – Palace of Art, Bellahouston Park

Searchlight Sites HQ – Auchendennan House, Loch Lomond

Ammunition Depot (North Clyde) – Balmuidy Road, Bishopbriggs

Ammunition Depot (South Clyde) – Georgetown, Renfrewshire

Balloon Barrage – Low Moss, Bishopbriggs

Artificial Smoke – Dyke Road, Knightswood

The Imperial War Museum apparently have a list of map co-ordinates for the main Anti – Aircraft sites. I have requested these with some more info on bomb sites.

Also as per one of my previous postings on this thread, there is a photo in the Imperial War Museum website which shows Aitkenhead House getting used also as an area HQ, although it is not listed in the main archive lists from the same source?

Anyone live near any of the Ack – Ack sites listed above? Anyone heard any local stories about the installations – where they were sited etc?

GNG1; N1; CLYDE AA DEFENCES; HALLHILL; WARE ROAD; EDINBURGH ROAD
http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/searc ... &id=107537

Returning to the Easterhouse Ack Ack Site, the above reference and link mentions Ware Road. I lived there before and can actually still be there within a few minutes.

Now looking at the old black and white photo, I would be looking for nearby Blairtummock House with it's grounds and the old Monklands Canal (now the M8 of course) in relation to Ware Road.
It is very hard to tell but when that picture is blown up (pardon the pun), could that be Blairtummock House just at the very bottom of the photo? If so the artery to the left of the house could certainly be the canal and that would certainly put the AA Battery around what is now Wardie and Ware roads.

I maybe wrong but as the scotlandsplaces link above gives grid references and latitude and longitude perhaps some kind soul with an interest in and knowledge of such things could help?
An Taigh Sear 14
Busy bunny
Busy bunny
 
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:50 pm

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby ChrisR » Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:29 pm

Hi There,
I am hoping there might be someone with local knowledge who might be able to help me regarding an incident involving an unexploded parachute mine by a church in Glasgow in March 1941.
Lt Ronald Smith got a George Medal for disarming a parachute-mine 3 yards from London's St Paul's Cathedral as well as another next to a church 'in Cowdeshall Road, Glasgow' on 14 March 1941.
I cannot find any references what-so-ever to 'Cowdeshall' through googling.
Anyone got any ideas - old maps index of Glasgow?
Tried some mis-spellings and looked a list on the net that mentions UX parachute mines in Clydebank, but not finding anything.
Would really like to find which church it was.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
ChrisR
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:49 pm

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby moonbeam » Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:19 pm

The entire east end of Drumchapel Parish Church in Garscadden Road was blown off by a parachute mine on the second night of the Clydebank blitz. Six houses at the corner of Turret Road in Knightswood next the UF Church on Gt Western Road were hit. Maybe it is Cowdenhill Road in Knightswood which is not far from this. Bombs were dropped on various nights after this. The Clydebank Blitz was not the only night bombs fell. One thing was the RAF were told to fly at 14,000 ft and the Ack Ack fired to 10,000 ft plus. The RAF were trying to sort out "blue on blue" ie our own planes getting shot down by our own ack ack and planes! Its reconned that some how the Germans knew this the nights of the Clydebank blitz. Thus they flew in at around 12,000ft. I have my dads ARP/Home Guard diary for the Clydebank area for that year. The Bulletine newspaper for 19th March had a photo of the Peel of Drumry with a headline on the lines of "Raid on West Central Scotland 36 cows killed when byre hit". It was a way of getting round the censorship of reporting the big raids on Clydebank.
moonbeam
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:32 am

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby yoker brian » Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:47 pm

moonbeam wrote:The entire east end of Drumchapel Parish Church in Garscadden Road was blown off by a parachute mine on the second night of the Clydebank blitz. Six houses at the corner of Turret Road in Knightswood next the UF Church on Gt Western Road were hit. Maybe it is Cowdenhill Road in Knightswood which is not far from this. Bombs were dropped on various nights after this. The Clydebank Blitz was not the only night bombs fell. One thing was the RAF were told to fly at 14,000 ft and the Ack Ack fired to 10,000 ft plus. The RAF were trying to sort out "blue on blue" ie our own planes getting shot down by our own ack ack and planes! Its reconned that some how the Germans knew this the nights of the Clydebank blitz. Thus they flew in at around 12,000ft. I have my dads ARP/Home Guard diary for the Clydebank area for that year. The Bulletine newspaper for 19th March had a photo of the Peel of Drumry with a headline on the lines of "Raid on West Central Scotland 36 cows killed when byre hit". It was a way of getting round the censorship of reporting the big raids on Clydebank.


Hi Moonbeam - interesting to read that you have your Dad's ARP/Home Guard diary for the Clydebank area - is there any mention of Yoker , that you'd be willing to share with me? If you dont want to share via the forum, I understand maybe by Pvt Message?
Milk Sucks, Got Beer?
User avatar
yoker brian
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1425
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2004 9:28 pm
Location: Im here, where are you?

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Guacho » Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:40 pm

yoker brian wrote:
moonbeam wrote:The entire east end of Drumchapel Parish Church in Garscadden Road was blown off by a parachute mine on the second night of the Clydebank blitz. Six houses at the corner of Turret Road in Knightswood next the UF Church on Gt Western Road were hit. Maybe it is Cowdenhill Road in Knightswood which is not far from this. Bombs were dropped on various nights after this. The Clydebank Blitz was not the only night bombs fell. One thing was the RAF were told to fly at 14,000 ft and the Ack Ack fired to 10,000 ft plus. The RAF were trying to sort out "blue on blue" ie our own planes getting shot down by our own ack ack and planes! Its reconned that some how the Germans knew this the nights of the Clydebank blitz. Thus they flew in at around 12,000ft. I have my dads ARP/Home Guard diary for the Clydebank area for that year. The Bulletine newspaper for 19th March had a photo of the Peel of Drumry with a headline on the lines of "Raid on West Central Scotland 36 cows killed when byre hit". It was a way of getting round the censorship of reporting the big raids on Clydebank.


Hi Moonbeam - interesting to read that you have your Dad's ARP/Home Guard diary for the Clydebank area - is there any mention of Yoker , that you'd be willing to share with me? If you dont want to share via the forum, I understand maybe by Pvt Message?

Should get it it scanned asap, it's over 70 years old- don't know if the Mitchell have funds for this. How many pages?
User avatar
Guacho
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 558
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:22 pm
Location: Scotstoun

Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby moonbeam » Fri Jan 25, 2013 12:07 am

Hi Guys wrong church. On page 75 ofJeffrey's book This time of Crisis."Unexploded mine was discovered at the corner of Cowdenhill Road and Great Western Road." So right beside the Episcople Church. The diaries only give times sirens go off and all clear. Not terribly interesting. Claims of planes down are not now substantiated ie true!
moonbeam
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:32 am

PreviousNext

Return to Hidden Glasgow Projects

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 51 guests