Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

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BOMBS OVER GLASGOW

Postby Socceroo » Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:04 pm

Thanks Crusty, i have the aerial atlas. A very useful book. I know also the more modern flats you refer to in Deanston Drive.

I am noting from my research on this subject and from the superb feedback from HG members that there are a number of areas where you can see a bombing pattern probably in a number of cases from one aircraft.
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Postby crusty_bint » Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:39 pm

No probs mate, you're welcome. Looking forward to seeing your map Socceroo, quite an interesting subject you have here. It's funny, that we don't really associate bombings of WWII with Glasgow ...unless you know of Alexander Thomson.

In fact, >here's< a fantastic wee model of his Queens Park Church, Id be most grateful if you could pinpoint that on your map for me as I havn't yet been able to work out where on Langside Rd it was.

Anyways, I went to the bother of doing this so you'll damn well see it now!!! ::):

1 is the flats I mean.
2 is some 70's stuff, all CDA though, no bombs involved I dont think
3 is the only other possible site as far as I can tell/remember

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BOMBS OVER GLASGOW

Postby Socceroo » Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:23 pm

The Queens Park Church site in Langside Road is quite easy to find. Go about 75 - 100 yards down Langside Road from where it starts on a dead end at Queens Drive opposite Queens Park.

On the left hand or west side of the road there is a compact block of modern brick flats which are about 15 years old.

This is the site.

I believe it was an incendiary bomb which started a fire in that particular raid.

I read Gavin Stamps book on Alexander Thompson, it was quite a Church.
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Postby Schiehallion » Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:44 pm

crusty_bint wrote:Anyways, I went to the bother of doing this so you'll damn well see it now!!! ::):

1 is the flats I mean.
2 is some 70's stuff, all CDA though, no bombs involved I dont think
3 is the only other possible site as far as I can tell/remember

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Here's number 3 from another angle.

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BOMBS OVER GLASGOW

Postby Socceroo » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:56 am

Excellent photograph Schiehallion, i think we can safely say that it depicts a bombsite in Deanston Drive.

I notice that the tenements in the photograph are pretty black apart from those opposite the gap site, which appear a bit more blonde which would suggest that they perhaps have received repairs after receiving damage / shrapnel during the air raid.
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Postby Fossil » Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:59 pm

I’ve moved this worthy subject to Hidden projects folks

On a side note has anyone came across any Lamp posts with the black and white stripes on them [mentioned by escotregen on another topic]?
The only locations I have of these WW 2 relics are One located just before Dalmarnock bridge [Left hand side coming from Glasgow] and Victoria road [facing a stonemason/car dealership]
Anyone seen any?

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Postby Socceroo » Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:29 pm

I have been reliably informed that the tenements opposite the Nursery in Deanston Drive - Crusty's site No. 3 are red sandstone of a very modern design and that they may even be post war replacements.

Worth looking into.
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Postby johnnyanglia » Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:20 pm

I talked to a friend today who is now in his Seventies. He remembers as a child at the age of 8 or 9(1941-2)a bomb destroying an ice cream shop at Kent St(The Barras)and a landmine exploding in Carntyne. He could remember hearing it at his home in Moir St.(The Calton). He said that a brick baffle was constructed over the close mouth and everyone took shelter there when the bombers came over. He said it was very cold however and after a short period of time when the alarm sounded people just hid under the table in their own flat.
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BOMBS OVER GLASGOW

Postby Socceroo » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:07 pm

Thanks Johnnyanglia. Excellent stuff. As i probably said earlier there is so little in the written history of Glasgow about the city being bombed therefore getting first hand accounts from older people is really interesting.

I think there is something about the Kent Street bomb - i think a photograph - in the book "Glasgow at War" . This book is excellent, it is a photo history of Glasgow during both world wars.

However, it says little about the bombing of Glasgow and probably says more about the two day blitz over Clydebank.
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Postby Schiehallion » Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:25 pm

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Postby Schiehallion » Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:49 pm

crusty_bint wrote:In fact, >here's< a fantastic wee model of his Queens Park Church, Id be most grateful if you could pinpoint that on your map for me as I havn't yet been able to work out where on Langside Rd it was.


The magnificent entrance was left looking like this..

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BOMBS OVER GLASGOW

Postby Socceroo » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:33 pm

Schiehallion, thanks for the link to the story of HMS Sussex i think i have read about it before in "Glasgow at War" or it might have been another book.

I remember my Grandfather, who stayed in Govan and who worked in the shipyard's telling me about a battleship that was ready to leave Govan laden with ammunition.

The ship was hit with several bombs including one which did not go off and had to be defused. It was only later did i learn of the ships name - HMS Sussex and the story of how the area around the shipyards on both sides of the river had to be evacuated.

The photograph of the Queens Park Church after the incendiary bomb set it alight i do not recall seeing before. Thanks for that one also.

The list grows.
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Postby browning » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:14 pm

germistonguy wrote:Not bombs as such, but this might trigger someone elses thoughts. I have vague memories of my granny telling me how she watched a German aircraft, which had been shot at, going down. She was watching from Germiston and looking over towards Petershill road/Springburn area. Can't remember for sure if she said exactly where the aircraft came down - could have been Springburn/Bishopbriggs - like I said vague memories. I would be curious to know if anyone can put anything concrete behind this.

Your granny probably witnessed the Junkers 88 bomber that crashed on Blairskaith Muir west of (what is now ) Lennox forest on 6 May 1941. The bomber had been part of an attacking force that night on the Stevenston explosives factory at Ardeer in Ayrshire. An RAF Defiant night fighter attacked and damaged the plane during the raid and it thereafter headed north east towards Glasgow. It passed over Pollok Estate then over Blackhill Farm reportedly "in flames" and then crashed and exploded on the muir. Of the crew of four, two baled out over Balmore golf course and were captured by a local home guard unit. The pilot, Hauptmann Gerd Hansmann and co-pilot Oberleutnant Werner Coenen were both killed in the crash. They were buried (at the time) in Lennoxtown cemetery - very much against the wishes of the locals. Gerd Hansmann remains buried there to this day (his headstone partially vandalized) and Werner Coenen was later re-interred at the German National UK Cemetery: the Soldatenfriedhof at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. I visited the grave last year.
My main research goal about this WW2 incident was to try to determine the exact site of the crash. Apart from speaking with a local cottage owner from the Newlands cottages that lie around half a mile east of the muir I have never been able to establish the exact site of the crash.
I'm advised that the Mitchell Library does have detailed info about WW2 bomb impact sites in Glasgow but I've never found the time to enquire further.
If any members (perhaps Lennoxtown locals) are able to add any further info as to the crash site I would be most grateful.
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Postby johnnyanglia » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:25 pm

It is amazing what oral working class history uncovers. I have been thinking that now is the time to question a lot of Glaswegians who are in their seventies and eighties about a wide range of experiences gleaned during their lifes.
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Postby engineer » Sun Sep 25, 2005 4:31 pm

i remember hearding a story about a farm in the lanark/carstairs area being bombed. think the story went that bombers were returning home over this area and the farmer had left lights on in a barn, making it easy to see.
not sure why bomber would be returning laden with bombs (dont know how many) as id imagine a run aborted for bad weather etc would have been called off long before they were over scotland.
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