Bombs dropped in the ward of: Eltham South

This is a World War Two story not of bravery or battle but of an unbelievable happening during the height of the V1 flying bomb or 'Doodle Bug' attacks on London.

One bright sunny day in July 1944 I was about to leave the fire station where I had been on shift when looking up saw, to my unbelievable horror, the nose of a dreaded V1 very slowly coming into view just above the fire hall. This V1 was no more than 100 feet up and, most unusually, it was gliding without engine power.

I, of course, expected the bomb to land on the road almost where I stood. I had fallen to the pavement trying to make myself as small as possible and I think I was trying to dig a hole in the concrete, but the bomb made its slow and rocky way, skimming the roofs of houses opposite, finally running out of air and landing with a crash on a small house about 100 yards away.

One good thing - the bomb had been so low and had glided some three miles after its engine had cut out, that it didn't have the force which usually accompanied these bombs. The area of devastation was greatly reduced and so only one house was destroyed - even the house opposite the crash was left with its windows intact.