Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby banjo » Thu Nov 07, 2013 7:52 pm

did hollowhorn not hang around with them?
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Kemac16 » Fri Jan 17, 2014 6:36 pm

I have been looking at the Glasgow and Upper Clydeside Blitz from the Luftwaffe and RAF side. One highly unusual raid appears to have taken place on 28/29 November 1940. Three FW200 Condors attacked Glasgow on this night/early morning. It was very unusual because the Condors very rarely attacked mainland UK as they were easy prey for fighters. Also the unit they belonged to (I/KG40) was dedicated to maritime operations operating out of Bordeaux at this time. There was a heavy raid that night on Liverpool and Birkenhead but these three appear to have been completely separate to that. There was almost total cloud cover over Glasgow and two of them dropped their bombs elsewhere (one in the Falkirk area and the other South of Glasgow somewhere). The third dropped its bombs in NW Glasgow causing some fires.
Would anyone happen to know where the bombs were dropped in NW Glasgow and South of the city on these dates? I have the exact locations of the bombs that were dropped in the Falkirk area should anyone be interested.
As to why the Condors were used in this way, it has been suggested that as they were maritime reconnaissance and attack aircraft, they could have been looking to bomb the new battleships HMS Duke of York and HMS Howe both of which were fitting out on the Clyde shipyards (Fairfield’s on the South Bank and John Brown’s on the North Bank) at that time.
Thanks
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby moonbeam » Fri Jan 17, 2014 8:05 pm

Les Taylors book Luftwaffe over Scotland only mentions a raid on Kirkconnel on 29th November.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Kemac16 » Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:18 pm

Well, I have just spent the day at the National Archive at Kew going through the RAF 13 Group Operations Records Books which give a summary of each days events for their area (N England and the whole of Scotland). Quite a lot was going on, on 28/29 November 1940 it seems. The Clyde raid was designated as raid X94 and plotted by sound although it was thought to be only two aircraft. I have had the bombs on Falkirk verified by Falkirk Library as falling as follows: Two bombs were dropped on the Colony at Larbert, one of them blocking what was known as the Denny Back Road. Another two bombs were dropped at Yonderhaugh, Bothkennar; one fell on Towncroft Farm, Bothkennar and one fell at Provost Pit, Carronshore. Two more fell at Carronside but the damage from all these bombs was fairly small.
Two aircraft of the X94 raid also dropped bombs by the Forth Bridge and the anti aircraft guns there opened up in response.
There were five separate raids (individual aircraft from the Merseyside attack) came up just over the border which may account for Kirkconnel although Kirkconnel is not mentioned but I am checking this separately.
The thing is that several sources need to be checked to try and get the truth - the RAF 13 Group ORBs, The RAF Station records for each fighter station along with the individual Squadron records. I am trying to get access to the Royal Observer Corps records as well. The other angles are the Luftwaffe records (my source for the Condors has impeccable credentials in this area but I would like to check them myself) and finally to then see what records or history is available for what happened on the ground (civil defence etc). It is a big old job and I have only just started it - if anyone can help on what was happening on the ground in Glasgow and Upper Clydeside I would be most grateful and of course anything I dig up is available to all.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby moonbeam » Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:00 am

My grandpa was in the ARP in the Yoker area and his diary makes no mention of a raid on 26th,27th 28th or 29th November.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Kemac16 » Sun Jan 19, 2014 9:42 am

That is useful information thank you. Once I have finished going through all the RAF records, I am going to head along to the Mitchell to see what they have.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby the researcher » Mon May 19, 2014 11:47 am

my mum used to live at 17 shields road and the bombers used to try and bomb the ship yards but dont know if there was any other bomb damage in the area
she also told me that there was an underground air raid shelter in the playground of shields road school can anyone confirm that this shelter existed? and in which playground it was located? unfortunately very few photos of this school exist for some reason
there were two playgrounds one on wallace grove and the larger one on shields road was never in the shields road playground but the janny! ::): used to allow us kids to play in the smaller playground though why he never allowed us to use the larger playground on shields road remains with me to this day a complete mystery possible he wasnt allowed to let us use the larger playground only the small one, the reason for the two playgrounds was this was in the days when boys and girls were educated seperately and played seperately
THE FLYING SCOT MADE BY RATTRAYS IN GLASGOW THE BEST BICYCLE EVER MADE
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Richard Evans » Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:39 pm

Dalmarnock, in the east end of glasgow was bombed. The obvious targets were the electricity generating station on Dalmarnock Rd. And the large gas plant on Poplin St. Luckily , both were missed, but the result was a tenement on Allen St was hit, resulting in casualties. That night our family was sheltered in the railway embankment in Mordaunt St. I believe a bomb also fell in a soap work in Springfield Rd. The same night.

R. E.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby allank » Mon Apr 24, 2017 10:26 am

I am currently looking at researching the aerial defences of Glasgow during ww2.
They comprise Heavy AA batteries, barrage balloons, searchlights and bombing decoys. The HAA batteries are well recorded as are the Z-batteries. I am particularly interested in the sites of the barrage balloons and searchlights position. i have used aerial photography online and at the former RCAHMS to locate about 103 sites (but really just 99 sites as one has been mis-identified in CANMORE, two were relocated during the war, one was just wrong in CANMORE) of the recorded 120 sites in Glasgow and Renfrew and I visited all of them with almost no success. I need to pin down the last 20 sites. Does anyone know of a full list or a map (in an archive or private collection) which might tell me. I have attach a map of the locations of the sites I have identified so far.
The same goes with Searchlights sites. There should be lots of them but I have only found about twenty from Airdrie to Greenock.
Any help would be great.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Paul4Jags » Fri Nov 10, 2017 5:03 pm

It is surprising how difficult it is to get information on the war damage in Glasgow. I tried to pull together some bits and pieces and put it all together in a single blogpost, specifically focusing on Glasgow damage on the nights of the Clydebank blitz. Apologies in advance if I have gleaned information from any of the comments above without getting proper permission.

https://glasgowpunter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/bombs-over-glasgow-on-night-of.html?showComment=1492793111271
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Kemac16 » Thu Jun 21, 2018 6:57 am

Would I be right in saying there was no bombing of Glasgow or upper Clydeside in the First World War? I know Edinburgh was bombed by Zeppelins in 1916.

Also could someone kindly tell me which area of Glasgow McAslin Street is located in as I can't work it out from maps (this is for my list of locations that were bombed). It looks like Central Glasgow but I am not sure.

I could not find a location for Caldecuitt Farm either.

Many Thanks
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby robertpool » Thu Jun 21, 2018 9:59 am

it's near St Mungo's Church and St Mungo's primary school. Caldercuilt Farm is just off Blackhill Road near maryhill
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Kemac16 » Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:26 pm

robertpool wrote:it's near St Mungo's Church and St Mungo's primary school. Caldercuilt Farm is just off Blackhill Road near maryhill


Many thanks Robertpool. I might have found the farm if it had been spelled correctly!
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby robertpool » Fri Jun 22, 2018 2:44 am

:) :) :) :) :)
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Kemac16 » Mon Sep 03, 2018 7:59 pm

Could anyone give me dates on which Renfrew aerodrome was bombed please? I am sure it was bombed over the 13-15 March 1941 and I have read in the RAF 13 Group operations record book that a bomb was also dropped on the airfield on 14 October 1940 but I wasn’t sure if it had been hit during the Clydeside blitz?
Thanks
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