"Buzzing Planes"

When the allied armies invaded Normandy on 6th June, 1944 I was serving as an NCO with the 54th Infantry Brigade Company, RASC.

Within a few days of the Normandy landings my company travelled from Battle near Hastings, Sussex, to Tilbury Docks to await embarkation to follow 54th Brigade across the channel to Normandy.

We were accomodated in some dock side buildings overnight prior to embarkation the following day. The air raid sounded and we took shelter in some trenches nearby.

Eventually we heard the sound of planes and then a new sort of buzzing sound which appeared to eminate from some very small planes with sparks and flares shooting out of their tail ends. We also saw and heard anti-aircraft guns firing at these small planes. Over a period of about two hours we saw about 20 of these small planes everyone of which, we thought at the time, was shot down by the artillery because the buzzing sound stopped and the tail end sparks ceased as they dived to the ground and exploded. We cheered thinking that our artillery had successfully shot them down.

The "All clear" sounded and we returned to our sleeping quarters.

Next morning on listening to radio news we discovered that these "buzzing planes" were, in fact, the first of the V1 bombs or Buzz bombs as they came to be called - and that their sparking jet type engines were supposed to flare out over London and the "plane" was infact a bomb which exploded on contact with the ground or any building it landed on.

Yes, I experienced the first ever raid of these "Buzz Bombs".

We then embarked and sailed off to Normandy.

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