Two V2 Experiences

From the age of 11 I lived in Sunbury for most of the time - that is when we weren't evacuated to relatives in the Midlands.
When the V2s got going we were at home. I was sleeping in the hall, the broken window of which had been covered by a piece of roofing felt. In the early hours I was woken by a rush of air and a WHOOSH as the roofing felt was sucked out, followed by a tinkling crash as the grandfather clock next to my bed fell over. The incredible thing was that the bowed face of the clock was not broken. My father mended the pendulum suspension with a razor blade - and the clock is still working today. Weird thing is blast! We were told that the rocket landed in a local resevoir and neatly removed a dividing wall which was in the process of being demolished.
At the Ashford Grammar School we were lining up in the playground when someone shouted, "Look at that!". There was a vapour trail very high in the sky which ended a second or so later with a puff of cloud. A few seconds later we heard the loud roar of the V2 approaching. We had witnessed a V2 exploding in the air, probably due to friction heating.
Later, our school suffered from some roof damage by another V2. When it was repaired the contractors marked it with a large V sign in new tiles. This was still visible the last time I visited.

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