Category: RAF

Historical, Old Edinburgh, RAF, Scotland, Wartime Memories, World WarLeave a comment

Spitfires from Scrap Metal

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

As part of the Wartime Memories series, the following is the eighth in the collection. General Salvage Schemes Over the period of the Second World War, the British Government, in an appeal to the population’s staunch national patriotism, launched a series of initiatives aimed at salvaging used metal, rubber, paper and rags. To which the “Army of the Home Front.” Responded enthusiastically. Previously, in 1941, in order to preserve its own stocks, the United States stopped exporting scrap metal to the UK. The British government was therefore forced to seek an alternative source of obtaining iron and steel supplies. While … Continue reading Spitfires from Scrap Metal

Historical, RAF, Scotland, World War13 Comments

The First Air Raid on Mainland Britain in WW2

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

Wartime Memories No.3 German bomber of the period – (Heinkel He 111 H) CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCE OF THE EARLY LUFTWAFFE AIR RAIDS On November 13, 1939 the first bombs of World War II dropped on British soil landed at Sullom, Shetland, (The raid was largely ineffective and failed to hit any of its naval targets.) March 1940 saw the first death of a British civilian when James William Isbister was killed during a German air raid on Orkney. 7.45pm on 18th July, 1940 marked the first air raid on mainland Britain. August 24, 1940 saw the first German air raid on … Continue reading The First Air Raid on Mainland Britain in WW2

Historical, RAF, Scotland, Wartime Memories15 Comments

I was there!

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

Wartime Memories 2 History records that, for a period of eight months, from September 7th 1940 until May 11th 1941, Nazi Germany subjected Great Britain to a campaign of, intense bombing: Blitzkrieg. During which time the Luftwaffe carried out continuous air raids on London and other strategic targets across the length and breadth of the U.K. What is not so well known though is that almost 11 months before that, on 16th October 1939, the first air raid on the U.K. had already taken place and that it had happened in Scotland. * 1.1 THE INCIDENT I came into this … Continue reading I was there!

General, Historical, Old Edinburgh, RAF, Scotland, Wartime Memories, World War13 Comments

Guns Galore!

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

Wartime Memories No.1 Not long after the end of the Second World War, under the starlit sky of an early autumn morning, a chuffing, puffing old railway engine, enveloped in a cloud of steam, shunted a clanking train of open topped freight wagons into the railway siding just to the North of Bonnington Toll in Edinburgh. With the wagon’s brakes secured, the engine steamed off to get on with its next task, leaving the sidings deserted, eerily silent and hidden from view behind the high random rubble stone wall that borders Newhaven Road. Later, with the sun creeping over the … Continue reading Guns Galore!