The Beighton Doodlebug - Xmas Eve 1944

"The Angel of Death is abroad in land only if you can't hear the flutter of his wings."

Until just recently I was totally ignorant of the fact that one of Hitler's so called "Vergeltungswaffe Eins" (Revenge Weapon Number One) had actually landed and exploded in Sheffield or more precisely Beighton. The Nazi V1 campaign against Britain began on the night of the 12th-13th June 1944, one week after the Normandy landings. The campaign is extensively covered both in books and on-line and so I am not going to go into the history of the campaign.

I had always assumed that Sheffield was beyond the range of the V1 rocket. The information that was available indicated that the "Doodlebug" had a maximum range of 150 miles and at that range it was neither accurate or reliable. In order to extend the range, the bomb was carried by a modified HE-111 Heinkel bomber.

The idea was for the aircraft to carry the V-1 at extreme low level to avoid detection from British radar, then as they approached the British coast they would sharply increase their altitude to about 1,500ft (450m) before releasing the V-1, then generally using cloud cover or low level flying to make good their escape back to their bases. The aircraft chosen to carry out this task was the He 111H. A number of these including the He 111H-6, the He 111H-16, the He 111H-21 and the He 111H-22, were modified to carry the new projectile which actually was a Fieseler Fi 103 flying bomb, but known as the V-1. All these aircraft, after modification became the He 111H-22. They were delivered to III/KG3 that was based in the Netherlands. Initially the campaign was successful - the modified He 111H-22 carried and launched over 300 V-1 rockets against London, 100 against Portsmouth and Southampton and 20-30 against Bristol. The use of the He 111H-22 and the V-1 rocket was such a success, that over 100 He 111H aircraft were modified to He 111H-22 standards and delivered to KG53 for the sole purpose of launching the V-1 at British targets. But the success was shortlived - in the next six months, only 20% of 1,200 V-1 rockets reached their intended targets, many of then falling and exploding in empty fields or remote suburbs, and some eighty He 111H-22 aircraft were destroyed either by the RAF or by AA gunfire. The loss of aircraft were to force the Germans to use specially constructed launch pads.

On Christmas Eve 1944, a formation of these specially modified HE-111 Heinkel bombers (I/KG53 squadron) flying over the North Sea launched 45 V1 Flying Bombs (Doodlebugs) from off the Lincolnshire coast at Mablethorpe. The target was Manchester. The raid was winessed by fisherman in the North sea who reported that some of the rockets had failed to ignite and had just fallen harmlessly into the sea Unfortunately the majority of the rockets did ignite. The RAF coastal radar station at Lowestoft had picked the raid up in its infancy and alerted the coastal defences along the coast. The Humber AA defences opened up but failed to destroy any of the incoming rockets. In total, thirty-one of the bombs reached the target area with fifteen falling on Manchester itself. The remaining bombs fell over a wide area of north west and north England.

The bombs took on average thirty minutes before they reached their target - the first one landing at Chorley at 5.30 in the morning, obliterating a hen coup with thirty birds in it. However the true destructive nature of the V1 bomb was revealed when one exploded in in Abbey Hills Road, in Oldham, landing on a row of cottages, killing 27 people and seriously injuring 49. A further six people died when the V1 rocket landed on Chapel Street, in Tottington, near Bury, Greater Manchester - it destroyed a row of cottages and was one of 15 bombs to fall near Manchester - a memorial garden was built where the bomb landed.

In total, forty-two people where killed and over one hundred seriously injured. Many homes suffered damage but no military and industrial areas were damaged. In military terms the raid was a failure, but it was a sharp reminder of the dangers that still existed for those who had endured over five years of war.

One of the V1's did land in Beighton and destroyed a hedge. I have made a few preliminary enquiries and someone seems to think that it exploded in the region of of what is now Rother Valley Country Park but cannot be certain. The crater would have been very approximately forty feet across and four feet deep. For a couple of years I did not know the exact location but in June 2008 I received the following information

"(my father) John Cramp and my mother Anny Cramp saw the bomb explode in Cow Lane halfway between Holbrook and Beighton. ..... They were living in Killamarsh at the time"

Since then the area has been extensively redeveloped and so it is not possible to find the exact location of the explosion.

In May 2011 a reader of this article referred me to two books on the subject by Peter J C Smith which I was unaware of.

Peter J.C. Smith "Flying Bombs Over The Pennines: The Story of the V-1 Attack Aimed at Manchester December 24th 1944". Unity Web, 1988.

Chapter 9 page 41:

At 5.40 a bomb impacted at Beighton, six miles to the south-east of Sheffield, the crater, 3ft 6ins deep and 14 feet across, being in grassland. Some damage was done to 
Field Farm just to the north of it, and windows were broken in some 150 buildings in Killamarsh and district, but no casualties were caused".

Peter J.C. Smith  "Air-launched Doodlebugs: The Forgotton Campaign". Pen and Sword Aviation, 2006.

Page 172 "Beighton: 6 miles south-east of Sheffield, at 05.40 hours. A robot impacted on grassland at Field Farm. There were no casualties but damage was done to the farm and to 
150 buildings in Killamarsh and district."

This information confirms the observations made by John and Anny Cramp at the time

1. In 1960, one of the gyroscope assemblies from a V1 was ploughed up in a field at Meadow Farm in Ringinglow which is situated to the west of Sheffield near the Derbyshire border. There were no eye witnesses to any incident involving a V1 and there is no official record. One explanation for the find is that this V1exploded in mid-air as a result of damage sustained by the coastal defences or due to a technical fault. When it fragmented, any parts not buried on impact were not recognised as pieces of a V1 by the police or ARP hence the lack of an official record.

"Just looked at your page about V1s in the North. You may have seen a rather tetchy letter in the most recent edition of the Sunday Times where the writer disputes that any V1s could have ever fallen north of Watford. I've written to the ST, as I am sure other Oldhamers have, to set the record straight.

My father, who died many years ago, lived about a mile away from Abbey Hills Road and vividly remembered the explosion. My grand-mother took cover under the dining table. He recalled visiting the site on Christmas Day. It's still possible to detect the site visually because of the more-recent housing that was built after the war to replace the destroyed houses.

I live in Twickenham now. A nearby park was hit, without injury, by a conventionally-launched V1 in 1944. Talking to a local historian and my own pacing around the area, I think that I have been able to identify the vestiges of the crater caused in that case.

Additionally, the High Street in Whitton (a suburb of Twickenham) took a V1 hit that destroyed a number of shops. Again, the spot can be identified from the style of new-build after the event.

Peter J.C. Smith "Flying Bombs Over The Pennines: The Story of the V-1 Attack Aimed at Manchester December 24th 1944

Peter J.C. Smith "Air-launched Doodlebugs: The Forgotton Campaign". Pen and Sword Aviation, 2006