Doodlebugs over Harrow,Middlesex

Early in 1945 my mother and I were returning from a visit to my Aunt Lily. I liked visiting Aunt Lily because she lived beside Hendon Aerodrome and I would be allowed to sit in her upstairs bedroom. From here I could see over the perimeter fence and view the activities on the airfield. On our way home one Sunday evening we alighted from a number 140 bus at Kenton Station and were awaiting the arrival of a number 183 to take us the final leg of our journey home to North Harrow. Suddenly we heard the unforgetable sound of a doodlebug and soon saw it was being followed by a fighter plane. As we watched the engine of the doodlebug stopped and we dived for a nearby shop doorway. The doodlebug plumeted to earth and exploded. Luckily it did not blow out the shop windows. We later realised that a shop doorway was not always a good hiding place.

A few weeks later another doodlebug appeared near our home at 81 Canterbury Road, North Harrow. It destroyed the,about to be opened British Restaurant, which was about 500 yards from our house. We got some of the blast and some structural damaged was caused. Sadly the manageress of the restaurant was killed. She was the only one there at the time.

I attended Pinner Park Primary School and remember the times when the Headmistress, Miss Kelly, would announce at assembly that this or that child would not be attending school again as they had been killed.

I was born at 17 Elm Way, Neasden but when the blitz began in 1940 we moved to Exeter where my mother had relatives. We stayed there for some months until the Germans began to bomb Exeter and Plymouth. We then moved back to the London area and settled in North Harrow. This was not too badly attacked although the Kodak factory and RAF Fighter Command at Bentley Prioy were not far away. My Dad, Albert Potten (born 17/05/1904) was an armourer in the RAF. He was badly injured when a 500 lbs bomb was not properly secured in the bomb bay of a Lancaster and fell and crushed him. He spent some while in hospital and was eventually demobbed in 1946. His last posting was to RAF Brandesburton. For a while we moved there whilst keeping the North Harrow house. I went to school at Brandesburton and also remember him taking me to the airfield and sitting me in one of the seats of a Mosquito.

Like so many others when the war ended we had a childrens' street party.

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