ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

GET out your tin hats, because we're flying back to the dark days of the wartime bombing raids.

Former local copper Ray Douglas first set the scene for us by describing how, as an eight-year-old living at Haresfinch, he spotted a low-flying German plane, damaged by ack-ack fire, passing across the St Helens skyline.

As a final defiant gesture, the enemy bomber, which had been taking part in the fearsome Liverpool Blitz, unloaded a bomb on Moncreiff's Farm.

Ray wondered if any other reader had witnessed that incident and a couple of them - John Foster of Braeside Crescent, Billinge, and Kevin Heneghan of North Road, St Helens - have been prompted to put pen to paper.

John recalls that, at the time, some locals believed that the bomber had actually been targeting the railway bridge at Carr Mill.

"But he was probably just jettisoning the bomb to keep airborne," adds John. "It may have been the same plane which dropped a bomb bang in the middle of Gamble Avenue, St Helens, and also in the vicinity of City Gardens."

The bay windows of a pair of semis facing out on to St Mark's playing fields in Bishop Road were blasted out.

"Another bomb took out a single terraced house in Vincent Street, facing the Providence Hospital," John recalls.

A little tale that John is unable to confirm is that at 7am next morning a gas-fitter called at the houses on either side of the bombed dwelling, checking for possible leaks. When one occupant was asked whether he'd smelled any gas, he inquired what was wrong - and was then amazed to see the wreck next door. He'd apparently slept right through the raid. John doesn't know if there were any fatalities, but he signs off: "Exciting days, indeed, for a little lad!"

Kevin Heneghan, also picking up on the Laffak farm incident, observes: "The pilot evidently did not care for the flak over Liverpool and was flying low to keep under it, dropping his bombs for a quick get-away.

"Most of the Heinkels, Dorniers and Junkers-88s which bombed Liverpool belonged to Field Marshal Hugo Sperrle's Luftflotte (Air Fleet) 3, stationed in northern France, west of the Seine, with headquarters at St Cloud."

The main bombs carried were general purpose high explosives of 50, 250 or 500 kilos, which made craters between 15 and 50ft across.

Kevin believes some bombs from this stick caused town- centre casualties. Two bombs were dropped at Laffak - close to the pylon near the now-derelict community centre in Chain lane, and the other close to what is now the entrance of Paisley Avenue.

Kevin and friends later collected fragments of the light alloy bomb tail-fins.

A third bomb dropped in the marshy corner of Bill and Bessy Banks' cottage garden on Carr Mill Dam Lane. "The crater, which became filled with water, was only about 4ft wide," adds Kevin, "so I've sometimes wondered if the bomb ever exploded.

"Bill and Bessy were in a shelter at Blackbrook at the time, and it was a couple of days before they realised they had a new well! Their first well gave the sweetest water you ever tasted."

MANY thanks, John and Kevin, for those splendid wartime memories.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.