The Slough Bomb Mystery

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This is the community discussion for this article. Add your memories, questions and corrections here. Imported historical comments below retain their original author names and dates; they are not newly registered accounts.

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Imported historical comment — Jim White — 2017-08-17 10:35:51

A fascinating story. I think there may be another explanation for how the bomb came to be delivered so accurately. In 1940, the Germans were operating a system to guide a bomber to its target using intersecting radio beams. Apparently, it was incredibly accurate and bombs could be dropped to reliably hit within 100 yards of their target. The system was so vulnerable to countermeasures that the Germans gave up on it in 1941 (along with precision bombing). When the British first detected the radio beams they found that they were converging on the Rolls Royce Merlin engine factory in Derby. Look up “Battle of the Beams” on Wikipedia for more information.

Jim White

Original comment #74

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Imported historical comment — Roger Bentley — 2018-04-20 20:49:58

My father told me that one night Lord Hawhaw came on the radio and said to the people of Slough that he hoped they’d got their Horlicks in as the factory would be gone in the morning. That night the bombers came en mass for the trading estate. The boffins from nearby Ditton Park had worked out how to create a signal to deflect where the German navigation beams crossed without the pilots realising. That night all the bombs fell harmlessly in the countryside. Shame that now the developers might do the job that the bombers couldn't.

Original comment #511

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Imported historical comment — Lisa Edwards — 2018-06-18 12:49:36

I have been researching the 1940 incident for almost 10 years now. I am currently writing a book about it and, as an oral historian I am especially interested in people's memories of the explosion. Like many people I grew up with the story which, I have discovered is inextricably linked to my family history. Over the last ten years I have spoken to the families of those affected by it. If any readers have any memories of that fateful night then it would be wonderful to hear from you.

Original comment #515

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Imported historical comment — Alice — 2018-07-30 18:09:16

In reply to historical comment #515.

I am researching my family history and I have reason to believe that the one death that night was that of my great great uncle.

Original comment #518

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Imported historical comment — EJWhite — 2018-09-25 15:56:42

In reply to historical comment #515.

My Husband as a 12 year old boy, remembers. 1st bomb at HDA. 2nd at Farnham Royal Church Graveyard, uncovering Tommy Farr's grave, TF was a well known boxer. 3rd at Stoke Pages Golf Club. They were called 'stick bombs'.

We both use to hear the drop hammer all night long , used at HDA. Also the smoke screens, making. a ghastly fog. They gave off a sooty residue which made every thing black. Washing definitely couldn't be hung out , wasn't allowed at night as a signal to the enemy. Our shoes used to be caked in the tar, ears and noses dirty from the soot. Windows sills also covered in the silt. Don't Touch was the cry !!!

From EJ White ( mrs)

Original comment #525

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Imported historical comment — Dreadnaught — 2018-09-25 22:51:43

In reply to historical comment #525.

Thank you for sharing your very interesting memories. Does your husband recall that the three bombs fell on the same night? This would be a highly significant detail we haven't heard before.

I wonder if it could have actually been a relative or associate of Tommy Farr's whose grave was disturbed by a bomb, as Tommy Farr lived for a long time after the war. Tommy Farr was a Welsh boxer who became British and Empire heavyweight champion. He could have become world champion having narrowly been defeated by Joe Louis. Farr was known as the "Tonypandy Terror". Many Welsh from the Tonypandy region settled in Slough in the thirties. Tommy Farr was based in Slough in the mid-thirties and trained at The Dolphin. Naturally, he had a large local following.

Original comment #526

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Imported historical comment — H. Weissfloch — 2018-10-24 13:17:29

In reply to historical comment #511.

I remember my mother telling me about Lord Haw-Haw's reference to Horlicks.
Does anybody have the actual date of this broadcast? I would like to link it to a family event that happened in 1940.

Original comment #535

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Imported historical comment — Lisa Edwards — 2019-01-08 20:26:19

In reply to historical comment #526.

It's very nice to hear people's memories of the event and of the time. The bomb that fell on the churchyard was in October 1940 and disturbed the graves of the men killed in the July explosion. None of the Farr family died thankfully. All the men in Farnham Royal are buried next to each other. Another man is buried in Datchet. The stories behind the men's names are heart-breaking and those families I have spoken to for my research, talk of the pain and anger still being present today.
The RAOB held memorial services for the men during the 1940's at their gravesides - they were determined the men would not be forgotten.

Original comment #548

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Imported historical comment — Ken Power — 2019-01-09 00:27:09

In reply to historical comment #548.

My dad worked at HDA from pre war to about 1960 and we lived in Westcroft .
Dad told of a bomb hitting St Marys gravyard as he rode his bike from work and he went past Crofthill to have a look.
He said the row of HDA Graves had been hit.

Original comment #549

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Imported historical comment — Marie Caplin — 2019-03-25 12:29:10

My uncle George Nicholas worked at HDA during the war and had been in the foundry minutes before the explosion. He was adamant that there was no bomber and that it was sabotage. He also said that there were more people killed than claimed, At least one was in a vat of liquid metal and there was a head in the rafters.

Original comment #561

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Imported historical comment — Nigel Furlong — 2019-04-09 10:33:31

We lived in Bedford Avenue on the estate. The old fire station.
HDA hada lot more going on there than people knew. There was a railway track throuh the estate that carried coal and munitions.
My dad was blow of a roof on the estate while replacing tiles. He was 14 at the time. My grandmother told me that there were quite a few bombs and doodles that hit the estate during the war. Hence all the anti aircraft guns on each ofthe bridges across the main railway. I played in the gun emplacements as a boy.

Original comment #563

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Imported historical comment — Dreadnaught — 2019-10-10 16:04:08

The database of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission contains the following two records of civilian deaths on 13 July 1940.

CRAGGS, JOHN age 28 of 77 Bryant Avenue. Son of Mr. and Mrs. F. Craggs, of 6 Gillow Street, Cornsay Colliery, Co. Durham; husband of Hazel G. Craggs. Died at 89 Buckingham Avenue.

WATTS, FREDERICK age 29 Sheffield Road, Farnham Road, Slough. Died at 89 Buckingham Avenue.

If you are related to one of these people, or someone else who was at HDA on the night of the bomb then we would be interested to hear from you.

Original comment #598

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Imported historical comment — Geoff Power — 2021-03-04 13:41:07

In reply to historical comment #526.

There was a Silvia Farr that went to Godolphin. Tommy Farr’s niece I think. I did not know her personally but I certainly knew of her.

Original comment #718

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Imported historical comment — Janet — 2021-03-15 10:52:20

Hello,
An interesting article, thank you. Do you know who/what caused of the fire that destroyed Rheostatic on the Trading Estate in 1939?
Thank you
Janet

Original comment #722

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Imported historical comment — GEORGE MACKAY — 2021-05-25 01:59:00

In reply to historical comment #525.

i lived IN KING EDWARD ST CHALVEY ALL DURING THE WAR WE HAD SMOKE STACK OUT SIDE OUR HOUSE LATER ON WE HAD A PIG BIN PLUSE A GAS LIGHT LAMP POST A MAN ON BIKE WITH HIS LADDER ON HIS SHOLDER WOULD LIGHT ITON BAD NIGHTS SLEPT IN THE SHELTER

Original comment #817

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Imported historical comment — Mark Young — 2021-11-08 10:33:41

'Ironically, the first real damage to a critical industrial target in Britain was by an RAF Blenheim bomber, not a German bomber; on 14th July a Blenheim returning from an aborted raid accidentally dropped a bomb on the High Duty Alloys plant in Slough'
From 'We march against England' by Robert Forczyk, Osprey press.

Just rotten luck then...

Original comment #872

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Imported historical comment — Malcolm Doyle — 2021-12-14 23:46:26

In reply to historical comment #526.

Bomb was dropped on Farnham rd. By HD.and Bestobell Blew out windows in area.I lived nearby on Northampton Ave.

Original comment #954

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Imported historical comment — David Hutchins — 2022-06-02 07:34:58

I lived in Beechwood Gardens behind the Granada cinema through the war. We had 2 underground air raid shelters on the 'green' the large grassed area in the estate still there. My recollection is that there were just two bombs that caused serious damage in Slough. The HDA one and another that hit a house in a terraced row on the Bath Road close to the Town Hall. The house was destroyed but there was an upright piano up against the wall on the first floor. It was not removed for years. Opposite I remember the iron railings being cut away from Salt Hill playing fields as we were short of iron. Another memory was collecting the tin foil the German aircraft dropped to fool our radar

Original comment #1340

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Imported historical comment — Mary F Haskell — 2022-06-23 14:58:34

I have always wondered about an explosion in Cippenham during 1940s which blew out the window in St. Andrew's church above the altar. My mum was the church cleaner and was called out to clean up the mess. I remember going with her to help. There was glass everywhere, inside and out. All over the altar. I have never found out what caused the local explosion. I was born in 1941 so it could have been any time after 1945.

Original comment #1451