Bomb Damage

[electricaldave]

I was talking to a work colleague the other day, and he put me on to this site.I was talking about the changes I'd seen in Leeds, and somehow we got to talking about the Woodpecker on York Road.Turns out his uncle had been a fire warden in the old Woodpecker on the night it was destroyed, he was in fire watch and his station was on the roof.He survived, got blown out onto the street, but having been interviewed about what happened, his uncle got some sort of award.An uncle of mine used to work at the AVRO factory, and the story he had for some of the Leeds bombings is that the Germans were using rivers to find their way, and falied to follow the right one at least once, and jettisoned their bombs once they realised they were nowhere near their target.They most likely would have dropped them on a targets of opportunity, so the stories of bombs landing on the Headrow and Bramley seem to fit together neatly.One of my uncles favourite stories about the manufacture of Lancasters is that to get into the wings and carry out work, they needed to used small persons, dwarfs, and he used to find it highly amusing to see these small chaps 'Playing pop' with the supervisors who were trying to give them a stern talking afer some work related transgression.I had heard that some bombs went off down Hunslet, and a neighbors father was killed, so he joined the army but got sent off to the far east, when he wanted to stay in Europe to fight Germans.I can't verify this in any way though, but I always got the impression that wherever it was he lived in Hunslet, it was a very poor rough part of town.

[peterg]

I remember the old Woodpecker being destroyed, in fact shortly afterwards I remember waiting for a tram at the bottom end of York Road where it had stood. The new Woodpecker at the other side of the road had shrapnel marks which were never repaired. I don't know whether the new Woodpecker still stands.

[Si]

The Congregational Church near Armley Jail was hit by a bomb. It stood at the end of my grandad's street (in the Stapletons) and several houses were also damaged. The story goes that one poor chap was found dead sitting on his outside loo, with the lead cistern pipe wrapped around his neck! I think there are some pics on Leodis (of the damaged church, not the bloke on the bog!)

[simonm]

peterg wrote: I don't know whether the new Woodpecker still stands. Fraid not, demolished a few years ago tp make way for the new fly-over and road layout.

[Crazy Jane]

Quote: I had a look at that today and it certainly looks like the work of bomb splinters to my admittedly untrained eye. And this photograph from Leodis showing splinter and blast damage to the front of the town hall would be consistent with a bomb exploding somewhere near the top of East Parade. It also clearly shows the fencing around a further bomb site on Calverley Street. There must have been two as the bomb in the background could not have produced the damage seen in the foreground. Possibly two from the same plane? According to my 80 year old next door neighbour, there was one night during ww2 where leeds quite literally got 'blitzed'... he remember the date off the top of his head but i don;t so i'll have to ask him again! forget the stuff about it being a stray bomb... by all accounts they were just plain out to bomb the cr*p out of us that night.He said you could still see shrapnel hits on the wall opposite, i thought he was talking about the main wall of the library building when i went to have a look, there's certainly quite a few pock marks but not knowing exactly what a shrapnel hit looks like, it's hard to distinguish them from the general wear of the old building...

[LS1]

Crazy Jane, Which wall is it you are refering to? The plinth on the Headrow on the diagonally opposite corner to Greggs has the marks from the bomb in it. Is this the one you are refering to? Or a totally different on.

[Crazy Jane]

i was looking at the wall that the main extrance to the library is set in, but my next door neighbour may have been talking about the raised bed we saw the picture of.no idea if the main wall caught some damage too, depends on the angle from exactly where the bomb went off i guess...

[mutikonka]

One of the houses in Trescoe Ave, Armley (near the Ven Bede church) was destroyed during a blitz raid.My Uncle Jim, still going strong at 94, was working at Kirkstall Forge when it was bombed and he was in a workshop that was destroyed. He was concussed by the blast and doesn't remember anything except when he came to with dirt clogging up his mouth, nostrils and ears. The foreman said he could have the rest of the night off - nice of him!

[wiggy]

Crazy Jane wrote: Quote: I had a look at that today and it certainly looks like the work of bomb splinters to my admittedly untrained eye. And this photograph from Leodis showing splinter and blast damage to the front of the town hall would be consistent with a bomb exploding somewhere near the top of East Parade. It also clearly shows the fencing around a further bomb site on Calverley Street. There must have been two as the bomb in the background could not have produced the damage seen in the foreground. Possibly two from the same plane? According to my 80 year old next door neighbour, there was one night during ww2 where leeds quite literally got 'blitzed'... he remember the date off the top of his head but i don;t so i'll have to ask him again! forget the stuff about it being a stray bomb... by all accounts they were just plain out to bomb the cr*p out of us that night.He said you could still see shrapnel hits on the wall opposite, i thought he was talking about the main wall of the library building when i went to have a look, there's certainly quite a few pock marks but not knowing exactly what a shrapnel hit looks like, it's hard to distinguish them from the general wear of the old building... my late mother in law would tell me of the leeds blitz,parts of easterly road area got it,and areas right over to hunslet.my gran was a fire warden during the war,she told me the germans would drop sticks of incendries right through gipton.these were to light the way for bombers to get to barnbow.they didn't,so she must of been good at her job....with a bucket of sand,bucket of water and a stirrup pump!

[dazzel]

my gran was at kirkstall forge when it was bombed. the plane was said to be lost from its group and was following the river aire back to the channel.the pilot must have seen the industial units and thought 'why not'..story seems to add up,,,1.they never land with bomb load ,and 2 ,if it was a taget the place would of been flattened..think theres a plaqe there in memory of the workers lost.