The Forth Bridge Raid: First Luftwaffe bombing raid of World War Two remembered at Queensferry Museum
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
The Forth Bridge Raid, the first aerial engagement in the skies over Britain during World War Two, is remembered at Queensferry Museum
Aerial shot of Forth Bridge Raid© Queensferry MuseumThe dramatic Luftwaffe bombing mission saw a fleet German bombers venture up the River Forth on a mission to bomb the Navy’s battlecruiser HMS Hood, and resulted in the loss of 24 men dead and 44 injured.
For the passengers on the train crossing the Forth Bridge at the time, it was both an unexpected and frightening experience, as one of them, Edward Thomson, recalls.
“I was a passenger on the Dundee section of an Edinburgh to Aberdeen train which had just entered the first arch at the southern end of the bridge,” says Thomson, who was ten years old at the time.
“The next stop was to be Leuchars Junction. I was in the corridor with an older boy called Jack Thomas from Edinburgh. We were looking downstream to the right of the carriage and were trying to identify some of the fleet at anchor below the bridge.
“Almost simultaneously there was a giant waterspout as high as the bridge alongside one of the capital ships and a barge tied up alongside; it seemed to fly up in the air! The German bombers were in plain sight only a short distance away flying parallel to the bridge.”
Flight Lieutenant Pat Gifford from 603 Squadron next to his Spitfire after the Forth Bridge Raid © Courtesy Queensferry MuseumLuckily the Hood had moved into dock and the bombers, under the leadership of Hauptmann Helmut Pohle and Oberleutnant Sigmund Storp, turned their attentions to three ships on the eastern side of the Forth Bridge: HMS Edinburgh, HMS Southampton, HMS Mohawk, which they attacked in four waves of three.
Although a fault in the radar system at Cockburnspath meant there was no warning, anti-aircraft guns blasted at the raiders from Dalmeny Estate and two Auxiliary Spitfire Squadrons were scrambled to defend the Forth: 602 Squadron (City of Glasgow) who were based at Drem in East Lothian; and 603 Squadron (City of Edinburgh) based at Turnhouse.
Flight Lieutenant Pat Gifford (above) from the 603 Squadron shot down the first bomber which crashed just off the coast at Port Seton and a second was downed at Crail by Flight Lieutenant George Pinkerton from 602 Squadron.
A third crippled bomber limped back to Holland, where it crashed killing all on board. In all eight German airmen died - the two bodies recovered received a full military funeral in Edinburgh.
The four German airmen captured included Pohle and Storp who were picked up by HMS Jervis and local fishing boat the Dayspring and taken as prisoners of war to Edinburgh Castle.
News soon spread of the raid, and it hastened the introduction of barrage balloons and early air raid warning systems throughout the UK. The GPO film unit also made a propaganda film about it, which established the erroneous fact that it was an attack on the bridge, rather than the ships moored nearby.
“For such a landmark event at the beginning of World War Two it seems to me a story that merits re-telling,” says exhibition curator Mark Taylor, a local historian, who’s Queensferry Tours provides historic walking tours through the old Royal Burgh town.
“It was the first time Spitfires were ever used in combat - an important event that should not be forgotten and it all happened here, above our Forth Bridge.”
The Forth Bridge Raid, is on display until June 1 2015. The Queensferry Museum is free to enter and open Thursday through to Monday (closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays).
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
More from Culture24's World War Two section:
Boulton Paul Defiant fighter rescued by Kent Battle of Britain Museum in Hawkinge
Remains of German WWII Junkers Ju 88 bomber recovered from Thames Estuary
How the RAF Museum is conserving the world's last remaining World War Two Dornier bomber
