Vauxhall Motors Ltd

[ted angus]

The first air raid on Luton 30 Aug 1940 came without any alert and with no opposition.
Total toll was 59 dead 140 injured. With Vauxhall bearing the brunt. Interrogation of target maps post war didn't really clarify the actual target. Luton at that time was a pretty compact town, if you look at Google earth you will see only a boundary fence seperates the Airport from Vauxhall; that area was one big target. Luton Airport was the title even then, it was Luton corporation owned.
The incident mentioned by Jon was on 15 Oct 1940 where bombs fell on the Old Bedford Rd Area, The publication Luton at War shows the thousands of hats carpeting the surrounding streets including Fredrick St. the toll was 13 dead 35 injured. The Airport/Vauxhall area was a repeat target, later raids overshot the target and the Park square area took the brunt, including the Bus garage and one of the the AFS stations. In 1944 the Commer-Karrier Biscot Rd factory was hit by a V2,

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Thanks. I knew that that there was another attack (at least). AN ACCOUNT OF OUR STEWARDSHIP mentions 39 lost their lives including one girl, and 40 others were seriously injured. Production resumed September 5th. A few weeks later in the warly morning of Sunday 6th October, more bombs weerd ropped and only one persom was slightly injured.

I have some I think if not all of the details of the Dagenham attacks, The one that I know personally about through my Godfather was that on 'Packards', actually Leonard Williams (19XX( Ltd in The Great West Toad at Brentford, Middlesex. A V1 hit it and killed a heck of a lot of people including women. The company were working on Packard Merlins at the time. Next door was Lincoln Cars Ltd who were at the time refurbishing Ford and Mercury V-8s. My G/father was not suppsed to be there but used to use Packard's canteen. He was injured when some roofing asbestos caught him in the leg. The Lincoln Cars' foreman led a rescue attempt and found that there had been a burst gas pipe and people were trapped behind flames. For this work the foreman was awarded the MBE.