Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 22nd October, 2013)

Parbold ?

back of dover lock abram

Looks very much like the back of the Dover at Abram. I can see the Finney Bridge. We lived at 446 Warrington Road and at the back of our House was a big hole in the field caused by a bomb also.

Could it be clinker valley across Warrington Rd from Spring View Cricket Club

wow! lucky it missed the houses!

I remember my Mum taking me out in the street one evening. She pointed to a glow in the sky in one direction & said "That's Liverpool burning", she then did the same to another glow & said "That's Manchester burning".

How many of these bomb holes are just natural undulations in the ground. Why have a bomb bay full of bombs drop them all bar one on Liverpool/Manchester then suddenly drop one bomb in the middle of nowhere?

Its behind a pub that got a picture of the canal boat Anjodi on its pub sign

Anjodi was the boat Rick Stein used on one of his french cooking adventures.

They were dropped to save weight for the flight back home if they had any bombs left on board by the time they had to leave. It was the done thing to look for targets that would cause some disruption like canalways, rail networks, factories etc. This looks like the stretch of canal near Dover Lock was the target. Some were dropped near Wigan and on Bradley in Standish, trying to hit the munitions factory.

Tom; I know of three places where a German bomb dropped in Wigan in World War 2, but this isn`t one of them !
Can find only one photo showing the damage caused - it`s #14200, last on 1st row in Album, Assorted, World War 2. On this page are two photo`s of a German bomber on display on Wigan Market Square in December 1940.

I have never seen, of the many photos on WW,a picture of the Haigh Windmill with a person included for SIZE reference.-----Chuck in the USA

Maggie, I have similar memories; In fact, one of my earliest memories is of standing at my bedroom window, looking at the glow in the sky that was Liverpool burning, having been wakened by the noise of shrapnel hitting the roof from the anti-aircraft battery defending Liverpool.

The main reason(s) why bombs were 'discarded' was not to save weight (although is was important). If a returning aircraft was attacked, it would be less likely to explode if it were not carrying bombs! Furthermore, if it were carrying bombs and was shot down, it might 'bomb' ones own people and homeland. It is not a good idea to land an aircraft carrying a bomb load. Having said this, saving weight would be good idea when it come to survival because a returning aircraft could fly faster, be more manoeuvrable (when avoiding attack) and extend the flying range in case the planned returning airfield was not available. It is quite possible that an aircraft could not actually return to home airfield without reducing weight due to bomb load.

Even today, airliner jet aircraft will not land 'heavy' (e.g. in an emergency landing) unless they really have to. Pilots will dump fuel to reduce the possibility of heavy landings, which might cause burst tyres, undercarriage damage, running off the end of the runway because the aircraft is more difficult to stop.

Just to put you out of your misery regarding todays p.o.d .The photo was taken in the Finney fields at Dover.Abram as some people quite rightly said.The building in the background is a pub which used to be called the Red Lion. At least four bombs dropped in that area , just missing the main North/South railway line by about five yards.

We have walked that way many a time from Lowton and wondered what had caused the lumps and bumps and then walking back from three sisters called at the Dover Lock for a well deserved lager even in the rain

Whatever the story ,this ia a lovely peaceful photo.
Thankyou Tom.

I remember during WW2 as kids we were playing at the end of Sydney St Platt Bridge it was just going dark. Suddenly we heard two loud explosions,needless to say we all ran off home.The following day we learned two bombs had been dropped by a German aircraft close to the GC railway line alongside the pool were we used to swim.

your all right its at the back of the dover lock pub I drink in there..yes it was to lose weight of the plane(but one got to close and blow all the windows that you see in the picture(theres an old guy called brian he knows allot of history about what happened nip in hes in every day(good pub to)

Well spotted Joe. I never knew that. cheers