North Lincs Air Raids
Whilst Scunthorpe did not suffer the quantity of heavy air raids that were delivered upon Hull, it did none the less suffer from a number of attacks through into 1942. The area had 450 alerts and 40 incidents, with a total of at least 100 HE and 500 IBs, one suspected landmine and several UXBs. Six people were killed and at least 40 injured.
A considerable amount of the data below, has been extracted from ‘Scunthorpe At War’ by Jack Whitfield, published in 1983 by Lincolnshire Life. Other sources include ‘The Blitz Then & Now’ volumes I, II & III; Lincolnshire Air war 1939-1945 by Sid Finn.
| 6 June 1940 | Three HE fell in the Scunthorpe area, on Appleby-Frodingham and Firth-Brown works and three men were taken to hospital. One blast furnace was put out of action and a water main was damaged. |
| 27 June 1940 | Five He and 200 incendiaries (IBs) fell on the same area as on the 6th. |
| 28 June 1940 | Four HE fell on Brigg Road, Scunthorpe and three on land near Doncaster Road. Considerable damage was done to the Appleby-Frodingham Steel Works. |
| 29 June 1940 | House damaged end of Station Rd. with three slight casualties as a result of a single bomb, the last of a string, which straddled the Frodingham Road railway sidings. |
| 30.June 1940 | Sixteen HE fell on the oil/petrol storage tanks at Salt End. Most missed their target, but shrapnel damaged the tanks. |
| 3 July 1940 | Four HE fell between Haxey and Owston Ferry. |
| 29 September 1940 | Twelve HE fell across Black Common Messingham – no damage caused. |
| 27 October 1940 | A single HE bomb came down at the junction of Teale Street and Porter Street, Scunthorpe at approximately 2300 hours injuring 11 people. Incendiaries also fell at Normanby, Roxby Grange and the Nitrogen Fertilisers Plant at Flixborough. Bombs that fell on the South Iron works and at Amcotts failed to explode. Attack lasted only 15 minutes. A Heinkel bomber dropped its load and scored a direct hit on No.1 hangar at Kirton Lindsey. Windows were shattered in the control tower. |
| 31 October 1940 | HE bombs dropped between Burton and Coleby failed to explode. |
| 6 November 1940 | HE Bombs dropped near the Nitrogen Fertilisers Plant failed to explode. |
| 13 November 1940 | A lone Dornier dropped bombs (IBs) from a height of 100 feet over Kirton Lindsey airfield. There was no damage or casualties. |
| 16/17 November 1940 | Bombs were reported to have fallen at Barton |
| 23 December 1940 | Four HE fell on the Yorkshire Electricity Electricity transformer and Broughton Slag Bank, just outside the Scunthorpe boundary |
| 26 February 1941 | Five HE hit Appleby Frodingham works and one man was killed (first fatality). |
| 13 March 1941 | Six HE fell near Walcot Hall, Alkborough and bomb damage was recorded at Goxhill and at Kirton Lindsey. |
| 31 March 1941 | 200 IBs came down in a wide area between the Dolphin Inn Althorpe and Crowle. A suspected landmine was dropped near John Harrison’s cottage at Barrow (Museum Archive Photo Ref SO4358). Barton House also suffered bomb damage (Museum Archive Photo Ref SO4357) as did Bilton Grange (Museum Archive Photo Ref SO4356). |
| 1 April 1941 | Five IBs came down at Burringham. |
| 16/17 April 1941 | Kirton airfield was bombed, but no significant damage resulted. |
| 18 April 1941 | Eight HE fell on Lysaght’s sidings near Dragonby. |
| 25 April 1941 | A UXB came down at Winteringham. |
| 26 April 1941 | Twenty IBs and six HE came down at Foxhills Plantation. |
| 4 May 1941 | A suspected landmine fell between Crindle Beck and Appleby. |
| 9 May 1941 | Single HE bomb landed between Belton and Beltoft. (Apparently a German airman fell to the ground and made an impression in the soil half a mile from Barrow. The enemy raider probably took part in a raid on Hull that evening (Museum Archive Photo Ref SO4379). |
| 12 May 1941 | Eight HE struck Nitrogen Fertilisers plant at Flixborough killing five men and injuring five (worst incident of the war). |
| 31 May 1941 | Bomb damage was recorded at Silver Street, Barton |
| ? June 1941 | An enemy raider (possibly a Ju-88) was seen to fly low over Scunthorpe and was fired upon by the AA Battery on the former Redbourne Sports Ground in Rowland Road. Apparently the aircraft was severely hit and was later reported to have come down in open country some miles to the east. A 500kg UXB was photographed at Barton (Museum Archive Photo Ref SO4366). |
| 24 June 1941 | Three HE fell on open ground at Ashbyville. |
| 24 July 1941 | At 0042 hours, ten 50Kg bombs fell near the airfield at Elsham Wolds. Some eight minutes later a further ten bombs were dropped nearby. Two Luftwaffe aircraft of I/NJG2 (based at Gilze-Rijen) were close by and the Humber Battery AA guns could be heard. Machine gun fire was heard at Bonby and an aircraft was seen to burst into flames. Minutes later at least one of the aircraft (Ju 88C2 Wrk.No 0854 R4+LM) exploded over the village of Bonby, in North Lincolnshire and crashed close to the school. Only a few fragments and a crater some forty feet deep were left. The crew consisted of Ogefr H Ladiges; Ogefr F Heinemann and Fw J Beblo, all of whom were killed (They were interred at Kirton Lindsey). The aircraft was thought to have crashed as a result of an accident or a ‘blue on blue’ incident, involving another Ju.88 from 1/NJG2 at Gilze Rijen. However, another aircraft was also lost from 1/NJG2 that night (Ju.88C4 Wrk.No 0724 R4+KK) which crashed in unknown circumstances at Vine Farm, Wivenhoe, Essex and it may have been this aircraft that brought down the enemy aircraft that had attacked Elsham. |
| 8 August 1941 | Eleven HE and IBs fell mainly in fields near Scunthorpe, although one came down behind Pinchbeck Avenue and another near Appleby-Frodingham works railway. |
| 17 August 1941 | About 40 bombs fell on the Pinchbeck Avenue area of Scunthorpe, in open fields and close to the railway bridge on Appleby-Frodingham steelworks. There were no casualties |
| 11 October 1941 | Eight HE fell near Lysaght’s works (off Normanby Road) causing two slight casualties. Some UXBs were subsequently dealt with. Houses in Silver Street (and Mr Tongs house and shop were completely destroyed) were hit. |
| 30 May 1942 | IBs and other bombs fell at Barrow (Museum Archive Photo Ref SO2087) |
| 22 October 1942 | HE bombs and IBs were dropped (by one aircraft) on Appleby-Frodingham and Redbourne, injuring 15 workers. A second aircraft was driven off by anti-aircraft fire. (This was the last bombing raid on Scunthorpe). |
| 24/25 December 1944 | V1 Flying bombs passed over the area (they had been launched from Heinkel bombers of KG.53 over the North Sea and were intended for Manchester) and three failed to reach the target and came down shortly before 6 O’clock in the morning, in Northern Lincolnshire; one just off the eastern end of Read’s Island and one at Woofham Hill Farm Redbourne, plus one in Clark’s Beetfield, close to the Mill at Epworth. Several others came to earth around Hull and in other parts of Yorkshire (Grange Moor, Midhope Moor, Willerby, Barmby Moor (airfield), Rossington Hall, Hubberton Green, Sowerby Bridge and Bunnyhill Farm to the north west of Hull. |
KEY
AA = Anti-Aircraft
HE = High Explosive
IB = Incendiary Bomb
UXB = Unexploded Bomb
Flt.Lt John Rennison (Ret’d)
2/2020