History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

This is the first full account of the V2 and V1 weapons that fell in Kilburn and West Hampstead during the Second World War. Londoners had survived the Blitz which lasted from 7 September 1940 to 21 May 1941 . The RAF had defeated the Luftwaffe and had won the battle for air supremacy over London . Then after several years of relative quiet, on 13 June 1944 the first of Hitler’s new weapons arrived. This was the V1 or flying bomb, which was soon nicknamed the ‘Doodlebug’ although Eastenders gave it the more colourful name of the Farting Fury . People had no idea such a weapon existed, let alone what it looked like. Crowds stood and looked up at the sky in wonder as they watched the flying bombs spitting red flames from their tail. One father even called to his wife; Quick, get the children up and come and see this lot. The bloody Huns are sending over planes on fire!   Residents in Croydon even cheered when they saw a V1, thinking it was a German aircraft on fire...