Luftwaffe Pilot’s View

We inspected the town’s defences daily looking for improvements and making sure the crews knew their job. Best were the barrage balloons. We spent hours at Dockwray Square, staring through the railings; the balloon was like a great silver elephant, whose sides crinkled with every breeze.
Robert Westall: Children of the Blitz: p28

Aerial Photograph by Roland Park c.1943
Reference: North Tyneside Libraries
This photograph appears by kind permission of the family of the late Margery Craig, daughter of Roland Park.
This photo gives a pilot’s eye view of North Shields. What problems might a bomber crew have finding targets?

= Barrage Balloons = cleared site of Wilkinson’s Shelter = Low Lighthouse & High Lighthouse = Dockwray Square = Railway Line   The Barrage Balloon next to Dockwray Square features heavily in Westall’s ‘The Machine Gunners’. Dockwray Square was the location of much ARP action during the War. An anti-aircraft gun was located there. The Low and High Lights marked the safe navigational channel for ships into the River Tyne. The Railway Line made an obvious navigational aid and target. Empty spaces in the built up areas of housing usually denotes areas of bomb damage and clearance.

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