…and there was the German bomber streaking up the river, so long and thin you could tell it was a Dornier Flying Pencil. And bursts of anti-aircraft fire, like grey balls of cotton wool growing in the sky, in clumps of four, but all miles behind the bomber.
Robert Westall: Children of the Blitz: p46
Luftwaffe Aerial Photograph taken c.1939
This photograph appears by kind permission of Richard Trembath of Loftus.
This photo, very probably taken pre-war (compare with Pilot’s View – note absence of barrage balloons) has been marked by German Intelligence with target positions and anti-aircraft gun positions.
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| This target photo marked ‘Geheim’ (secret) was given to Luftwaffe bomber crews on missions to Tyneside.The photograph is numbered: GB2171 which refers to the target marked in bold red which was the British Petroleum Oil Depot in South Shields. Other targets are numbered and refer to other Luftwaffe intelligence photographs.Target 5078 is the electricity substation on Tanners Bank not far from Wilkinson’s Factory. Target 5774 (barely visible in blackened area bottom left) is the Gas Works in North Shields. Target 4571 is the Albert Edward Dock shipbuilders/ship repairers.There are 2 Flakstellung (anti-aircraft guns) positions identitified:inside Tynemouth Priory grounds at the river entrance and also inland at Ealing Drive/Beach Croft Ave (Heavy AA Battery) and at Lambley Ave (AA Rocket Battery) Compare this photo with the Luftwaffe Stadtplan of North Shields With thanks to Gary Carverhill for the loan of the photograph. |
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I don’t think that the top anti-aircraft installation corresponds to Marden Quarry. I think this is incorrect.
If you look carefully at the position of recognisable landmarks (e.g. the Boating Lake) and compare with both old and modern maps, the installation appears to be off The Broadway, where Marden estate now is.
I live in Beach Croft Avenue and indeed in the back garden of the house next door, there is the remains of a bunker of some sort, only the top of which is visible. However, my neighbour has said you can get down into it.
These remains might well be part of a WWII installation on this site.