Luton's Vauxhall bombing raid recalled

The German air force dropped 51 bombs on the Vauxhall factory in about one minute, killing 39 people

On the 75th anniversary of the World War Two bombing of Luton's Vauxhall factory, a Norfolk man has told the BBC about watching the attack as a boy.

Fred Morrad, 83, lived in Luton during the war, where his father was an aircraft inspector at the Percival Aircraft Company, based at the airport.

On 30 August 1940 at 16:50 BST, 51 bombs fell on the Vauxhall factory in about one minute, killing 39 people.

Mr Morrad recalled how a friend's father died in the attack.

Mr Morrad recalled how his friend's father died in the attack

"My school friend Barry Pitkin lived about 300 yards along the road from me. His father worked at Vauxhall Motors which had been bombed. His father didn't come home," said Mr Morrad.

"It was during the school holidays, so when we went back nobody mentioned Barry's father's death. Young children then grew up very quickly."

Recalling the night of the attack, he said: "My mother and I, as we looked up, could see a formation of about 12 planes high in the sky. I suppose they were about two miles away, and 10,000ft or so up in the sky. I climbed on the coal bunker to watch.

"The aeroplanes kept steadily on although I remember one plane coming down as there were some fighters around them.

Despite the damage, the factory was up and running six days after the attack

"When my father came across he told us he had been coming out of one of the hangars as a stick of bombs was dropped across the airfield close to him. He was blown back into the hangar by the blast."

Vauxhall archivist Andrew Duerden said: "The victims were aged between 15 and 71, including one woman, and 50 more were injured.

"The main area hit was the gasometer, which contained gas used in the heat treatment. Although the factory was back up and running in six days - the gasometer was out of action for weeks.

"Although Vauxhall was secondary to the Luftwaffe, if anything it was the other way round - the factory was very important to the war effort, building Bedford trucks, Churchill tanks and also did some fairly high engineering including development work on Sir Frank Whittle's jet engines."

Bomb blast shattered windows at the plant