Which Bomber attacked the shelter?
The type of aircraft involved in night raids was not always known.
Reports at the time suggest either a Heinkel He-111 (pictured below) or a Junkers 88.
photo courtesy of David Schultz AirShows and Air Age Publishing, USA
The Heinkel was used most commonly over Britain in 1940, but because of high losses due to its relatively light armament and slow speed it was withdrawn from daylight bombing. It was used in night bombing missions over London until the end of the war.
The Junkers 88 was used throughout 1940-1945.
It is commonly thought that the Wilkinson's bomber was 'dumping' his bomb load before returning to base. It is more likely that the pilot thought he was over his target and released the bombs deliberately.
Navigation was very poor, so it is often impossible to even guess at the specific target that night without reference to German records of the raid.
To add to the confusion we had numerous decoy sites around the area designed to mimic specific high-risk sites - these included the well known 'Starfish' sites at Cleadon and Wallsend.
The overall result was that places attacked were very rarely the intended targets. This is well illustrated by the fact that the only structural damage suffered by the Vickers Armstrongs factories on the Tyne throughout the war was caused by 'friendly' fire from one of our own anti-aircraft guns! (5 September 1940).
The sequence of bombs as listed on the Tynemouth 'bomb map' suggests that the bomber was actually heading inland. The first area to be hit that night - in fact minutes before the sirens sounded in the area - was South Shields which was showered by incendiary bombs. This could well have been target marking - hence a few stray bombs in North Shields 30 minutes later, might not be so unusual. However, if the incendiaries were marking the target, it was a singularly unsuccessful exercise - not a single high-explosive bomb fell on South Shields during the raid.
Nuisance Raider?
Mr Bill Norman, an aviation author and freelance writer (Luftwaffe Over the North) in recent correspondence with Mr Haydon Sharp, a Wilkinson's eye-witness, comments:
... the Luftwaffe's main target on the night of 2/3 May 1941 was Liverpool/Birkenhead and that the Luftwaffe Air Fleet mainly responsible for the attack was Luftflotte 2 (based in eastern France and Belgium). However, it is most unlikely that the offending German bomber was a participant in that raid.
A more likely explanation - given that apparently only one aircraft was involved - is that the attack was carried out by a 'nuisance' raider or by an aircraft on an unsuccessful anti-shipping patrol who decided to drop his bombs on a coastal target before going home. Ju.88's of Kustenfliegergruppen (Naval co-operation units) often patrolled the north-east coast looking for ships to attack and if they failed to find anything they would operate over the coastal fringe looking for a 'target of opportunity'.
Heinkel He-111Specifications:
Wingspan: 74 ft., 1 3/4 in.
Length: 53 ft., 9 3/4 in.
Height: 14 ft., 5 in.
Empty weight: 12,875 lb.
Maximum takeoff weight: 30,865 lb.
Powerplant: (2) Junkers Jumo 211F-2 in-lines capable of 1,350hp each
Armament: (1) 13mm MG131, (1) MG81 twin-gun, (1) MG FF cannon.
Plus a bomb load of up to 4,410 lb.
Performance: Maximum speed: 270 mph
Range: 1,212 mi.
additional information supplied by local historian Brian Pears
Heinkel He-111images reproduced with kind permission of:
David Schultz AirShows and Air Age Publishing