I read with great interest about the bombing raid on Brighton in 1943 (The Argus Weekend, May 31).
I was eight years old at the time and witnessed the dropping of the bomb on the Preston Road viaduct.
I know that recollections can be distorted over a 60-year period but the way I remember it is as follows: I was playing in Beaconsfield Road - you could in those days - when I heard an aircraft coming in very low.
The bomber, which I recollect as a Messerschmit 110 (I collected Sweet Caporal Cigarette Cards from the Canadian soldiers, which gave aircraft identification on them), flew across Beaconsfield Road and I remember it dropping what seemed to be a barrel.
It was unlike the shape I expected a bomb to be.
There was a large explosion after which a large chunk of shrapnel fell near me. I ran indoors and informed my uncle Frank who ran out to pick it up.
He ran indoors again to fetch a towel to pick it up. I wonder what happened to that piece of bomb. Was any collected to verify my version of it?
Another recollection I have of the raid was an aircraft on the German's tail. I hoped after the raid that it was a Spitfire.
As I have said, it was a long time ago but I am sure this is a correct recollection of the event. Incidently, I still have the original set of those cigarette cards.
-Robin Durant, Withdean, Brighton
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