Capturing the awful day when bombs rained down on Gosport | Nostalgia

His son, also Dennis, tells me his late father drew this picture of the attack on what was then RAF Gosport.

The attack took place on Sunday, August 18, 1940 and it is believed that as a result of this attack the Luftwaffe lost so many Stuka bombers they would only attack again in large formations.

Dennis says that when they moved on from Gosport they attacked Thorney Island, near Emsworth, and Shoreham in West Sussex.

Apparently so many of them were shot down by the RAF’s Spitfires and Hurricanes Hitler is supposed to have abandoned this type of attack.

In Dennis’s graphic drawing we can see, from left to right, a barrage balloon which has caught fire and is descending to the ground.

On the right of that we can see the Stukas screaming down towards their target and to the right of them the RAF fighters coming in to attack and repel the raiders.

If any reader is able to recognise the location from the buildings in the foreground perhaps they might contact me.

•The rather grainy picture in the bottom left corner is an aerial shot of The George on the summit of Portsdown Hill back in 1967.

The large house on the right was once owned by Mr A White, the general manager of Portsmouth tramways.

Sadly this magnificent house had to be demolished to make way for the new road to the east of the pub, the white building seen on the left.

In the bottom right hand corner we can see Portsdown Hill Road covered in chalk and due to be excavated as the new road would run under a new bridge. The car on the left is on the original A3 London Road. When approaching this spot a marvellous vista could be had of Portsea Island and the Isle of Wight. Sadly, with the new road much lower the effect has been lost somewhat.

• In early 1961 a new car ferry slipway was opened to replace the completely out of date slipway at the end of Broad Street, Old Portsmouth.

The slipway was located off East Street and the entrance to the Camber can be seen at the top of the photograph.

Eventually the amount of traffic crossing to the Isle of Wight outweighed the new slipway and yet another departure point was constructed off Gunwharf Road but even that became so busy in the summer that a new high level floor departure point has been constructed in recent years.

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