Under The Fight Path

A Memory of Southall.

Our house in Westbury Avenue was directly under the bad weather flightpath to Heathrow.
The aircraft would come from the Ruislip Road direction and we could hear them coming getting louder and louder by the time they were over Allenby Rd it was really scary. At night I hated hearing the aircraft flying overhead especially when there were thunderstorms as they were so low I was terrified they were going to crash on our house.
I remember being in the street playing with friends one day when one went over with an engine on fire but he obviously made it safely. In 1958 another wasn't so lucky and crashed in Kelvin Gardens near Jubilee Park. I remember several people in the houses were killed but one lad I believe had a very lucky escape.
I remember my dad taking us to see the site some days later it was just a pile of rubble.
I'm sure my dislike of flying stems from those days.

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