10. World War II Air Raids: Would you pay a penny to see a butterfly bomb?

Full Episode description

Dad and Me join Air Raid Precaution Post 27 – a reenactment group we met at a 1940s weekend at Fort Nelson, Portsmouth, in southern England. What were “butterfly bombs” and why did kids love them so much? Butterfly bombs caused chaos when they were dropped on a few selected cities in Britain – so why didn’t Hitler drop more of them? And what sound – heard at football matches (a few years ago) – was used to warn people of an attack by one particular type of weapon?

Thank you to Post 27’s Jane Biscombe for telling us all about World War Two air raids! If you’re in the UK, you’ll find history reenactment groups at weekend events all over the country. Find out more about Air Raid Precaution Post 27.

Some words you may need to know before you listen:

Dud – a dud is a bomb that fails to explode

Bomb disposal – means to take apart a bomb so that it can’t explode

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Questions for after you’ve listened:

1. How old was the boy who charged his friends money to look at the butterfly bomb in his garden?
2. What was the worst part of World War II for this boy (who is now an old man)?
3. Why did Hitler think that butterfly bombs were not causing a lot of damage?
4. How would babies survive an attack by bombs of poisonous gas? (Don’t worry, this episode is not harrowing – in the end, such bombs were never dropped.)
5. What did kids have to do every week at school, maybe in maths lessons? And can you explain why?

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This was the final episode of Season 2. Next week, we’re going to a country we’ve never been to before – a country with great history! We’ll tell you all about it soon!

Podcast cover art by Molly Austin

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