On 23 December 1914 the first hostile missile landed on
British soil. It fell into a garden at Dover; no one was hurt.
The first bombers were the Zeppelin airships sliding silently
through the night dropping their lethal cargo. The Zeppelins
only attacked on dark, moonless nights. They used dazzling
'very' lights to hide themselves from the British searchlights.
They were seen over Brentford in 1917. One hit by anti-aircraft
guns, caught fire: the blazing mass, in the midst of which the
ribs could be plainly seen took a dip downwards and slowly,
very slowly came to earth'. By 1916 the Germans were also
deploying aeroplanes that were faster and more efficient
than Zeppelins. Brentford took a battering on the night of
29/30 January 1918. Shortly before midnight several enemy
aircraft, intent on bombing London were turned back by the
intensity of ant-aircraft fire. One escaping plane unloaded
its bombs on Chiswick and Brentford, Kew Bridge railway
station was damaged, also the Grand Junction Waterworks
where two men died. Worst of all no 22 Whitestile Rd took
a direct hit, killing all its eight occupants. They were
Mrs Mary Kerley, the wife of a soldier her five young
children, a niece and Mrs Catherine Burrows aged 70.
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