A Special Constabulary long service medal, awarded to 'Albert E. Slater' together with his distinguished conduct citation from Gloucestershire Special Constabulary (Special Constable Albert Edward Slater, No. 4781) for his actions on the occasion of enemy bombing of Filton aeroplane factory on the 25th September 1940. (2)

Notes: This certificate was awarded for actions on the night that German bombers from 1./ Kampfgeschwader 55 targeted the Bristol Aeroplane factory at Filton, killing 149 people - of which 91 were BAC employees, with over 310 other casualties in the factory and surrounding area.

The attacking German formation of 58 Heinkels was supported by a number of Junkers Ju88s from Lehrgeschwader 1 and 52 Messerschmitt Bf 110s of ZG26 and the RAF 10 Group Controllers based at Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire mistakenly believed they were heading for the Westland factory Yeovil. As a result, the warning was issued too late to save many at Filton and over 80 tonnes of high explosives and 6 tonnes of oil bombs were simultaneously dropped from 11,000 feet over a span of a mere 45 seconds.

The biggest loss of life within the factory occurred when a shelter suffered a direct hit. Other bombs fell close to, or between, the soft earth of other shelters, seriously damaging them with a large loss of life. In one shelter, occupants were thrown up to 30 feet in the air from the force of the detonation and another shelter was hit so badly that it was sealed with the bodies still inside and remains so today. Of one such shelter, the daughter of one survivor recalled "During the raid the people in the first shelter were singing the popular song of the time “Somewhere over the rainbow”. While they were singing this song, that shelter received a direct hit and everyone was killed. The head of one of my mother’s friends was in the lap of another worker. We children were never allowed to sing that song ever again, and when it came on the radio we had to turn it off, because if my mother heard it she always fainted." The devastation also hit the surrounding civilian houses, blowing out windows and injuring many others.

Allied defences took out several enemy aircraft in the lead up to and after the raid, with several enemy aircraft being downed and any surviving occupants taken prisoner by policemen, civilians (in one case, farmers with sharp farm tools!) or Home Defence Guards.

For interest, several newspaper articles documenting this attack have been uploaded online but do not come with this lot.