Read on Twitter
SHORT THREAD/Whilst in South Kensington earlier today, I thought I'd take some photos to give a "then and now" perspective on a V-1 incident from 3 July 1944, which is detailed on this BC4 report. As can be seen, the bomb struck at 01:00, so sadly people were caught inside the
affected buildings, nos. 64-65 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road. Luckily for us, photographs were taken the following morning, which we are able to compare quite well, largely because the "modern reinforced concrete building" at 59-63 is still very much in situ to give us a good
perspective. With my next photo, I have cheated slightly, as the building in the 1944 photograph, no. 66 was demolished as beyond repair, so I have photographed no. 69, which is the first of the Victorian terrace to still be there. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
now stands on the site of the V-1's impact. The next pair of views are looking south towards the V&A Museum and Cromwell Road. In the 1944 view we see a group of ATS women and other uniformed figures in the background as recovery work continues. In 2020, a somewhat more tranquil
scene. In these two views, we're a bit further along Exhibition Road but still looking south towards the V&A. In 1944, smoke and dust still drifts from the impact site, whilst in 2020 we see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints which was built on the bomb site.
The Art Deco flats at 59-63 were in 1944 serving as an annexe to the London Civil Defence Headquarters which was located underground in a purpose-built structure in front of the Geological Museum just along the road. This sturdy building survived with blast damage, despite being
next to the impact of the V-1, as we can see from the contemporary incident map below. As can be seen from the BC4 report in the first tweet, loss of life was considerable, with 16 persons confirmed killed ranging in age from 3 to 86./END
