5th May 1941

A ghastly night. At 10.30 sirens wailed then followed a non stop roar of planes till 2 am There was just one continuous whirr, with some bombers flying quite low over the house. Twice about 8 bombs were dropped on airport then came machine gunning. 4 other times sticks of bombs fell at intervals at distances of from 2 - 4 miles Then the engine of a plane gave out, for a minute it started up again, silence once more, followed by a lot of shouting. Daddy who had gone to bed twice already got up and saw the flames of the crashed plane. Kept Marion in bed all through it and she slept intermittently, as we had been for two long walks that day. One lot of bombs fell at St Thomas's Station Exeter another at Exton and a thatched roof cottage was set on fire