On the afternoon of August 16, 1956, 17-year-old Larry Kempton of Leona Valley was driving with his mother, Bernice, along Palmdale Boulevard, just west of 10th Street West, when a rocket suddenly exploded in front of their car. Though both Larry and Bernice escaped unharmed, the blast shredded the car's front tire and severely damaged the radiator, hood, and windshield. Elsewhere in Palmdale, a city in northern Los Angeles, residents were being startled by similar rocket attacks.
Edna Carlson, a resident of Third Street East, recalled how a piece of shrapnel burst through her front window, ricocheted off the ceiling, passed through a wall, and finally came to rest inside her kitchen cupboard. On Fourth Street East, debris from another explosion tore into the home and garage of Mr. Hingle, narrowly missing a guest named Lilly Willingham.
A Grumman F6F Hellcat drone. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
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