Someone was asking in the Forum whether I was still about and the answer is yes !...... I was an early days member of the Airfield Research Group back in the days of Dave Benfield etc for those of you that remember him... did some articles for the newletter at the time. Have done a number of books on airfields since the late 1970s; Wings Over Rutland, Wings Over Gloucestershire, The Digby Diary etc. Interested to hear from 'Arrow 28' and 'One Eight Bit' because of their association with Wings Over Gloucestershire.
These days I'm a retired Flt Lt working in Local Governent in Lincolnshire. Currently doing a lot of work for a Czech RAF (in WW2) web site and working on a new book on 311 (Czech) Squadron my father served with the Squadron as part of the attached RAF personnel from mid 1940 to 1945. ..... have a fairly extensive archive and a lengthy knowledge of airfields and things RAF ....
John
I tripped over this site while looking up RAF target indicator bombs funilly enough.
I have a keen interest in ordnance (annoyingly I once found the nose of a German incendiary bomb whilst out walking as a youngster in Plymouth years ago...I did'nt know what it was then, but instinct told me it was probably naughty so I took it home...as you do...buggered if I know what happened to it though:|)
My greatest claim to fame was blowing my eyebrows and eye lashes off the day before meeting my first "serious" girlfiend playing about with thunderflash powder...me not her....good job she had a sense of humour.
Anyway, somehow I survived youth and joined the Army (RA) and then after a stint in the Falklands transferred to the AAC. I had always been into planes and kidded myself I could fly helicopters...I am sure I could, it was the soldier bit that eluded me a bit...I had a mind of my own:roll:
What this did give me was access to a lot of old airfields (chiefly the north east, Catterick, Leeming, Topcliffe, Dishforth, Linton Leconfield, Driffield etc) and Wallop.
I remember walking through the graveyard at Dishforth and being struck by the average age of its internees (around 20...sadly history appears to be repeating itself) and having a constant feeling of things past on the airfield itself.
Not a spooky feeling, nor depressing, just of more busy times.
Just like Clarkson said about Concorde, "One day no one came to let her out of the hangar and she did not understand why?"
I also remember the various haunting stories, we were convinced our place at Topcliffe (A C type hanger belonging then to 3 flt AAC) was haunted.
I wont be able to contribute much, but find it all fascinating, particularly clearance and crash site digs.
At least you can answer some of the questions, and unless there is an interest, nothing will be done to preserve these importantv artefacts for the future.
Welcome Pauline. The DH110 crash must have been a life changing event for you at the time. Even though I was born a few years after the event I remember seeing it on old newsreels and I think there was mention of it by the commentator at my first time at the Farnborough Air Show in 1974 or 76.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
Yes it was indeed me who enquired if you were still about.
I grew up encircled by airfields in Gloucestershire and my parents bought me Wings over Gloucestershire as a present to spur my interest in them. It was about the time my brain "matured" from bombing up-and-down old runways with a playing card in my bike spokes pretending to be a Spitfire to taking an interest in the airfield buildings and what they were for.
WoG really got me hooked and in the pre-internet days it really formed the starting point for of a lot of my own original research. 20 odd years later I'm still trying to find answers.
I did try to get in touch with you about 10 odd years ago by writing to Aspect Publishing but never got any reply from them so I never knew if they tried to pass my letter on. Specifically I wanted to thank you for writing the book and ask some questions about where you found some of the information in it.
Still jealous that you were lucky enough to get some of the pictures you did for the book as by the time my brain twigged that I should be taking photos and not just walking around things had started to disappear.
Welcome John. I note from your Rutland book that you once lived in Essendine, which is famous for having a site plan of the bomb dump - 1123C/42, for the airfield which was never built!
The dump would have been HERE
. The airfield itself was to be HERE
.
Plan A is always more effective when the problem you are working on understands that Plan B will involve the use of dynamite
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