Due to high losses, 156 sqn became known as the ‘chop’ squadron and consequently, morale fell. With a 15% chance of survival, morale continued to be an issue and the station was stood down for a short period. In a desperate attempt to bolster the men’s spirits and raise morale, a royal visit was arranged for the Queen. Read more about RAF Warboys and the valuable work they did here.
Warboy’s Church Memorial to the Pathfinders.
Where did the summer go? It was here, and now suddenly, the days are shorter, the sun less bright, and it’s autumn. Before the winter arrives, why not plan your own ‘aviation trail?’ It doesn’t even have to be a series of airfields. It could just be one. It could be a memorial, or a museum that tells the story of a part of Britain’s most impressive aviation history. It’s a lovely time for a road trip. The leaves are changing, the air is crisp and cool, and Britain’s aviation heritage is waiting… for you.
Have you ever wanted to write something of interest to you? To share with others your thoughts, impressions and words, and to actually see them in print? Here is your opportunity!
‘Aviation Trails’ is inviting you to take an autumn journey to an RAF airfield(s) or other aviation heritage site of your choice. While you are there, remember to take along a notebook to jot down some thoughts and ideas, and of course, take some photographs. If it is an airfield, as you walk about, try to imagine it as it must have been when it was bustling with activity during the days of World War II, when the roar of Merlins vibrated through the air, so often, it became the norm. If it is a memorial or a museum, take time to consider the sacrifices made by those brave men and women and how their lives and the lives of their loved ones, were forever altered by the course of World War II.
When you return home, have a go at writing your very own blog post. Do you know any stories about this airfield, memorial or museum that you have heard over the years? Is there someone in your family who served in the RAF or USAAF and was stationed at one of these airfields? Since Andy last visited some of these airfields, have there been changes you noticed? We would love to hear some of your stories, to learn what you know, and then to be able to share that with our readers.
Once you have completed your post (and be sure to include a few photographs), submit it to: aviationtrails@yahoo.co.uk – We will have a look and consider your piece for publication as part of ‘Aviation Trails’ as a ‘Guest Post.’
This is one of the final weeks for aviation-related events as it is the autumn half-term break for most of the schools across England. Due to this, there will be some airfields offering ‘Open Days’ for museums, as well as other special events that encourage people to visit before the season comes to a close. I will try to include some of those details below, but it is always best to check out the websites on your own beforehand to find out about opening and closing times, admission fees, etc.
For this post, I’ve decided to focus the suggestions on Lincolnshire, also known as “Bomber Country’. Many of these airfields, museums, memorials and attractions were covered by Andy in Trail 1: Lower Lincolnshire, so you can find additional information and links to museums and such on that page. To have a look, see the link here.
Some of the more well-known airfields and attractions in Lower Lincolnshire include:
That being said, you might be in an entirely different county. Please do not feel left out! There are many areas Andy has yet to have the opportunity to visit, and we would LOVE to hear about an RAF airfield, memorial or museum in a county not covered on one of the ‘aviation trails.’ Please feel free to visit one near you, and then write about what you know; tell us about the stories you have heard, or tell us about your family member who once bravely served at one of these airfields.
Before long, these RAF airfields will be but a distant memory. You will no longer have the opportunity to visit as you do now. Inevitably, as we have seen all over England (e.g. Manston Airport), these treasured places of Britain’s aviation past will be developments with rows of houses and not a remnant of their once glorious past or the brave men and women who served to protect their beloved England.
So, do not miss your chance to visit an RAF airfield, a memorial or a museum, and give yourself a chance to be the writer you always wanted to be.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to email us.
Marcella M. Beaudreau (@LadyofShalottMA)
Autumn leaves at Downham Market
As a youngster, I was fascinated by aircraft, the Second World War and the airfields that the brave young men of the RAF and USAAF flew from. A mixture of nationalities, they gave their lives without hesitation or question.
My interest and love of this period extended to the Cold War, to fast jets and amazing feats of aerobatics that defy logic and gravity. I would badger my parents into visiting a nearby airfield when on holiday, I would stand eyes skyward watching as the roar of a jet came and went. Books were collected, photos gathered and dreams made.
As an adult, I started visiting these old sites, and more recently began the blog chronicling my experiences for those who wish to share them with me.
So far, I have covered 17 trails, which include over 40 airfields ranging from Lincolnshire to Kent, Norfolk to Northamptonshire. As I travel further afield, my experiences, the people I meet and the stories I find, never fail to amaze me.
Why not come on a voyage of discovery and nostalgia; choose a trail; see what part they played and see what remains of those places today.
Click on the links below to see some of the pages in the site.
See the memorials to these people.
Read about heroic tales and acts of bravery.
Find out about the inspiration behind my love of aviation, my father.
RAF Rattlesden, was home to the 447th Bomb Group, this consisted of the 708th, 709th, 710th and 711th Bomb Squadrons.
Possibly the most famous aircraft from this group was the B-17 ‘A Bit O’ Lace’ immortalised by Airfix as their 1:78 scale model.
I recently had the good fortune to come across this film on ‘You Tube’, taken by one of the crew members of ‘A Bit O’ Lace’. It was taken at various points during the war and gives an insight in to the lives of the young crew of the B-17 during World War 2.
The film includes, scenes around bombed London, RAF Rattlesden and on missions over Europe, the exact locations are not clear.
The film also includes a Lancaster, believed to be N0. 100 Squadron Lancaster III ED587, HW-V, which shot down on the night of 9th/10th March 1943 over Munchen.
Other ‘guest’ aircraft include P-51s and P-47s.
The film is priceless.
I visited Rattlesden earlier this year and it appears in Trail 15.
B-26B of the 449th BS (322ndBG) – ‘Flak Bait‘ – went on to complete a total of 207 missions; more than any other American aircraft during World War II, a record only surpassed by a DH Mosquito of the RAF. This aircraft returned to United States after the war and is now housed in the Smithsonion National Air and Space Museum as a reminder and memorial.
Station 468, Bury St Edmunds (RAF Rougham) is now a museum and small active airfield that pays homage to the crews of the USAAF. Visit Trail 16 and see what remains.
Photo by MSGT Bernard Leroy Oligschlaeger (1921-1976) USAAF – Gunner/Radioman in 394th BG/586th BS
“The admin blocks were designed to accommodate 1,845 men and 250 women, in a large area to the south of the airfield. Tuddenham had a total of 12 administration and technical areas spread across the entire site. Hurriedly built, the accommodation blocks were unheated, cold and un-homely“.
RAF Tuddenham, located in the western side of Suffolk, close by to RAF Mildenhall, one of the USAF’s busiest bases, was home to Stirlings and Lancasters of RAF Bomber command. They suffered heavy losses in the bombing campaign over europe.
Visit Tuddenham today in Trail 16.
Tuddenham village sign depicts a Lancaster of 90 Squadron RAF flying overhead.
To all those who went before, Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poem is widely used in remembrance services across the world. It was published 100 years ago today. http://wp.me/P4xjD9-8u
For the Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.Solemn the drums thrill: Death August and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.(Published in The Times newspaper, 21st September 1914).
In November 1944, a Mosquito of 608 Squadron, RAF Downham Market, returned from a mission to Gelsenkirchen, Germany. A successful mission overall, but this was to be the last time Mosquito KB364 and its crew would fly.
The night was cold and possible icing may have prevented Pilot Officer James McLean and Sergeant Mervyn Tansley, from maintaining altitude. Their flight was about to end abruptly.
Bawdeswell, a small, quiet village in Norfolk, believed to be home to Geoffrey Chaucer’s uncle, was about to make history once more. Find out what happened that night over Norfolk.
The Bawdeswell village sign reflects the incident of that fateful night.
By the time the war had finished, the 490th had completed 158 missions losing only 22 aircraft in combat; one of the lowest records in the whole of the Eighth Airforce. Immediately after cessation of the conflict, the 490th continued to fly, supplying food and supplies to the people in the Netherlands and other humanitarian operations involving allied POWs across Europe.
The 490th also had another less salubrious claim to fame…
RAF Eye, Suffolk
Whilst on my trails I find it disheartening to see so many of our former airfields disappear under builders machinery or industry looking for a cheap alternative to building their own premises. Using the guise of ‘recycling’ old sites, they fail to understand the history, importance or significance of these ‘brown field’ places.
These airfield were not simply a place where aircraft took off and landed a long time ago, but they are places where people died, suffered terrible injuries. were traumatised or lost loved ones and friends. It’s where young men, many away from their families for the first time, spent their last days on gods earth before giving themselves up in the name of peace.
Yes I see the relevance and difficult balance between the building infrastructure, jobs and housing needs against the desire to preserve small areas of heritage, history and desire to respect the need to preserve what are important marks that represent a major tuning point in the worlds development. It is hard, and not one that any political or historical follower takes lightly I’m sure. But if it were not for volunteers, people with a real understandings of the relevance of these matters, we would have very little to show for what was an incredible and turbulent time in world history.
Is there an answer? I don’t know, I wish I did. It would be easy to say “save every airfield” but for what? To rot, to be a time capsule soaking money form important public areas like health and education. Or is it dig them up, we don’t need them it was a long time ago, let’s move on!
All I know is, with each visit I make a little more of history disappears, a memory is lost and as the years roll on, a veteran passes away. Something needs doing and it needs doing soon.
Downham Market Heritage Society
An archive of 20th century air traffic control photographs and other media sponsored by the Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers http://gatco.org/
The Pathfinders & The World They Knew
Pathfinder Aircrew, their Friends, their Families, and the World they Knew
Master Bomber
Exploring around Blackpool, the Fylde Coast and surrounding area
The Dams Raid (Operation Chastise) and after
Louise Mabey
Exploring the history of the men buried in the RAF Section at Brookwood Military Cemetery
THE WWII JOURNEY OF GEORGE EDWIN FARRAR, B-17 GUNNER AND STALAG LUFT 4 POW
Scale Models, Real People, Extraordinary Stories
The best in WWII aviation history
USAAF Station 582
A dialogue focused on the fascinating past of England through the exploration of local military history.
Aviation Trails 