>
> Geoff:
> My father-inlaw (deceased) flew Spits in WWII. He arrived late for
> the Battle of Br. but did three full tours (93 hrs. of Ops., 305 hrs.
> in Spits, ) all in Spits - 3 kills - and never got a scratch. Ended
> the war in Mustangs (26 hrs.). I have his RCAF flight jacket and a
> copy of his flight log book.
> My question to you is there a WWII air field still in existance in
> England? I would love to visit one at some time. During training
> Frank flew out of a number of Airfields in Canada and I have visited
> several of these. Some are now farmers fields and others are quite as
> they were in WWII. In Eng. he few from Hawkinge, Twinwood Farm,
> Molsworth, Parrenporth, Friston and others. Also were is the best
> Spitfire display located?
> Thanks
> Godspeed
> JC
>
>
>
>
There's a few museums (musea?) about containing aircraft (RAF Cosford in =
Shropshire is a good one, reputed to have a ghost in a Lancaster). Hawki=
nge
and Lydd were the two front line airfields, Lydd is now 'Kent Internation=
al
Airport' but the Battle of Britain museum at Hawkinge in Kent is probably=
the
nearest thing to a WWII airfield, now unfortunately reduced to just a few=
original buildings. The film 'Battle of Britain' was made there as build=
ings
and airfields were almost intact, and the display includes some
(non-flying) replica Spitfires made for the film. Since then, however, =
apart
from said buildings the land has been sold off for building and farming. =
One
of the features of Hawkinge is the pains the curators have gone to with =
the
personal lives of the pilots, Allied and Axis, killed in the area.
Some planes are still being dug up, indeed a Spitfire was recoved from =
under a
mainroad in a coastal town only last year. Permission was only granted =
because
records showed that the pilots body had been recovered and buried, but =
when
excavated the cockpit still contained a body.
Also in the area, right on top of the White Cliffs, is the Battle of Brit=
ain
memorial. Amazingly (to me, at any rate), this was only contructed a few=
years
ago.
PaulH
73 Roadster (HD&H)
75 V8 (DD)
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