Souvenirs: A Copy of “Dorset Society” Magazine With Notes, Wimborne Minster, August 2012.

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air show, Bournemouth, Bournemouth Air Festival, Dorset, Dorset Society Magazine, next year, post-it notes, Property, RAF, Red Arrows, Royal Air Force, Sandbanks, Souvenirs

Mrs. W, my advisor in all things relating to the Counties of Dorset and Hampshire (including the Isle of Wight) sent me this publication in the post following a very pleasant holiday with her family in the Wimborne Minster area of Dorset. The note on the front reads, “How to live at Sandbanks!” That summer we had a picnic on the beach at Sandbanks, which is a very well-to-do area; so I’ve been told. The magazine also contains a number of labels that read, “Next year”, including one next to a “New England Waterfront Property” on the market for £7,750, 000 freehold [needless to say I spent my 2013 Summer holiday in Dorset billeted in more modest accommodation]. Another “Next year” appears on page 6, next to an article about the Bournemouth Air Festival and we did [after years of talking about it] pay a visit to Bournemouth on the first day of the air show, which was great.

The Red Arrows over Bournemouth Pier.

Perhaps one day I will be watching the Red Arrows fly over Bournemouth from the comfort of The Cumberland Hotel, as featured on the cover of “Dorset Society” magazine.

You can see more of my photographs of the Red Arrows here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121480122@N04/sets/72157650595265707/

A Spitfire “Not Looking Her Best”, RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hangar, RAF Coningsby, 26/02/15.

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aviation, Battle of Britain, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, engineering, hangar, RAF, RAF Coningsby, Royal Air Force, Second World War, Spitfire, Spitfire Mk IIa, World War Two

The Spitfire Mk IIa P7350.

The fuel tank, amongst other things, removed whilst repairs are carried out.

If you are lucky enough to visit the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s visitor centre at RAF Coningsby and you pay to go on the hangar tour, as I did, you will more than likely see the aircraft of the Battle of Britain in a whole new light, for example I had never seen the petrol tank from a Spitfire before. The petrol tank, the hood which usually covers it, the pilot’s seat, the nose cone which and one or two other bits and bobs were arranged neatly on the hangar floor, whilst sections of the fuselage sat on selves beside the aircraft [each aircraft had its own set of shelves so the different pieces do not get muddled up]. I cannot remember the exact nature of the problem with the aircraft, but Richard, our guide, did not seem concerned [although he did admit to only being a very experienced pilot and not a very experienced engineer]. I’m sure team at RAF Coningsby will have it back up in the air in no time at all [relatively speaking].

“Never Was So Much Owed By So Many To So Few”, RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hangar, RAF Coningsby, 26/02/15.

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Battle of Britain, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Never was so much owed by so many to so few, poster, Quotes, RAF, RAF Coningsby, Royal Air Force, Second World War, The Few, Winston Churchill, World War Two

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/

Photo Archive: The Few, Battle of Britain Memorial, Victoria Embankment, London, c.2010.

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Battle of Britain Memorial, Bronze, London, pilots, public art, Rain, rain drops, Royal Air Force, sculpture, Second World War, The Few, Victoria Embankment, Weather

Photo Archive: Small Scale Replica of The Wooden Horse, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14

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Eric Williams, escaping, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Michael Codner, military museums, Museums, Oliver Philpot, Prisoners of War, RAF, RAF Escape Museum, RAF Escape Society, Royal Air Force, Second World War, The Wooden Horse, World War Two

I can’t recall the scale.

The story of the “Wooden Horse” escape from Stalag Luft III, during the Second World War, came to my attention via the 1950 film “The Wooden Horse” starring Leo John Genn [who also appeared as Mr. Starbuck in “Moby Dick“, 1956, and in “Green is for Danger“, 1946; two of my favourites] and David Tomlinson.

The film was based on the novel, “The Wooden Horse“, by Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams, RAF, who was one of the three men to escape from Stalag Luft III, a German Prisoner of War camp, located in what was then Lower Silesia, which is now in Poland, with the help of a vaulting horse, constructed by the prisoners of war. As I understand it, Williams, Flight Lieutenant Oliver Philpot MC, DFC, RAF and Second Lieutenant Michael Codner, Royal Artillery, successfully escaped captivity via a tunnel, the entrance to which was concealed beneath the horse. The tunnellers were carried out to the exercise yard hidden within the horse. Cover was then provided by the PoWs vaulting over the horse whilst the tunneller worked beneath them; the vaulting also confused the seismographs used by the camp guards to detect any digging. When the vaulters called it a day they carried the horse back inside, along with the tunneller hidden within it and the soil excavated from the tunnel. Following their escape the three men headed for the Baltic; Williams and Codner, with the help of the Danish Resistance, managed to reach neutral Sweden, whilst Philpot headed for Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland, where he stowed away on board a Swedish merchant vessel.

The Wooden Horse forms part of the RAF Escape Society’s collection, on display at the RAF Escape Museum, in the grounds of the Aviation Heritage Centre.

Photo Archive: “The Escape” Pub Sign, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14.

Tags

Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Military History, Museums, Public houses, pubs, RAF, RAF Escaping Society, Royal Air Force, Second World War, signs, Whitbread, World War Two

Cheers!

To quote from the RAF Escaping Society Museum website, “The RAF Escaping Society Museum was first established in the mid 1960s at a Whitbread public house in Mabledon Place, off Euston Road in London. The pub – renamed The Escape – was in more of a student than a tourist area and attracted insufficient interest”; what a shame! But at least the sign has found a new home at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre.

Photo Archive: The Red Arrows, Whitby, 2008.

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Aerobatics, RAF, Red Arrows, Red White and Blue, Royal Air Force, Whitby

Viewed from St’ Mary’s church yard high above Whitby.

Keeping The Flags Flying, Cleethorpes, 01/05/14.

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British Army, Cleethorpes, HM Armed Forces, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, War Memorial, Wind