Dear Dave,
many thanks for getting in touch. I will duly send you a PM shortly with my email address for further contact, or we can continue posting on here as you wish.
I would love to hear more about your time with the Canberra, and so hopefully the questions I posted on the first page can serve as starting point for you, if need be. Above all, could you let me know your rank, job title and sqns served on for crediting in the book (sounds dangerously like a wartime interrogation, I know!)
I will say I am particularly interested in hearing more about your memories from Operation Grapple (you are the first in this project with this experience) and the B(I).6 at Bruggen. I assume then that you were on 213 Sqn for this; I am currently in contact with another ex-213 electrician and I wonder if your paths crossed. You also mentioned 51 Sqn, of course this always perks my ears - were the B.6 (mods) on strength then or was that after your time with them? Of course any and all Canberra-related stories are very much welcomed, these are just some of the salient points that jumped out at me from your post.
Like you, I have a fascination with 'ghost' or abandoned airfields, having grown up in Cambs. and with the same interest in the USAAF 8th AF. I think if I had stayed in the UK, I would have gone the same route as you with the caravan and trodden many a field in similar pursuits. My life has now taken a very different turn in the very different world of southern California over the last 8 years, but it is hobbies and projects like this that keep me in touch with my roots. Needless to say I am suitably envious of your own hobby! Now you have my 'waffle mode' as well! Perhaps we can have a separate chat about that and the things you have found.
Best regards,
Steve