Stan Sted
18th Dec 2001, 21:35
A few miles north east of my home is the site of an airfield used during the Second World War by first the USAAF and then the RAF.
It was build by the USAAF as Chipping Ongar and was the base of a Marauder light bomber wing.
When the Yanks moved south to Hampshire ready for the 1944 invasion the RAF moved in with Stirlings and gliders to take Paras to Normandy. The field then became known as RAF Willingale. Not much is left of the airfield now except a private strip on one of the old peri tracks.
It would be good to hear from anyone who served at the airfield. The local history group is always on the look out for stories about the base and the people who served there.
A pint of beer for the best story from a former RAF man/woman who was there and a gallon of Gray's best bitter in The Cock Tavern, Ongar, for any American passing through town who has time to chat about the old days.
The later offer may not be as daft as it sounds...a few years ago I found a former Marauder captain wandering down Ongar High Street trying to remember how it was in 1943...and he had fond recollections of the pub and the nearby Budworth Hall where swing bands played and he jived the night away with the local girls.
[ 18 December 2001: Message edited by: Stan Sted ]
It was build by the USAAF as Chipping Ongar and was the base of a Marauder light bomber wing.
When the Yanks moved south to Hampshire ready for the 1944 invasion the RAF moved in with Stirlings and gliders to take Paras to Normandy. The field then became known as RAF Willingale. Not much is left of the airfield now except a private strip on one of the old peri tracks.
It would be good to hear from anyone who served at the airfield. The local history group is always on the look out for stories about the base and the people who served there.
A pint of beer for the best story from a former RAF man/woman who was there and a gallon of Gray's best bitter in The Cock Tavern, Ongar, for any American passing through town who has time to chat about the old days.
The later offer may not be as daft as it sounds...a few years ago I found a former Marauder captain wandering down Ongar High Street trying to remember how it was in 1943...and he had fond recollections of the pub and the nearby Budworth Hall where swing bands played and he jived the night away with the local girls.
[ 18 December 2001: Message edited by: Stan Sted ]