Help with research
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Bovingdon
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Bovingdon Airfield
Hi, I am trying to find out if anyone has any documented proof that they, or anyone they know, has landed on the old Bovingdon Airfield since the 80's? I recently purchased a farm that has part of the old runway, the part closest to the Bovingdon VOR! anyone that has landed on this part of the runway in the last 10-20 years, could you please let me know as I fly a microlite and am having trouble with the council! There has been a chap with a plane that he has kept on the farm since the early 70's so there is established rights, but the more people that can show they have flown in and out of here in the last 10 years at least, will help me prove the established rights. The part of runway that came with the farm has PPR written at both ends, this is the stretch I am talking about! I really would appreciate any help on this matter!
Thanks. Paul.
Thanks. Paul.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Devon
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Canberra Crash - 21/11/61 - Tiverton
I take your point about the terseness 
- the reason I mention ditching was because that the canal was dredged some 6/7 years ago and they came up with mud soaked in aviation fuel and lots of parts and instruments from the aircraft. I gather the bulk of the aircraft was removed approx 2/3 weeks after the crash
Thank you for your response !
- the reason I mention ditching was because that the canal was dredged some 6/7 years ago and they came up with mud soaked in aviation fuel and lots of parts and instruments from the aircraft. I gather the bulk of the aircraft was removed approx 2/3 weeks after the crashThank you for your response !
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Canberra Crash - 21/11/61 - Tiverton
I thank you for your reply and for the information. Local folklore says that the crew stayed with the aircraft so it didn't crash on the town and thus sacrificed their lives in order to do that. It is very nearly 50 years to the day since it happened and , each time I pass the sight, my thoughts are with the families of the crew!
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I know little about the accident but am interested as I flew Canberras for many years. I have a piece of wreckage from your father's Canberra. It is the emergency bomb release lever and was recovered many years after the accident by a water engineer working at the site. Please let me know if you would like any more information about it. Best wishes. Mike hawkins
Join Date: Aug 2007
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I am very interested to stumble on this thread as in 1961 I was 16 years old and boarding at Blundell's School which is about a mile from the crash site. We very often used to walk, run or bike along the canal (which was unrestored at that time).
I distinctly remember hearing an unusual noise which suddenly stopped. We were in the process of going to bed, so it would have been around 10 pm. I was checking the stash of cigarettes under the loose floorboard under my bed.
Next day we were all called together and told very firmly that the canal was now "out of bounds" for the rest of the term; we should go nowhere near it, and if approached by the press we were to say "no comment". By the following term the wreckage was of course removed.
So far as I recall we were never told officially what had happened indeed the policy of the school was that nothing had happened! Of course there were rumours, including that the pilots had sacrificed themselves to avoid the town. 1961/2 was the winter of the big freeze, so we spent most of the Spring term trying to keep warm, and the events of the previous term long forgotten. There was little or no discussion of the flight or the type of aircraft. At that time we were more into fast cars than planes. Package holidays were only just starting.
It is cathartic even 58 years later to find out more about a dim memory (and find it is not really so dim), and to be able to put names to the poor people who died.
I distinctly remember hearing an unusual noise which suddenly stopped. We were in the process of going to bed, so it would have been around 10 pm. I was checking the stash of cigarettes under the loose floorboard under my bed.
Next day we were all called together and told very firmly that the canal was now "out of bounds" for the rest of the term; we should go nowhere near it, and if approached by the press we were to say "no comment". By the following term the wreckage was of course removed.
So far as I recall we were never told officially what had happened indeed the policy of the school was that nothing had happened! Of course there were rumours, including that the pilots had sacrificed themselves to avoid the town. 1961/2 was the winter of the big freeze, so we spent most of the Spring term trying to keep warm, and the events of the previous term long forgotten. There was little or no discussion of the flight or the type of aircraft. At that time we were more into fast cars than planes. Package holidays were only just starting.
It is cathartic even 58 years later to find out more about a dim memory (and find it is not really so dim), and to be able to put names to the poor people who died.
