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Originally Posted by avro63
(Post 9994396)
I too used to go to Bovingdon as an Air Cadet, I was in 1187 sdn in Hemel Hempstead and the school i went to was right under the final approach flight path, which made for an interesting day. Yes I used to bunk off school to get trips up in the Ansons and also got in to see The War Lover being filmed. Also used to hitch hike to Booker to get trips too .
Many years ago I had a map with all RAF airfields on it but lost over the years . Used to stand on the Chesham -Hemel road right under the flight path as the B-17,s were landing. So in Jan 63 I became a Boy Entrant, 48th entry at RAF Hereford and many years later worked at Gatwick Airport as a head loader. |
Originally Posted by brakedwell
(Post 9995294)
Did you fly in any of the Coastal Command Comm Flight Ansons ?
I flew in PH859 and VL337 and I don't know who they originally belonged to. |
Just wondering, I might of flown avro63 when I was an Anson/Valletta pilot on the CCCF in 1961/62
PH859 was one of the four Ansons we had on the CCCF. |
Anyone know who owned TX219, an Anson and first aircraft in which I ever flew, I think at Bassingbourn, in about 1957 or 58
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To brakedwell, to be honest I really don,t remember what squadron it was , I do know that the flights I got were mainly in the Ansons but did very few in the Valetta, as always the aircrew looked after us boys which was appreciated.
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Originally Posted by avro63
(Post 9994396)
Many years ago I had a map with all RAF airfields on it but lost over the years . Used to stand on the Chesham -Hemel road right under the flight path as the B-17,s were landing. So in Jan 63 I became a Boy Entrant, 48th entry at RAF Hereford and many years later worked at Gatwick Airport as a head loader. Was that you Avro63 I wonder? |
XV490 Very many thanks for posting Herb's photographs of Bovingdon. So very nostalgic. I thought other old timers from the Chesham Road days would enjoy his images of the Globemaster, surely one of the most spectacular aeroplanes to visit the aerodrome.
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I shot this 8mm movie of the Capsule leaving Bovingdon. (Plus PH195!)
Apologies in advance for the poor quality! |
OUAQUKGF Ops and brakedwell
Fascinating videos - TVM. A year earlier (1961) I was one of the two crews from 99 and 511 Sqn that crewed a RAF Transport Command Britannia that was on static display at Paris (Le Bourget) Airshow (24th Paris Salon Aéronautique) in May 1961. One of my better trips with 99 Sqn IMHO. The flying display programme was long, lasting (with a lunchtime interval of an hour-and-a-half) from nearly ten in the morning till after six in the evening and had something for everyone. But the star of the show was Al Shepard's Freedom 7 space capsule (the first American in space). On 25 May just three weeks after it had been recovered from the Atlantic, Freedom 7 went on display in Paris. By the end of the show some 650,000 fascinated attendees had taken the opportunity to view Freedom 7 up close. I remember seeing it there (as exhibitors we were at the show before it opened so beat the enormous crowds queuing up to see it). From Paris Freedom 7 went on to Rome for an exhibition at a show there. It drew more visitors than in Paris with 750,000 people lining up to inspect it. ...but why Freedom 7 and Friendship 7 as titles for these spacecraft? |
Originally Posted by Warmtoast
(Post 10003767)
...but why Freedom 7 and Friendship 7 as titles for these spacecraft?
Each pilot was invited to come up with a name for his mission - the six that flew were Aurora 7, Faith 7, Freedom 7, Friendship 7, Liberty Bell 7 and Sigma 7. |
David
Thanks for the explanation. And with apologies for the thread creep here's a view of the static park at Le Bourget in May 1961 with our Brit alongside a Vulcan and Argosy. http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...61-Cropped.jpg |
Originally Posted by robin
(Post 4593008)
I was an Air Cadet in the 60s and we had a number of Wing Parades there. I remember having a great march past when the Battle of Britain fleet were based there - Heinkel III and the Mitchell film aircraft.
In 1968 my Gliding school moved to Bovingdon and I did my first solo there. I overflew it recently en route to Duxford. It is still there, just.. Ditto Clive :) |
Originally Posted by chevvron
(Post 4719888)
Trouble is Will, people on here but not from the Chesham/Amersham area NEVER pronounce 'Chesham Bois' properly!!
'Bwah' in France |
Originally Posted by Duchess_Driver
(Post 5155505)
...over the other day and there seems to be some clearing work going on around the old control tower. All the old shrubbery has been removed and you can now see the tower quite clearly.
Anybody any idea what (if anything) is going on? During the early 80s we used the crash tender garage below to store our hang gliders and microlights. The building was in pretty good shape then and a very representative example of that style of Tower. |
Originally Posted by Warmtoast
(Post 10004058)
David
Thanks for the explanation. And with apologies for the thread creep here's a view of the static park at Le Bourget in May 1961 with our Brit alongside a Vulcan and Argosy. http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...61-Cropped.jpg |
Originally Posted by Duchess_Driver
(Post 5155505)
...over the other day and there seems to be some clearing work going on around the old control tower. All the old shrubbery has been removed and you can now see the tower quite clearly.
Anybody any idea what (if anything) is going on? During the early 80s we used the crash tender garage below to store our hang gliders and microlights. The building was in pretty good shape then and a very representative example of that style of Tower. |
A snapshot from a more leisurely era
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f686b9b7a5.jpg
Vickers Viking of Hunting Air Transport on arrival at Bovingdon from Copenhagen sometime in 1953. |
These photographs will stir pleasant memories in those of us who used to watch the aeroplanes from Chesham Road.
Click on the first image.... https://www.peterwilesphotography.co...os_708846.html |
I made many trips to Bovingdon from Watford sometimes as a member of Watford Grammar School CCF and sometimes to the Chesham Road.My trips were made between 1954 and 1958.I had several Anson flights and one in a DH Devon.There were 2 Meteors,a T7 and a NF?? in use plus several Ansons plus 1 or 2 Devons.There was also a RAF Dakota with a VIP cabin.Shackletons were regular visitors and I can remember 1 Neptune in RAF colours.
The USAF traffic was mainly C47s and an occasional Packet.One surprise was an all black B26? Invader.My other trips from Watford were mainly Heathrow and Northolt. |
The Three Horseshoes, Pudds Cross
Does anyone know when The Three Horseshoes pub (on the Ley Hill road, close to Shantock Hall Lane) shut? It featured in a wartime series of Life magazine photos of black GIs having a beer outside the front.
The pub, which was close to the airfield's MP post and one of the billet sites, was not open in the mid-1960s, so I wonder if it survived the war. There was certainly no shortage of boozers for Bovingdon personnel to choose from, even without going into the village: three were virtually part of the base. |
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