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Classic Wings Magazine WWII Naval Aviation Research Pacific Luftwaffe Resource Center
When Hollywood Ruled The Skies - Volumes 1 through 4 by Bruce Oriss


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Iclo
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:22 pm 
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I think that Biggin Hill was a fighter air base According to the book "The big show" of the french ace Pierre Closterman. If someone can confirme ?

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dhfan
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:47 pm 
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Biggin Hill was a major fighter base.
The scene(s) in the Battle of Britain film where the operations room was destroyed by bombing and set up again in a local shop aren't a scriptwriter's fantasy, it actually happened at Biggin Hill.
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ZRX61
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:16 pm 
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Firebird wrote:
Snetterton was a B-17 base, but the runways are long gone, the back straight of the motor racing circuit was built out of part of the old main runway... :wink:

Part of the track at Snetterton is called the "bombhole". Looking at the place on Google earth seems to show a row of 4 or 5 bomb craters/duckponds. The are to the south west of the actual track, crossing 3 nearby fields...

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Firebird
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:50 pm 
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ZRX61 wrote:
Firebird wrote:
Snetterton was a B-17 base, but the runways are long gone, the back straight of the motor racing circuit was built out of part of the old main runway... :wink:

Part of the track at Snetterton is called the "bombhole". Looking at the place on Google earth seems to show a row of 4 or 5 bomb craters/duckponds. The are to the south west of the actual track, crossing 3 nearby fields...


The Bomb Hole corner at Snetterton is on the North-East side of the track, effectively at the extreme eastern end of the old runway.

Did any USAAF bomber bases get targeted by Luftwaffe bombers or fighter-bombers.....or were any such impact sites caused by crashing returning bombers with hung-up loads...??
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ZRX61
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:13 pm 
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Firebird wrote:
The Bomb Hole corner at Snetterton is on the North-East side of the track, effectively at the extreme eastern end of the old runway.

Did any USAAF bomber bases get targeted by Luftwaffe bombers or fighter-bombers.....or were any such impact sites caused by crashing returning bombers with hung-up loads...??

Been a while since I was at Snetterton...

Rougham Manor was hit by a bomb & the ruins are still there...just to the East of the old airfield. about 4 miles East of Bury St Edmunds on google earth etc. The house in is the woods.

http://www.roughamairfield.org/

http://www.derelicte.co.uk/rougham-airfield

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bomberflight
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:53 pm 
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I've just had a look at FlightAware's liver flight tracker

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N390TH

It shows she left Albany on on Tuesday 24th June bound for Bangor, but there's nothing listed for her arrival .....

Anyone got an update please ?

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Don Martin
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 4:02 pm 
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Canso42 wrote:
Don, that tail shot against the light is plumb artsy. Good work dude.


Could help it, the sun kept getting in my lens, so I kept moving until it was gone and started snapping pictures again! :shock: :wink: 8)

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Firebird
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:03 pm 
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Firebird wrote:
ZRX61 wrote:
Firebird wrote:
There are only two remaining former 8th AF B-17 WW2 bases left with original active runways, that's Deenthorpe and Glatton.

Alconbury still exists as a non-active USAFE station but has been hugely modified from it's wartime state.

Stansted? ok, that was a bit of a stretch.... :wink: Doesn't Snetterton still have a runway? What about Norwich? (or *Narch* as the locals pronounce it).. ok, I'm not sure any of those were 17 bases, wasn't *Narch* B24's?


Snetterton was a B-17 base, but the runways are long gone, the back straight of the motor racing circuit was built out of part of the old main runway... :wink:

Norwich as is, or Horsham St.Faith as was, was a B-24 base.

No, only 'active' original B-17 runways left are Deenthorpe and Glatton.

There is one other one that could be active if it wasn't currently being used as open air storage for thousands of new unsold cars, and that's the former RAE airfield at Thurleigh in Beds.


I lied...... :lol:

Just found out that Rattlesden's old runway is still in use for gliding, but looking on Google earth, it may not be it's full WW2 length now.
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ZRX61
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:09 pm 
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Firebird wrote:
I lied...... :lol:

Just found out that Rattlesden's old runway is still in use for gliding, but looking on Google earth, it may not be it's full WW2 length now.


Quite a few runways are hidden under Bernard Matthews turkey sheds...

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Canso42
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:02 pm 
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Eagle Squadron 133 was based at Biggin Hill for a while.
And speaking of bombed bases in England....in Vern Haugland's book, "The Eagle Squadrons, Yanks in the RAF 1940-1942" there is a description on an incident during a Luftwaffe raid where an Eagle became the only pilot in history to be shot down in a Link Trainer.
I may have to re-read the whole volume to get the pilot's name and sqn. but he was in the Link getting in some practice and a strafing fighter shot up the training building which included shooting the pedestal out from under the trainer.
Published by Ziff-Davis Flying Books, 1979. I got it at an area antique festival/flea market along with several other books, all with big stamps inside the cover "Withdrawn from Vance AFB Library"

blue skies,

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futurshox
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:29 am 
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The tracking link for Liberty Belle's flight is http://www.flightexplorer.com/LibertyBelle
She is due to depart 10am local time from Bangor, today (30th).
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bomberflight
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:39 am 
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Futurshox ~ Thanks for the update !

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futurshox
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:03 am 
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A pleasure!

I just heard the weather is a bit iffy so she may not actually go today after all. I guess we'll see.
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TAdan
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:16 am 
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Great to hear she will be headed over to England. I hope they have a safe trip and tour. 8)

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Robbie Stuart
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:38 am 
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Looks like they have filled, from FlightAware.com

Aircraft Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (quad-piston) (B17/G)
Origin Bangor Intl (KBGR)
Destination Goose Bay (CYYR)
Other flights between these airports
Route MLT V39 PQI
Date Monday, Jun 30, 2008
Duration 4 hours 2 minutes
Status Scheduled
Scheduled Actual/Estimated
Departure 12:10PM EDT 12:10PM EDT
Arrival 08:12PM GMT 08:12PM GMT
Speed 150 kts
Altitude 7000 feet

At least part of this flight occurs outside of FlightAware's service area. Information on this page may be unreliable.

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Let's all wish them a safe trip.

Robbie

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