Imperial War Museum, Lambeth

In London today for a largely pointless hospital visit for the wingman we pitched up close to the IWM and I'm ashamed to say that the last time I went was on a school trip a good few years ago. So I took the opportunity for a look around. The museum remains free to visit. I had to get a couple of shots of the 15" naval guns that 'guard' the museum.

The museum in the main covers WWI and WWII with some smaller sections on other conflicts such as the Falklands war. The main galleries take you through a chronological sequence of events for each war with artefacts supporting the stories being told. Full size aircraft are limited to the Mk1a Spitfire, Harrier and Sopwith Camel although there are also flying bombs and aircraft sections some of which have previously been at Duxford for short periods. Among aircraft artefacts are the wing of a Lend Lease Airacobra, McCuddens windscreen, a Halifax section with Disney characters and another Halifax section showing the bomb tally of a crashed Halifax. The final bomb with skull was added by the Germans.

Beaufort and Hampden Memorial

Mousehold Heath in Norwich was a decoy landing area in WWII and currently there is a memorial to Bristol Beaufort DE121,  from 1 Flight Ferry Training Unit that crashed on 25.7.42 taking the lives of all four crew.

Also remembered on the memorial is the pilot of Handley Page Hampden AE141 that crashed on 12th February 1942. It had been damaged by flak on  Operation Fuller or the Channel Dash as it is better known. See here for a memorial to Swordfish crews also lost on this operation.

Norfolk Bomb Disposal

As with much of the UK in WWII Norfolk beaches were heavily mined as a deterrent against a possible German invasion. Thankfully the mines were never needed in this way but consequently they had to be removed subsequently to make the coast safe again. Sadly this resulted   in a number of deaths amongst bomb disposal units. This memorial at Mundesley remembers 27 personnel lost between 1944 and 1953.

F/Lt David Coke DFC

Jolly 22

Jolly 22 was the call sign of a USAF HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter. Flying out of Lakenheath on 7th January 2014 it passed at low level over a nature reserve at Cley Marshes, Norfolk and impacted a flock of geese which appears to have disabled both pilot and co-pilot with the tragic result that the helicopter crashed killing all four crew on board. 

A memorial to the crew has subsequently been put in place at Cley close by to the crash site.

Little Snoring Airfield

Little Snoring opened in 1943 and was used mainly by Lancasters and Mosquitos. It was relinquished by the RAF in the 1950s but remains in use for general aviation via part of one of the original runways. I was passing by yesterday so detoured to have a quick look. Not much is accessible since it is an active airfield but the other end of the current runway was quite clear, albeit covered with piles of gravel, and the original control tower is still extant. An airfield memorial stone has been erected in the recent past.

North Creake Memorial

I last visited North Creake 9 years ago (airfield review) but since then a new memorial in the form of a roll of honour and a Stirling 'sculpture' have been erected and I called by today for a quick look and found it a quite impressive addition.

Incidentally, since my last visit the control tower has been completed as planned and is up and running as a B&B.

Airbus Helicopters H145

 Caught over Binham Priory today on Air Ambulance duties.

Richard Hames Younghusband

Since my last visit to the former airfield at Langham a few years ago a new memorial has been erected. It is in memory of Richard Younghusband, an RAF pilot who joined the RAF in 1931 and went on to fly with Bristol Aeroplane Company as a test pilot, for Fairey Surveys and Marshalls of Cambridge. On 23rd July 1953 whilst with the Civilian Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit he took off from Langham in a silver MkIX Spitfire but crashed fatally nearby between Cockthorpe and Binham.

This replica Spitfire, donated by the RAF Museum Hendon, has been put up in his memory.