August
2010
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Help wanted
Dear Editor,
Please may I make an appeal through your letters page to make contact with any RAF or Army personnel who served at RAF Bentwaters or RAF Woodbridge during WWII and the period directly afterwards before the US Air Force arrived in 1951.
Bentwaters near Ipswich, Suffolk was the last airfield in the RAF to be activated, becoming home to a number of fighter squadrons from 1944, when 11 Group arrived, including 64, 118, 126, 129, 165 and 234 Squadrons operating Spitfire and Mustang aircraft.
Following the end of the War, the airfield was used by 56, 65, 245 Squadrons and the first training unit for jets, 226 Operational Conversion Unit, which flew the Meteor and Vampire.
Woodbridge, which was originally known as RAF Sutton Heath, is adjacent to Bentwaters and was built in 1943 as an emergency landing ground to help damaged aircraft or those short of fuel to land after a mission, and a total of 4,200 Allied aircraft made use of the runway saving the lives of many aircrew from ditching in the cold North Sea!
In March 1945, Woodbridge was used as one of the many airfields for Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine, when a huge armada of 1,700 Allied aircraft and gliders was launched to strike into the heart of Germany. On 24th March, Woodbridge despatched 60 aircraft and 60 gliders from 298 and 644 Squadrons, containing troops, tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery. The volume of troop movements and supply lorries must have had a huge impact on the area and we would welcome hearing from anyone who was involved, both RAF and Army, or who witnessed the build up and the skies full of aircraft that day.
After the war, Woodbridge was used for experimental work until 1948, when it was placed under care and maintenance until the US Air Force arrived in 1952.
Please could anyone who served at either of the two airfields during the period 1943 to 1951 please contact me at the address below or, alternatively, we would be delighted to meet with you at the Bentwaters Cold War Museum Open Day (see www.bcwm.org.uk) on 1st August to share your memories. . . just make yourself known to a member of staff who will direct you to me.
Thank you for your help in this matter, which will help our research into this period of history enormously.
Simon Gladas, Publicity and Liaison Office, Bentwaters Aviation Society, c/o Bentwaters Cold War Museum, Building 134, Bentwaters Parks, Rendlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 2TW (e-mail simon.gladas@bentwaters-as.org.uk)
‘A disturbing sight’
Dear Editor,
I have to share a disturbing sight with your readers, concerning our local wildlife. I realised of course that their numbers were declining, but had no idea it was this bad. Is this yet another example of climate change?
Ian Miller, Southwold
Driven to distraction
Dear Editor,
I and my family have been, on and off, visitors to and residents in Southwold since my father, recovering from a collision between his skull and the dashboard of his DH9A when he was flying with 600 Squadron in the 1920s, came here.
His best mate, W R Massey, brought him up to Thorpeness to recuperate. They toured in Will’s tiny Rover coupe and discovered Southwold. Since then, Tom, Will, their wives and offspring have come here for holidays, then to holiday homes, finally to settle. Both families have at least half a century of Southwold experience.
However, I in my sere old age feel threatened by the traffic in the Market Place, some of which peels off the High Street into East Street without signalling. Even spry pedestrians who see a vehicle heading seaward cannot be aware whether it is continuing along the High Street, turning into The Swan (I’ll be fair, these usually signal) or turning WITHOUT indication toward East Street.
Pensioners, like me, have to skip out of their way AND ARE EVEN HOOTED AT.
Do your readers think I would be justified in heaving half a brick through their windscreens?
Equally, how can we deter the lorry drivers who think they can shrink their gross vehicles enough to squeeze down East Street, ignoring the very clear warning sign (at lorry drivers’ eyelevel)
I am of course a peace-loving retired chartered accountant, but am tempted. What are the Council doing? What are the police doing? What can The Organ do?
John Courtis FCA, Flying Officer, RAF, retired, Reydon
Thoughts on the state of Southwold
Dear Editor,
Re the painting of railings on Southwold seafront. I would like to point out that, in the 60s and 70s, my father-in-law with other fishermen used to paint these when there wasn’t any fishing. Also the Model Yachting and Boating Lake Ernest Watson used to run for Southwold Town Council. He used to dig out the Lakes with wooden spades. Has Southwold gone up market with Victoria Road and Queens Road?
Margaret Watson, Kessingland
