B-17s could make do with grass for a landing field. Here's some film
from 1943. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP_Wl9dIUwc>
I noticed that Polebrook is not all that far from Honington. Although
my dad was a P-38 and P-51 mechanic I do recall that he sometimes did
some work on B-17s while at Honington. Maybe helping out the boys from
Polebrook? I don't know what he did since a B-17 is way different from
those small fighters. Maybe just help whip the sheet metal back into
shape. I remember him talking about B-17's missing so much sheet metal
you'd think they couldn't fly but they still managed to land at Honington.
Chuck Norcutt
On 12/4/2015 2:27 PM, ChrisB wrote:
Thanks, Charlie. Yes they are – hay or straw. The old airfield is almost
completely submerged under farmland now. If you look at Google Earth (or the Earth
view of Google Maps) and find RAF Polebrook it is almost invisible. As you might
imagine, there were loads and loads of airfields in eastern England during the Second
World War and many of them remain, with the agricultural land around the runways.
Either someone has dug up a lot of concrete from Polebrook or it was only grass in the
first place.
Chris
On 4 Dec 2015, at 18:27, Charles Geilfuss <charles.geilfuss@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Nice images, Chris. Shame you weren't able to take to the air. In the
Memorial photo, are those bales of hay stacked in the background?
Charlie
On Fri, Dec 4, 2015 at 1:18 PM, ChrisB <ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Once a week I go flying, normally on a Friday when there is no teaching
for me at the Centre of Aviation Medicine. Today was a gorgeous day,
albeit a little breezy (and strengthening), and I would have gone flying.
But the blasted RIV (Rescue Intervention Vehicle – fire engine) was u/s so
we had no crash cover, as it’s called. That meant no flying :-(
So I did some admin at someone else’s desk and headed home through the
rather lovely counties of Rutland and Leicestershire and took a couple of
photos. I started with a shot of several aircraft not flying at my base,
Wittering, but the found a grounded Caravan at a para club to the southeast
(Sibson), before heading down a straight, country road with the old-style
signpost. At the almost-disappeared RAF Polebrook I found an old memorial
to the 351st Bombardier Squadron, 8th AF and stopped for a moment to say a
prayer for the boys . . .
Only 4 photos, but it made for a more enjoyable journey home than driving
helter-skelter down the motorway.
http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=19312
Chris
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