Everyone wants to build on the airfield and it seems that wave upon ...

THE ＨＵＲＲＩＣＡＮＥ

ＮＷＡＭＡ

13 April 2016 Aerobatic Training Day at North Weald ©NWAM

EDITION: SUMMER 2016

Welcome to another edition of The Hurricane the three-times-a-year Newsletter of North Weald Airfield Museum. A mix of news, views and history relating to the museum, the airfield, the district and aviation history in general.

Everyone wants to build on the airfield and it seems that wave upon wave of building proposals appear and are thwarted in turn. The flying continues. The latest in the crop of ‘rumour builds’ includes one that suggests that North Weald Airfield would be a ‘suitable’ site for a district general hospital to replace the current Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow. An idea drawn up by North Weald parish councillor Nigel Bedford also suggests the possible relocation of the fire and ambulance stations in Epping and Ongar to create a "mixed use emergency service base". All the vacated locations could then be developed for housing to meet the need very different way to that envisaged just a few years ago when it was intended that the airfield would be swamped by housing. The Bedford plan, if realised, would also provide particularly good road access to the emergency services involved and might also fit in well with air ambulance capabilities. [Everything Epping Forest]


2

ＮＷＡＭＡ

The airfield has an apparent Emergency Services presence on the airfield already in the form of the air ambulance and Essex Emergency Services 2000 Ltd a company dealing in managing land ambulances. Few can have missed the hundred or so ambulance type vehicles parked up on the south side of the airfield peritrack [the Jet Pan]. There are so many that it would be difficult for the NHS to claim they were short of them, except that these are not directly owned resources of the NHS. Essex Emergency Services 2000 Ltd is a company that ensures the front line emergency vehicles never fail in the line of duty. For ten years they have supported the services with specialist fitting, repair and servicing for all emergency service vehicles, technologies and equipment, breakdown and recovery service. Additionally, they undertake covert conversions for all the services and have fifty vehicles for hire. Across the other side of the runway the Essex & Hertfordshire air ambulance service is in the process of setting up a 24-Hour response service to cover its area of operation. Producing a fully operational all-day air ambulance is a complex business and will take a long while to complete. Rather than develop the air ambulance to undertake the role in stages it intends to primarily rely on Rapid Response Vehicles [RRV] supplemented by the helicopter. In time it may be possible to operate helicopters in the role but that is probably many years away. Trustees recently approved the decision in order to meet their vision to provide the highest level of clinical care across Essex, Hertfordshire and surrounding areas. Work will now begin to introduce the extended service, in stages from autumn 2016. The Board of Trustees also gave the green light to the introduction of two-pilot operation of the helicopters to ensure that the best patient care can be provided during transportation to hospital and further boost aviation safety. New, larger, helicopters are on the way and the first of these is scheduled to operate from the North Weald base. Currently, the service operates 7 days a week - 7am to 9pm or sunset, whichever occurs first. The extended service will see greater use of the road vehicles which will operate into the night, initially for two nights from the North Weald Airbase, but with a longer-term view to extending the service. North Weald has grown into a role as the primary air ambulance base for Essex & Herts thanks to its central location for the two counties – although the supporting charity still maintains its HQ offices and a helicopter at Earls Colne near Colchester. WHAT’S ON recent events at North Weald This year is all about anniversaries and the latest commemorated the creation of 56 Squadron RAF a century ago. This squadron was to serve at North Weald longer than any other in peace and war and therefore has a particularly strong connection with the airfield. The main event was on 8 June when a church service was held for both current and past members – The Veterans - in The Parish Church of Saint Andrew immediately to the east of the airfield. Afterwards refreshments were taken at the control tower with photo opportunities by the plastic Hawker Hurricane appropriately marked in the wartime 56 Squadron codes US. The museum did not lose out in this commemorative activity but had to await a later visit by a group of modern day squadron members undertaking a grand tour of past bases. On the day of the visit they had come from France and were a few hours late. Fortunately, the especially arranged museum opening was extended and both Peter and Steve were there to greet them.


3

ＮＷＡＭＡ

It was business as usual for the now familiar Air-Britain Fly-In on 18/19 June. The annual gathering of Air-Britain members has settled upon North Weald for the last several years is due simply because the local organiser lives locally. www.air-britain.com

©EFDC

At the end of the month, on 30 June, Epping Forest District Council set up an Airfield Night Vigil marking the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. This commemoration was located near to the Control Tower, it was nonetheless an expensive undertaking that ultimately involved just 40 people. Following the all-night vigil to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, Epping Forest District Council’s Somme Commemorations ended with an early morning service at North Weald Airfield on 1 July 2016. Despite the oft repeated claim that the youth of modern generations are fully embracing the remembrance of the Great War there on this occasion there were clearly limits! http://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/ SPOT THE DIFFERENCE!

Our sign has been in place a good many years now and is clearly deteriorated. It is a mix of age and different manufacturing techniques but the visual appearance is the same. The lower part of the sign has now been changed and what a difference it makes! Now we need to raise some funding for the top part of the sign to be remanufactured.


4

ＮＷＡＭＡ

On 10 July — just a week before the major Air Fete event at the airfield — the museum again hosted members of the US based Scott Malden family. Scott-Malden had been the British Officer-in-Charge during the time when the Norwegian Squadrons [331 and 332] had been at North Weald so there is a strong connection between the family and Norway. Being only days before the Community Day it was mentioned that some Second World War Veterans were due the following week and that they were to include the 99-year old former commander, Major General Wilhelm Mohr. Unfortunately the family were unable to change their travel plans and would no longer be in the UK at the time. In the event a letter from Sarah ScottMalden was handed over to Wilhelm while he was at North Weald. It is clear it was a very moving experience for him. Sarah Scott-Malden returned to North Weald and brought her family, children Rebecca and James Aguirre and their father Rhodolfo [left] along with UK based family fiends Pat and John Lodge from Saffron Walden.

MEMBERSHIP DETAILS HOW TO JOIN We accept all currencies in welcoming you to museum membership—becoming a Friend of North Weald Airfield Museum as long as it means the same as £12.50p! You can join through the museum website www.nwamuseum.co.uk

MUSEUM OPENING TIMES

The museum season is April until November and it is closed for the winter When open entry is free for members. Except on Special Event Days visitors will be charged standard rates for entry: Adults £2 Concessions £1.50 Children [5-15] 50p Group rates vary but generally there is a minimum charge of £50 per group.

NORTH WEALD AIRFIELD MUSEUM Ad Astra House Hurricane Way North Weald Epping Essex CM16 6AA

Telephone 01992 523010 [24 hour] E-mail [email protected] Web: www.nwamuseum.co.uk

CONTACT US ADVERTISING AND THE HURRICANE One way in which the NWAMA can earn income and to finance the production of hard copies of the Newsletter is advertising. Advertisers need circulation beyond the membership and they also need to know who is reading the Newsletter. If you pass this edition on please let us know who to so we can help finance your reading!

Copyright Notice: The content of this publication includes items that are the copyright of others. The source of words and images will usually be indicated together with the source of additional information that seeks to enhance the original information. The Hurricane includes artwork produced for it by Ian J Commin of Insight Design of North Burnham, Slough SL1 6DS. In some cases it may not be possible to indicate the source of this material directly associated with the images used.


5

ＮＷＡＭＡ

AIR FETE 17 JULY 2016

This year’s 17 July Airfield Centenary Community Fete was originally supposed to be an air show but circumstances, the eleven fatality air crash at Shoreham, overtook it and it morphed into a tamer local fete at which aircraft were an aside rather than the centre of focus. The Hawker Hunter that crashed at the south coast air show in August 2015 had been based at North Weald and that tenuous local connection with the Shoreham disaster reverberated through the corridors of power at Epping Forest District and made massive changes in thinking inevitable. Twelve months ago this year was supposed to have been the year of major aviation related marking of 100 years of North Weald but new display rules from the Civil Aviation Authority and a natural timidity by the airfield owners put paid to that. By all accounts the resultant downgrade of the event seems to have disappointed very few. The popular event allowed the local people to pay a modest entry fee then sit around on the airfield, inspect the sideshows and watch children enjoying themselves on lots of free rides and entertainments. The profits were ploughed into nominated charities. http://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/ A primary part of the event was the arrival of the Royal Norwegian Air Force and several veterans from the Second World War. They arrived in a suitably mysteriously RNoAF Falcon 20-5B ECM [Electronic Countermeasures] jet 053 complete with lumps and bumps of classified sensors. From within the spy plane came and handful of men from the past returning to the roots of their air force – North Weald. The presence of the most senior of them, the long retired Major General Wilhelm Mohr was all the more remarkable when you consider that he is now 99 years old. Over the months the size of the visit, in terms of the numbers of veterans attending and the type of aircraft sent fluctuated but that is not really surprising in days of the steady decline in the numbers of true survivors and finite military resources. Still the spy plane was more than good enough.

©EFDC

REMEMBERING DEPARTED WARRIORS Assisted by a serving RNoAF officer the former head of 331 and 332 Squadron’s Major General [Retd] Wilhelm Mohr lays a wreath at the Norwegian Stone that forms the central part of the Memorial outside the museum. ©EFDC

During their short stay the veterans revisited old haunts and laid wreaths at the memorial outside the museum to old fiends long since departed to Valhalla – or wherever. North Weald Airfield Museum had its sales and information table at the event and had the museum open at the same time. A shuttle bus between the Fete area and the museum in the village sought to connect the buses of the Epping Ongar Railway with the airfield site although not always without a man-made glitch or two! The day though went extremely well.


6

ＮＷＡＭＡ

Just a few weeks later the 7 August Nostalgair Fly-In sought to repeat the flavour of the joint airfield and EFDC event with a smaller day mainly operated by The Squadron. www.northwealdflyingservices.com/ And from the same stable something different in early September and a challenge to the gods of weather — a series of outdoor film nights are being put on by The Squadron to mark the 100 years. All age ranges are catered for with Disney’s Planes 2 for the kids plus Top Gun, The Battle of Britain and The Blue Max for those slightly older! The outdoor cinema will take place on the grass outside The Squadron and tickets are just £6 per person. Arrive early to soak up the Airfield atmosphere, get a good spot, have a drink and something to eat in the WW11 themed Squadron bar. Advanced ticket sales only, these are available from The Squadron and online via the Events listing of their Facebook page, it is linked to the Epping Forest District Council online payments page. Tickets will not be available on the gate. Each performance is limited to 500 tickets. PLANES 2: FIRE & RESCUE (DISNEY) Friday 2 September 8.00 pm. Gates open 6.00 pm Planes 2: Fire & Rescue is a new animated comedy-adventure about second chances, featuring a dynamic group of firefighting aircraft devoted to protecting historic Piston Peak National Park from raging wildfire. When world famous air racer Dusty learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he is launched into the world of aerial firefighting. Dusty joins forces with veteran fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger and his courageous team. Together, they battle a massive wildfire and Dusty learns what it takes to become a true hero. TOP GUN Friday 2 September 10.00 pm. Gates open 9.30 pm On March 3, 1969 the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art or aerial combat and to ensure that the handful of men who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the US Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The pilots call it: TOP GUN BATTLE OF BRITAIN Saturday 3 September 8.00 pm. Gates open 6.00 pm From July to October 1940, Royal Air Force fighter pilots were engaged in a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over Southern England and the Channel as a prelude to the planned German invasion. They became known as ‘the Few’. This classic war movie was partly filmed at North Weald. See if you can spot the sequences with our iconic poplar trees! Where else would you want to see it!

THE BLUE MAX Sunday 4 September 8.00 pm. Gates open 6.00 pm Promoted from the ranks after spending two years in the trenches, Bruno Stachel becomes a flying officer in Germany's World War I air force. Most of the officer corps comes from Germany's aristocratic elite and Stachel feels out of place.


7

ＮＷＡＭＡ

Friday 9th September 2016 at Parish Hall Thornwood, Weald Hall Lane, Thornwood Common, Epping, Essex CM16 6NB 7.00pm Start 1940’s music by Diane Moore and includes Fish & Chip Supper, bring your own refreshment £15 per person. Pre-booking only please Call Elaine on 01992 560691 to purchase your ticket. This event is organised by the Volunteer Committee of the Parish Hall to help raise funds for ongoing maintenance and repairs. Diane Moore http://www.dianemooresings.co.uk/ 7.00pm with music starting at 7.30pm sharp! Mid-September is traditionally set aside for Battle of Britain commemoration and this year is no different from any other. The 17 September RAFA Wings Day and the 18 September Battle of Britain Sunday Services. On the same 18 September is the annual North Weald Airfield Museum Open Day where the museum opens its doors to all. This year the are quite a few events going on locally so we hope you will be able to make time for them and us at the museum. In addition to the Battle of Britain centric events there is a large scale car show over on the airfield outside Weald Aviation and as ever our near neighbours the Epping and Ongar Railway will be having a Diesel rail event. Hopefully you will be able to combine two or more of these events in a day out at North Weald. We will have an airfield bus tour in place so it might be easier than it seems. The last major event for the museum this year will be the 13 November Remembrance Sunday church and memorial service. The museum closes at the end of November but you can always request a group visit during the four months of closure although some parts of the building may be undergoing refurbishment.


8

ＮＷＡＭＡ

LETTERS Dear Sir

This may initially seem a little off-topic for an aviation museum but it may prove to be of interest. I write about old British comics both on-line at the downthetubes.net website and in print for, amongst others, the journal of the Eagle Society, Eagle Times, and the related Dan Dare themed comic magazine Spaceship Away. Recently I was interviewing artist Ian Kennedy, now in his 80s and best known for his 1500+ painted Commando comic covers, for Spaceship Away about his work on the 1980s version of Dan Dare in Eagle comic and I took the chance to ask him about what was one of his very first science fiction works. This was a little known comic strip called Dave Garratt which was published in the Collins Boys' Annuals in the late 1950s. Ian told me that he had created, written and illustrated the strips and that he named his space pilot title character after an RAF aerobatic pilot who had died in a crash. He thought it was a Red Arrows pilot but it turns out, after a little research and a second chat with Ian, that he named him for F/O DC Garratt of the Black Arrows who crashed on the Epping railway line in 1957. I have written it all up on downthetubes which will give you more information. http://downthetubes.net/?p=30185 Looking at it from a comic’s perspective it is an unusual story, looking at it from the aviation perspective it is an unusual tribute to a fallen pilot. It may or may not be of interest to the museum but if it is then feel free to get back in touch with me. Yours Jeremy Briggs The artwork upper right, the covers and story are by Ian Kennedy. Eagle is copyright Dan Dare Corporation Ltd Commando is copyright DC Thomson and Co Ltd

[Right] The British Railways letter to the driver of the train hit by Garratt’s aircraft

Hi Bryn, Just to let you know that the book arrived safely today. I'm delighted with it and it's far better than I expected, excellent quality and content. It took me back to my days serving there in the mid-fifties, the photo on page 77 could have been me re-arming the Meteor. The coloured map clearly shows our base at the Station Armoury, where I spent much of my time (both on small arms and cannons) when not seconded to any of the three squadrons. Happy days. Thanks for fulfilling my order and making an old man happy! Will Roe The book remains available at the museum for £10. It can be mailed to you at the same price plus post and packaging. Details at the website or contact the Secretary.


9

SHOP FOR TECHNOLOGY

ＮＷＡＭＡ

This is sort of an advertorial for some shop stock we have had a little while. I guess we just had not realised how advanced technology it was. During the 1960s space race, NASA hit a problem. Astronauts couldn’t write in space, because ordinary pens wouldn’t work in zero gravity. So NASA went to work on the problem. Months later, after $1.5M of research, they finally produced a state-of-the-art pen that: Worked in zero gravity Performed in vacuum Could cope with a drastic temperature range Of course, the Russian cosmonauts had exactly the same problem. The difference was that they had neither the resources nor the wish to expend that amount of money on a new type of writing implement. They simply used a pencil! North Weald Airfield Museum has a stock of these Space Age tools – all clearly marked North Weald Airfield Museum and each equipped with an end of tool deletion device or ‘App’ called a rubber. Just ask for one in the Museum Shop! Go Space Age!

From the left: A DHC Chipmunk trainer, the bi-plane G-ABWP was a 1932 Spartan Arrow. It is still the last of its kind still flying. In the background is a Vickers Varsity, then a Hunting Jet Provost. The hangar in the background burned down.

NEW IMAGES

From Belinda Tansley in Halstead we now have some family images of a North Weald air display taken by her late parents in 1964. Originally slides they are pretty unremarkable in many ways but they do show some interesting views of the airfield during an RAF Open Day – probably the Battle of Britain event in September that year. Does anyone recognise themselves or someone?


10

ＮＷＡＭＡ

Back on the airfield and with the air ambulance … As reported in the last edition, recently the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance held their latest ‘open invitation’ Clinical Governance Day in the hangar at their North Weald airfield base. The following day they announced the 7th Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust Aeromedical Conference, is to be held at the Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1SQ on June8. This again is an ‘Open Invitation’ event hoping to attract medical practitioners from across the region. Entitled The Trauma Epidemic: Adapting to the latest strain the conference is chaired by Dr Ronan Fenton, Medical Director of Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust and has a nationally acclaimed speaker line-up. It will be another year before they receive their new AW169 aircraft but early planning is in place and contracts being honed. At the end of this year the Earls Colne based yellow MD902 G-EHAA will be replaced by the newer, night capable, G-LNCT displaced from Lincs & Notts AA who are having a new AW169. The other red and white MD902 G-HAAT will remain at North Weald until the Essex & Herts AA new AW169 arrives in service in about June 2017. The hangar at North Weald is large enough to house the AW169 [but not much else] but that at Earls Colne will be too small if, or when, the same type is operating from there. It looks as if they are going to have to relocate or build a larger hangar there.

The shape to come. An AW169 in the markings of Kent Air Ambulance ©PAS

BOOKS AGAIN

Recently signing copies of his book Spitfire Glory at the Air-Britain event and later to be seen at the museum was Tor Larsen. Spitfire Glory recounts the wartime flying life of Major Leif Lundsten squadron leader and test pilot With Vickers-Armstrong and is the latest in a number of books from this writer and webmaster in both Norwegian and English language. In Norwegian, he's written "Gladiator", a book about Spitfire pilot Finn Thorsager. This book was translated and published in English with the title "Viking Spitfire". This is his fourth book and it came out earlier this year. The hard cover version is available through the museum at £25. The Kindle Edition is available through such as Amazon for £9.99

FAMILY HISTORY

Bridgett Bridle in New Zealand has been in touch with the museum to tell us about her late mother Elisabeth Hyslop and her service at North Weald in 1940. It seems that Bridgett was told a little about her wartime mother’s escapades and is now trying to fill in the gaps prior to visiting the UK and North Weald in the coming weeks. It seems that Elisabeth, a WAAF Plotter, and some of her WAAF colleagues were in a damaged bunker which took a direct hit when they were in there and they were dug out next morning, they were shaken but not hurt. She was at North Weald for about 10 months from very early in 1940 after completing her training at West Drayton. While at the station she recalled going over to Ongar for some training and meeting up with some badly burned airmen who were undergoing treatment by the burns expert of the time Dr Archibald McIndoe. McIndoe was a brilliant ground breaking plastic surgeon who worked on numerous wartime burns victims. He not only developed new techniques for treating badly burned faces and hands but also recognised the importance of the rehabilitation of the casualties and particularly of social reintegration back into normal life. That will be the pub visits! She also saw the first raids on the London docklands while she was there, she said the night sky was lit up, an horrific sight. "When I started at North Weald I was just … the very lowest of WAAF. When we had finished the ops room, we were there for about 10 months, we all came out with commissions. We didn't ask for it and it came as quite a surprise but I guess we had proved ourselves. We had kept our heads and I think they appreciated it."


11

ＮＷＡＭＡ

She went on to say: "After quite a few months of bombing there was a lull, we were all pretty devastated and tired and in shock and they sent off groups of us up to Wick in Scotland for a fortnights rest. I was in one of the last groups to go and about a week before I was due to go the raids started again and they wouldn't let me go as I was experienced, so I never went to Wick."

The three images above appear to show WAAFs in what might be Roughtally’s Wood to the rear of their quarters behind the Officers Mess [now Norway House]. On July12 the museum hosted a group from America. They were directed to us by Sovereign Tourism in London – they work on behalf of tour operator currently taking care of groups of Americans traveling to the UK to learn more about the Battle of Britain and to visit important locations. In this case it was the travel department of the Smithsonian Institute and the group is accompanied by an expert historian and writer, James Holland. As part of their tour they visited North Weald Airfield and Museum. The group [right] arrived in typical English weather and on a tight schedule. The difficulties of running history alongside industry is illustrated by this image in that hopes that they might see some of the damage caused by the attacks on the airfield were dashed by a pile of pipes stacked in front of the pock marked armoured hangar doors. MORE TREBLE-ONE Another recent flurry of letters to the museum has increased the museum’s off-the-cuff images of the famous Black Arrows aerobatic team. Dennis Ryan served in the army in Malaya but on returning homer he found employment as a civilian at the airfield from the mid1950s and his duties included employment in driving coaches, refuelling bowsers and even cars for officers. He was there when 111 started their aerobatic duties and was regularly pulled up alongside the Hawker Hunter of the squadron commander Squadron Leader Roger Topp providing fuel. The photograph on the right was taken arounds that time and he managed to get a rebuke from the Flight Sergeant for putting his hand on the gleaming black paintwork while posing for the shot. Many years later he was able to meet the Hunter XG194 ‘N’ once again at Wattisham Airfield Museum where it had been restored to pristine condition from a one-time wreck.

Photos of Dennis Ryan from Mary Ryan


12

ＮＷＡＭＡ

North Weald in colour circa 1956. This IWM image came to us as a result of the correspondence with Jeremy Briggs on the use of the Garrett name in the Eagle Comic.