[jim]

Hello everyone, Today I stood in the control tower at Bodney.

I am off to bed now ( tired after a long drive) but I will report on my experience tomorrow.

BTW ,thanks guys, it seems there has been nearly 2000 posts while I have been away, now how to I catch up on all those?

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by jim

Hello everyone, Today I stood in the control tower at Bodney.

I am off to bed now ( tired after a long drive) but I will report on my experience tomorrow.

BTW ,thanks guys, it seems there has been nearly 2000 posts while I have been away, now how to I catch up on all those?

Time to fire up a pot of coffee. Good to see you back.

[STARMAN 352ND]

You are one lucky dude........
Long live the Blue Nose Bastards of Bodney...
JP

[Kaptin_Kirk]

Don't forget pictures with your report Jim.

[no4mkit]

yes, pictures please Jim!!

[jim]

Hello again, a much refreshed Jim here.

its time for a quick rundown on my trip with Lorraine to Spitfire county (keep it short Jim and dont bore everyone to death).

On the first day we had a good trip down to Kent and somehow managed to dodge all the traffic.
The place we stayed at was a converted Oast house.
Oast houses were used as drying rooms for the hops that are used to make beer.
These days all the hops are imported so the old Kentish Oast houses have been converted into residences or hotels.

The British weather lived up to its reputation and varied between freezing cold, wet and windy, sometimes all three at once.
However we went forth every day grimly determined to have a good time.
Because of the bad weather it meant that we didnt see all the places we had hoped.

However on the up side we spent a full day at Dover Castle. The castle is on top of a high cliff and overlooks the port of Dover, Dover was better know during the war as Hell fire corner because of its close proximity to the French coast, and the frequent bombing attacks by the Luftwaffe.
Dover Castle area must be the oldest continuously fortified area in Britain, as far as is known there has been some sort of fortification there since 500 BC.
The castle and most of the fortifications that can be seen today were built by King Henry the second to improve and strengthen the work done by William the Conqueror.
Many additions and alterations have taken place in the years since then including a number of tunnels dug under the site , the first of these were dug in around 1250 and have been added to many times including the Napoleonic era and more recently during WW2 when a complete hospital was installed underground in newly excavated tunnels.
Another interesting point is that Admiral Ramsay planned the evacuation at Dunkirk from these "bomb proof"tunnels. One of the tunnels has an opening in the cliff face that looks across to France and Churchill along with Admiral Ramsay met many times in those dark early days of the war and stood on this balcony to discuss the pressing problems of the day, safe from being overheard by German spies, or so the saying goes.

There is also an intact Roman lighthouse on the site and an old Saxon (much rebuilt and restored) church.

Sorry if I got a little bogged down there, as you can read its a place full of history and I could write several pages on place.

Next on the list was the Battle of Britain memorial at Capel le Fern, just down the road from Dover.
The centerpiece of the memorial is a life size sculpture of a pilot sitting and looking out to sea.

We went on to visit Manston airfield and the little Battle of Britain museum situated nearby.

The next day its was off to Canterbury and a visit to the cathedral there.

Then the next day it was a quick look around the countryside and then off to a hotel above Cambridge for the night before our visit to Bodney.

Well wouldn't you know it, the British weather struck again and the day was a real stinker.
Fog and heavy rain all day.

However undeterred we set off and with the aid of the most unreliable of tools, the "Sat Nav" we arrived in Bodney.

Dont blink or you will miss it! Bodney is a tiny little hamlet of just a few houses.
We drove out of Bodney and as luck would have it I spotted a group of what looked like WW2 huts in a field at the side of the road.
At the entrance was a small immaculately kept memorial to the courageous men of the 352nd complete with a freshly placed bunch of Spring flowers..
There was no one present in the sentry box so having parked my car I just strolled into the place trying to look lost and hoping no one would spot me until I had a good look around.
My luck held and I did indeed have a look around and noted that although the Nissen huts looked of WW2 vintage they were in superb condition!
It was then that I saw a couple of guys talking outside one of the huts so I went over and asked them for information about the place and where was the control tower and airfield.
The info is as follows, the place I was standing at that moment was indeed the old housing area of the 352nd and the reason everything looked so new was that the army now used the place and had done a complete refurbishment of the site that thankfully meant some of the original buildings have been preserved.

The 352nd was spread over 3 sites, further down the road was work shops and accommodation, sadly all that area was cleared after the war, and across the road and down a small track was the airfield and tower.
Now I had a major problem, they told me that the site of the airfield was private and that it was all fenced and gated up so that access was not possible.
I talked to these men for a while and explained all I knew about the Blue Nosers and the illustrious history of the 352nd.
I must have said something right because he then gave me directions to the field, telling me that I may be able to climb over the gate and walk along the track to the field.
After thanking the men I went off and took some more photos of the site, then I returned to my car and set off down the road a short distance to
where the gate to the airfield was (without those guys giving me the info I would never have found it, the airfield is hidden from view by woodland).
Would you believe it, those two guys had gone ahead of me and were waiting with the gate open!!!!

One of them said, I can see that this is special to you so leave your car here and I will take you in my old wagon and show you around.
I didnt need to be asked twice, wow, me and Lorraine jumped aboard and off down the lane we went.

As we emerged through the woodland there was the tower, it was shrouded in mist and the rain was pouring down.
To say the scene was atmospheric is a huge understatement and for a few moments I was overcome by the "presence" of the place.

Lorraine said that it was the quietness of the place that immediately struck her, I have to agree, I think the combination of the mist and rain gave it a sombre yet peaceful aura,
It was just so quiet, its difficult to explain.

Sadly the tower is in a poor state and the surrounding area very over grown. The landing strip has returned to farmland and was freshly ploughed ready for planting. The actual landing strip runs up a slight slope, for some reason I always imagined it would be perfectly flat.Across the field I could see the hard stands built to merge into the forest and the perrimeter track still intact running round the edge of the field.

The outlines of the bomb shelters and pillboxes can still be seen even though nature is doing its best to reclaim them.
Here and there structures the use which has been lost over the years poke through the brush and undergrowth.
Just behind the tower are a couple pillboxes still in very good condition although the entrance to one has been bricked up.

In front and to the side of the tower is what I assume is the old fire crew building with its three openings that must have once held the fire engines that would race out and onto the field when ever needed.
Behind that is a tall single storey structure with large doors at either end, I am not sure what purpose it had.

Having got very wet by then we went into the tower itself, sadly nothing remains inside to tell of its past.
The building is now just a bare shell, without doors or windows or even any plaster on the walls just bare brick.
I walked out onto the balcony and looked out over the field and let my mind try to picture what this place must have looked like when all those brave young men and their fearsome Mustangs were based there.
The noise of those Merlins firing up and American accents ringing out over the field on a frosty winters morning.

I am not sure what those young boys thought about being stationed out there in the countryside but I can tell you all that it is without doubt a very beautiful place to be. It must have seemed a strange reality to fight to the death over the skies of Germany and yet a short time later to sit in the peace of such natural beauty,
How can a young man leave such a place and then witness the horrors of war, those guys must have had outstanding mental strength.

Well thats about it gentlemen, however just to add a little to the story,

The Tower is now for sale and has permission to be converted to a house!
If I had the money it would be mine in an instant. The basic structure of the tower is good and if some one bought it and sympathetically refurbished it, it would be an amazing place to live and it would be preserved for future generations.

Maybe I should pass the hat around the Hanger and we could buy it?

[Captain Eddie]

No need to keep it short, Jim. You are a good writer, and the subject matter is of great interest! Thanks.

[jim]

Now on to the touchy subject of piccies!

I will do the packing she said, you always forget something!

OK dear said I.

Well there you go, she forgot the camera Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well whats done is done so I bought one of those throwaway type cameras and used that.
Unfortunately I cannot get those from the camera to the computer.

I will get them printed and see if it is possible to figure a way around the problem even if I have to photograph the photos!!!


Women!

[STARMAN 352ND]

I'm going to buy that Tower.......
That is not the same tower where on D-Day a P-51 pilot hit the tower and was killed during a early morning night launch is it ?
JP

[jim]

Originally Posted by STARMAN 352ND

I'm going to buy that Tower.......
That is not the same tower where on D-Day a P-51 pilot hit the tower and was killed during a early morning night launch is it ?
JP

That very question started an argument between those men I met at Bodney.
One said no, they built a new one at the side of the damaged one, but the other man said rubbish they repaired the tower and had it up and working within a couple of weeks. Its only a brick building and the damage was easily fixed.

I did look around to see if I could find any trace of another building (there surely must have been at least the concrete base still there) but I could not find anything nearby.
I would go with the theory that they repaired the tower but I could be wrong.