November 2009 - Brussels Air Museum Foundation

“Skip, that’s got us to
Ashford; see the railway
works All you need do now
is to head about 275 and
follow the railway
line,
O.K.” Dropping his kit into
the bag, our imaginary
Navigator breathed out what
little tension remained once
they had crossed the coast at a
known point and sat back.
Maybe that is when non-
have
smoking Bob would
enjoyed the smell of
tobacco smoke in a warm aircraft. A navigator’s crib which many of
you
may welll have met on your way
back from the Pas de Calais. Those miles of straight Southern
Railway line, the longest straight bit they had; and used
to test newly designed locomotives’ top
speeds, pointed pretty
well straight at HB and
within recognition of the Dunsfold
area.
What Fowler, Orpen, McQueen and the other Medium
Bomber pilots and crews probably did not
know was that
about a quarter of the
way along, near Headcorn Station,
was
a U.S. airfield housing the
362 nd
Fighter Group’s
Thunderbolts. The three named crews certainly didd not
know that by August 6 th they would visit (and ruin)
the
newly-laid strip thatt the Jugs had recently
moved into at
Lingerolles, France
called A12 [See the previous 3
Dispersals].
Actually in Headcorn, by the
station was what the RAF
called Lashenden; what they called Headcorn for Johnny
Johnson’ s Spitfires and for the 362 nd was in Egerton [You will no
doubt recall R.A.F. logic].
Now, in a hedgerow across the road from
the old airfield is a neat well kept
memorial facing up what was the N – S
runway. Alan Palmer’s
father gave up
most of his land to the airfield, including
a fine working oasthouse which was on
the line of a potential runway.
He
took
over the farm
in due course and he
and
his wife have
ensured that the memory of
the British, Canadian and American
airforce personnel remains strong.
They maintain the memorial where there
is
an annual
celebration
at which local
and worldwide people with associations
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