Desford

would A.G. Hickman possibly be american as the date/month/year is the “wrong way round”?

Do you happen to know if the Spitfire assembly hangars are still standing? Desford was No.8 Dispersal Factory and it was where the Leicester-built Spitfires were flown from.

Rlangham – yes thats right – they were the orig catapillar gates – sorry got muddled up! – The house was interesting – I did some work on it for my teacher (new sash windows and restoration) and we had a good look round in the loft etc for any evidence of it belonging to the base – but we could never find anything – think my old teacher moved away a few years ago now after fully restoring it and adding a bit on the back

Im sure I also remember an aircraft been opperated from Desford in the late 1980’s??

The gates I saw were the original caterpillar ones (or at least, caterpillar put them on the original RAF gates. Definitely saw at least one hangar last time I drove around the back of it, and the house you’re talking about was the station commanders residence

Talking of Desford – I used to go to school nearby – there are – or were 15 years ago (ouch!) the main gates and Im sure a few hangers – and one of my teachers bought a house on the main road which goes past the old main entrance – The house was built in the early thirties and was reputed to be the station commanders residence.

Wasn’t the Reid and Sigrist Desford the first aircraft in this country to be converted to prone piloting?

Yup, converted from a much more better looking aircraft – it’s now in storage along with a Taylorcraft C plus 2 (I think it’s the oldest surviving Auster) and an Auster J2 or J4 at Snibston discovery park, which is a shame. There’s a few photos of her in brown and green RAF camouflage, which she never wore pre-preservation. Because of the prone pilot experiment, the prone position Meteor at Cosford was made, it would be great if the Desford could be put on display next to the Meteor

I think this has been discussed before …..

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=26849&highlight=desford

Wasn’t the Reid and Sigrist Desford the first aircraft in this country to be converted to prone piloting?

Desford was home to 7 Elementary Flying Training School of 51 Group, RAF, so yes, trainee pilots in Tiger Moths!

i think they knocked the tower down in the eighties, i used to drive past it to go to work

Snargasher coming up!

Thanks for that, 23 course could have been raf training i suppose. wasn’t there a Reid and Sigrist ‘Snargasher!!?’ .

Desford was an aerodrome during the war, mainly training (tiger moths, oxfords etc), as well as maintenance work being done there. Reid and Sigrist, a company that made aircraft instruments, also made three aircraft (well, the third was a modification of the second one built). I can see the site of the aerodrome, now a huge JCB factory (but some hangars are still around and also part of the factory) from my house, when you drive past the factory on the main road you’d never guess it used to be an aerodrome