"Aeroplane Falls On Children" Near Duxford – 1924

Slight thread drift, but here is the B-52 landing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSIGd6COFb8

A firm arrival ( well, you would not want to float! )  but not too startling really, the wings hardly even bowed. 

If you look carefully at the current satellite overlay, and trace it back from the more obvious cropmark in the green fields to the South, you can just about make out the line of the post-war perimeter track East of the M11.

Going back to the OP, given how accurate the report seems to be,  I reckon the girls were in the roadside trees, to the West of the Grange itself, between the Grange and the farmyard. I’m 99% sure that that’s where I used to go visiting – what a coincidence! I don’t recall any memorial.

If anyone has Google Earth (note to self – must install it on new laptop), take a look at previous satellite overlays to the West of DX where London Road comes off the A505 and heads  towards Fowlmere village. One of them shows a great set of cropmarks from the buildings of the original WW1 Fowlmere airfield.

Do I recall correctly that they brought in arrestor gear for the BUFF’s arrival?

JB – Yes, I was joking, but how could I be expected to know that all B-52s have rippled forward fuselages? That’s the only one I’ve ever seen, apart from the one that did a circuit over the last Finningley Air Show in 1993 and apparently headed straight back to the States.

Unlike you, most English, or British people if you prefer, don’t spend a lot of time on USAF bases. None in my case. apart from an open day at Bentwaters in 1980-ish and the Mildenhall Air Show in 1986.

Back to Duxford. The current Google maps satellite overlay has enough detail to correlate with adrian_gray’s 1946 map. It seems that it was extended, slightly to the West but mainly to the East. As the truncated  runway is long gone, it’s not possible to see how much.

There is a great aerial view of WWII-era Duxford in Roger Freeman’s “Airfields of the Eighth, Then and Now.  

Luftwaffe target map?

When I lived in USAF military single officers quarters at Martlesham Heath in the late ’80s, I found the building I was living in on a German target map. 

Maps as well.

DHfan…

I can’t tell the F you were having a bit of a laugh…but in case you weren’t….

You do appreciate that the forward fuselage is “rippled” on all B-52s.

It is quite evident on operational aircraft and images of flying aircraft.

So it is NOT “short field” landing damage!

Having said that, it would have been interesting to hear the aircrew planning the landing. Very light weight no doubt.

Growing up on interceptor bases, I realized  there was a reason why we never saw heavy bombers at the open days!   But once we did have a commercial 707 make a weather related diversion landing.

I really should be doing other stuff but anyway – I found the 1920 O.S. map of Duxford on the National Library of Scotland website, so here’s the relevant bit. (Great resource btw)

dux20 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/191578449@N02/]

“Common sense dictates that the aerodrome must have been extended, probably considerably.”

Absolutely agree, but the post-WW2 airfield was long and narrow (in the pic wyvernfan attached, you can see the cropmarks from the later perimeter track), I’d expect the original field to be roughly square or maybe circular in shape.

Best WW1 photo I’ve found is on this page: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/american-airmen-duxford-and-the-first-wo… – suggests squareness, but no clue as to how far South the field extends.

This is what it looked like in 1946: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duxford_Aerodrome#/media/File:Duxford-9ju…

I’m going to stick my neck out and say, based solely on the fact that the Western boundary near the road is largely the same as the WW2 one barring the dispersals, that I think the WW2 field probably respects the WW1 boundaries, the later perimeter track is well inside the WW2 one on that side. I’m looking forward to being smug if proved right and being educated if proved wrong, because I’m sure there are more photos out there!

If that’s the case, Mason wasn’t far off the airfield at all (he says, trying to get back on track).

“As Dave has said above,  this is old-school and has been fun!”

Let’s keep this going. I regularly peruse the old newspapers so anything else like this of great interest, I can also post on this forum. It’s great to have the old gang back together. 

Common sense dictates that the aerodrome must have been extended, probably considerably.

When the Air Ministry, War Office, whatever it was then acquired the land it would have been adequate for piston-engined biplane fighters.

I find it hard to believe that in later years Concorde and other jet airliners, a Vulcan, Victor and number of fast jets could get into the same patch.

I know the building of the M11 was held up until Concorde had flown in but a lot have arrived since then.

Having said all that, the forward fuselage of the B52 is seriously rippled, suggesting it was braking so hard it was about to concertina.

Have sent a PM, Fargo Boyle. Thank you for checking that! We might be able to identify exactly which cottage from the list of houses at the start of the block of census returns if we are very lucky, but I think we have probably got as far as we can with that, and I think we are as close as we will get to the crash site. 

As Dave has said above,  this is old-school and has been fun!

Related image but not the same event, a Sopwith Snipe of No.2 Flying Training School coming to grief at RAF Duxford on a spring afternoon in 1924. Shamelessly lifted from the IWM Duxford Airfield 1918 – 1939 website!

Referring back to the OP, of course there is always the chance that the cottage in question has possibly been demolished!

Ok. Emily Miller, 9 months old, recorded at Duxford Grange, Duxford 0391/06. (Don’t know what the numbers represent). Various family members recorded as farm workers for J E? Fordham. Over to you!

Good question – I suspect the WW1 airfield was squarer, possibly even within the current dimensions.

No runway in those days, of course, just a large expanse of grass.

Is the airfield now the size it’s always been, or has it been extended between than and now?

Not including it being truncated by the M11, obviously.

That shows the tree belts really clearly – just imagine being able to read an accurate report in the press these days! Grange Cottages seem more likely, re-reading the original report.

You have to wonder what happened – maybe a torque roll?

As it mentions “cottage” rather than mansion I’d possibly be looking at either Grange farm cottages with the left green arrow as shown or College farm cottages with the right green arrow, both are on the edge of trees and the Airfield on Grange Road but at the western end. I’ve included the end of runway 06 for clarity!

“The Scotsman” newspaper carried only a very brief report of the accident but gave more space 2 days later to the findings of the inquest on Flt Lt Mason – 

That’s a pity, I wondered if that might be the case because there were a lot of Riches in Littleport in 1911. Emily Miller might just scrape into the census as a newborn – worth checking for her?

I am loving the research here everyone. This feels like the good old FlyPast Forum is back from the dead! 

I just looked at the 1921 Census, and unfortunately it’s of little help. Elsie was born and recorded in Littleport, near Ely, so presumably they either moved to Duxford sometime between ’21 and the time of the accident, or they were visiting the area.