Christchurch Special Duties Flt etc.

I must admit my father and myself. Had come to the same conclusion as Peter. Having only seen photos of camouflaged Kite’s letters on the side. We think it is E or F.

Dave

Without wanting to doubt any of the above – are you sure that’s not an ‘E’ or ‘F’ instead of a 5 on the shot of the Kite on tow? The Kites were marked as such after being camouflaged and were definitely letter-coded. ‘E’ was the landed on top of the Sergeants mess at Haddenham.
See Pop Furlongs logbook on my links and files page:
http://www.haddenhamairfieldhistory.co.uk/Pop%20Furlong.pdf

Peter

That list ties in with what I already have(dates etc).

Thanks to all who have replied.

The only Kirby Kite that I have down in the list used by the SDF Chirstchurch is C/n 355A. The list I have was compiled by M.H.Maufe with the help of Major J.R.Cross of the Museum of Army Flying, up dated with information from N. Rush 1993.
Dave

The Slingsby Kirby Kite marked “5” may be BGA 258 (ex Yorkshire Gliding Club), which carried competition number “5” at the 1939 National Contests. . .

Guessed it might of been one of those two that took it. 🙂

My copy isn’t from the Wright collection at MAF though. Was glued into a notebook I bought in an antique shop years ago.

Its one of Lawrence Wright’s photo’s now held at the Museum of Army flying. It was taken either taken at Ringway or Thame ( Haddenham). More likely at Thame, as it has a yellow around the roundel. I think when they where at Ringway they just used the Red, white and blue roundel. When they did the radar trials the Kite and the other gliders was not Camouflaged.

Dave

OneEightBit …fantastic ….may I use that on the website?

I don’t own the copyright to the photo it’s just one I found in the course of some research. I think Lawrence Wright or John Sproule took it as part of their duties so technically it’s Crown Copyright.

I’ll try and tidy it up and email it to you for “research purposes”. What you do with it after that is up to you.

I understand that standard procedure at the time was to inhibit, crate and bury them..

Oh , that’s all right then, we only have to dig up a couple of housing estates,an industrial estate and a couple of schools.We’ll find them, send then to Predanneck and they’ll be in the air in time for the MayDay Bank holiday!

🙂

Your war weary Spits certainly fit the bill as regards the general date …21 Sept would qualify as “late 45”.
Mind , this throws up another question, if these 6 Spits came to Christchurch for disposal,which were they and what happened to them?

I understand that standard procedure at the time was to inhibit, crate and bury them..

Kite 1 number 5 at Ringway just before it was camouflaged.

Dave

OneEightBit …fantastic ….may I use that on the website?

I knew I had a picture of Kirby “5” somewhere. Lord knows what else is in the back of my cupboards.

Were these actually stated as some of the ones sent to Christchurch or just those SOC at the right time?

A quick look has come up with the following: BL539, BM304, BM430 and BM581all of which S.O.C. from 595 Sqn on or around September 1945.

Regards,

Tim

Tim, all I have is what you see…and that info came IIRC from the RAF Squadrons book years ago.Can’t check that as that book along with many others is buried somewhere among piles of stuff in the loft.

Your war weary Spits certainly fit the bill as regards the general date …21 Sept would qualify as “late 45”.
Mind , this throws up another question, if these 6 Spits came to Christchurch for disposal,which were they and what happened to them?

No.595AAC Squadron

I have checked the ORB and can find no reference to a detachment at Christchurch, however the base is certainly mentioned. On 30.06.45 595 received a number of rather war weary Mk.V’s to provide a ‘faster more authentic’ target, these were soon replaced (in weeks) by Mk.IX’s and Mk.XII’s. Now on the 21.09.45 three Spitfires were flown to Christchurch for disposal with a further three following the next day. Could these be the mystery detachment? However if you have evidence of the Squadron operating out of Christchurch I would be interested in any details.

Somewhere I also have details on H Flight but this may take some time to dig out :rolleyes:

Regards,

Tim

As 652 Squadron operated Auster AOP aircraft almost any field would do whilst preparing for D-Day. The Austers were also conducting shoots with 3 Canadian Division at Studland Bay during this time.

I think you mean Rhinefield House.
The nearest area with a good surface (compact ) is New Park on the west side of Clay Hill- It is where the New Forest Show is held .

The one at your co-ords is(or was when I was kid) a bit on the squashy side.

Whatever , I was never able to find anyone who remembered any such activity….but …doesn’t mean it didn’t happen

Dave,

You could get 3000 ft (East/West) at 50.822645° -1.605253° (just west of Brockenhurst) – and it’s as flat as a pancake!! That is always assuming that that field was not full of guns, tanks, ammo, stores, etc, in the run-up to D-Day!

That Posh Pub & Health Spa off the Rhinefield Road may bear some investigation. If it was the HQ, in WW2, of some UK/US Unit/Formation, and The Boss was a 1, or 2, Star then they did like to have their own airborne taxi-services didn’t they?
HTH
Resmoroh