Recently I finally got the opportunity to watch the fantastic film Appointment in London, afetr discovering it is on Youtube in its entirety.
There is a scene where the Bomber Command guys are in the mess and the new lads all have a go at dipping their feet into black paint and being held upside down in order to make a trail of black footprints across the Mess ceiling.
A very funny scene and one based completely on real events. It reminded me that the legendary kiwi pilot Fred ‘Popeye’ Lucas had done this very same thing at RAF Feltwell in 1940 or so. he later came back to NZ and proceeded to place his black footprints on the ceiling of both the W/O and SNCO’s Mess and the Officers’ Mess at RNZAF Station Whenuapai. I’m told the Whenuapai Officers’ Mess only repainted over the footprints in very recent years, sadly a piece of history lost.
After seeing the film i consulted with our local Bomber Command expert Peter Wheeler who runs the NZBCA. He said he’s heard of a few other Mess ceilings in the RAF being similarly treated, one including blck horseshoes across the white ceiling as if a horse had walked through, and another being done with not the foot, but the buttocks of airmen. 🙂
I thought I’d open a discussion here and see what other stories, legends and photos might come up.
And feel free to add in other famous Mess games and social activities too from WWII RAF Messes.
By: Bunsen Honeydew - 30th August 2013 at 01:04
The “Twitch Inn” at West Malling still has names written by RAF personnel in candle smoke on the ceiling. I think the West Malling society opens it up once a year.
It would be open more often but it’s underneath some sort of residential development of the building and the occupants are extremely hostile towards the idea of visitors. If you go up the drive to the gates you’re pounced on and interrogated.
By: TonyT - 30th August 2013 at 00:43
He probably meant to say good pucker, as in his bottom in the morning… 🙂
By: Moggy C - 29th August 2013 at 23:41
amazing history and good tucker!
As long as you ignore the prosecution a few years ago (2009?) for food hygiene breaches.
Moggy
By: TonyT - 29th August 2013 at 22:18
Then there was CXX Sqn that had an edition of TS added overnight to give a censored swear word 🙂
Piccy here
http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/241140-squadron-nicknames-5.html
By: baloffski - 29th August 2013 at 21:26
I remember going into work on the 617 HAS Site at Marham and finding yellow elephant footprints that went right over one HAS and across the boss’s parking space. There was plenty of evidence that pointed at the recently reformed 27 Sqn but they obviously denied everything.
(Their fin badge was a green elephant on a yellow disc, referred to by some as Nelly in a puddle of custard………………coincidence?)
By: tlcopp - 29th August 2013 at 16:08
Hi to the forum, this is my first post here 🙂
I have spent a few years photographing the mission records of the 448th BG, which was based in Seething, England, because my grandfather served there. I lost him a long time ago, but I have spent many years, off and on, filling in the gaps in a set of unfinished memoirs he left. In one section on Seething, he discusses a pub they used to go to that had footprints on the ceiling .. and when he was transferred to a unit in Italy he re-created it.
I was just wondering if anyone knew of pubs in Norwich or Seething that did this during WWII? I know he went out for fun in Norwich, and sometimes London, but no specific pub.
Here’s the excerpt, and a link to the gallery of 448th mission reports.
In England, we had a bar that became famous for the footprints on the ceiling … I decided Italy would be no different. With the help of one of the R.A.F. officers I piled up all the furniture I could find in the middle of the living room, which also served as a bar and officers’ club. My R.A.F. helper inked the soles of my bare feet as I worked my way up the heap of furniture, precisely placing my footprints up one side of the wall, up and over the top, and down the other side. My efforts were roundly applauded and after that, when visitors came in, the R.A.F. officers would say, “Oh’ he got a running start, you know.”
and the link: http://www.taracopp.com/8th-Air-Force-448th-Bomb-Group
Thank you for any help!
Tara
By: Rocketeer - 20th May 2012 at 09:28
The RAF bar at the Eagle Pub in Cambridge is amazing…whilst not footprints, it is signed by many long gone 8th airforce crew etc using lighters….go there if you can – amazing history and good tucker!
By: Rocketeer - 20th May 2012 at 09:28
The RAF bar at the Eagle Pub in Cambridge is amazing…whilst not footprints, it is signed by many long gone 8th airforce crew etc using lighters….go there if you can – amazing history and good tucker!
By: bazv - 19th May 2012 at 22:47
The tradition was kept alive in some places post war !
Midlands Gliding Club,Moffat Airfield,Gwelo (Gweru) Zimbabwe …Aug 1983
Footprints for going solo
I cannot find a pic of me being chaired up to the ceiling,but this pic is just before 🙂 the look on my face confirms prob 3 hours of drinking time 🙂
This pic courtesy of the MGC FB page,probably at least 10yrs later…
The MGC clubhouse was historic in its own right,it was the control tower for Moffat Field -RATG base during WW2 (home of No.24 Bombing, Gunnery and Navigation School ) [Battle,Oxford +Anson] …I took this pic circa 1984…
By: bazv - 19th May 2012 at 22:47
The tradition was kept alive in some places post war !
Midlands Gliding Club,Moffat Airfield,Gwelo (Gweru) Zimbabwe …Aug 1983
Footprints for going solo
I cannot find a pic of me being chaired up to the ceiling,but this pic is just before 🙂 the look on my face confirms prob 3 hours of drinking time 🙂
This pic courtesy of the MGC FB page,probably at least 10yrs later…
The MGC clubhouse was historic in its own right,it was the control tower for Moffat Field -RATG base during WW2 (home of No.24 Bombing, Gunnery and Navigation School ) [Battle,Oxford +Anson] …I took this pic circa 1984…
By: TonyT - 19th May 2012 at 13:00
Have seen a set of Helicopter wheels sawn in half and mounted on a ceiling so it looks like it had just come through.
By: TonyT - 19th May 2012 at 13:00
Have seen a set of Helicopter wheels sawn in half and mounted on a ceiling so it looks like it had just come through.
By: hindenburg - 19th May 2012 at 12:44
http://www.roomforromance.com/romantic-hotels/united-kingdom/east-anglia/the-swan-at-lavenham/review/
I seem to remember there being writing on the ceiling in this place too when I visited years ago………..
By: hindenburg - 19th May 2012 at 12:44
http://www.roomforromance.com/romantic-hotels/united-kingdom/east-anglia/the-swan-at-lavenham/review/
I seem to remember there being writing on the ceiling in this place too when I visited years ago………..
By: hindenburg - 19th May 2012 at 12:40
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eagle_(pub)
Interesting Dave…wonder if these features in pubs are listed?
By: hindenburg - 19th May 2012 at 12:40
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eagle_(pub)
Interesting Dave…wonder if these features in pubs are listed?
By: Forestfan - 19th May 2012 at 12:14
There’s a pub in a village near Binbrook (Tealby?) where Lightning jockey’s who’d ejected nailed their boots to the ceiling, IIRC?
Also one of the HAS sites at Coningsby has paw prints leading from the aircrew building, across the car park, up to and over a nearby HAS.
By: Forestfan - 19th May 2012 at 12:14
There’s a pub in a village near Binbrook (Tealby?) where Lightning jockey’s who’d ejected nailed their boots to the ceiling, IIRC?
Also one of the HAS sites at Coningsby has paw prints leading from the aircrew building, across the car park, up to and over a nearby HAS.
By: G-ASEA - 19th May 2012 at 08:21
I knew a 158sdn Wop/Ag who said they dipped there feet in soot to make foot prints on the celling bar. Also they would buy a pint for someone who got the chop (killed)) and put it to one side. No one would drink the pint, it was left in a place for about a week.
Dave
By: G-ASEA - 19th May 2012 at 08:21
I knew a 158sdn Wop/Ag who said they dipped there feet in soot to make foot prints on the celling bar. Also they would buy a pint for someone who got the chop (killed)) and put it to one side. No one would drink the pint, it was left in a place for about a week.
Dave
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May 19, 2012 at 5:32 am