For fifteen very old men Friday 23rd was a very significant day.
Having spent a very significant period of their lives on and around the airfield at Knettishall on the Suffolk / Norfolk border, they returned to see it again for what is almost inevitably the final time.
Nothing I can write will convey just what it felt like to be there, however the grin across the face of the buffoon on the left tells just about what it was like to be there.
The hero on the right is Floyd (Marc) Marcusson, top turret gunner from the B17 ‘Chiseller’s Daddies’ – the name taken from a popular song of the time.
They arrived at the field by coach. From all around the UK light aircraft had arrived, and all who were willing and able (most) to do it were flown across some of the old landmarks – Thorpe Abbotts, home of the Bloody Hundredth (Whose loss rate was actually little worse than the unsung 388ths), Diss and Southwold assembly points, Halesworth, home to the only 8th Air Force ETO Medal of Honor winner, Eye and Fersfield, base for the Aphrodite project. The latter had been worked on by one of the veterans. It was this project that took the life of the elder brother of the future President Jack Kennedy.
Maurice Hammonds Harvard, replete with a Yak 11 Fan in the back did a couple of passes and landed. It was confidently identified as a P47 by one of the veterans, I just hope he hadn’t been a gunner. (In truth, if I can even stand-up to watch an aircraft at his age I’d be satiisfied. And it does have a chequered cowling)
More follows when time allows.
Moggy
By: Moggy C - 27th May 2003 at 14:22
YakRider
Did you happen to be perched on the cemetery wall with two guys in A2 / B1 jackets sitting next to you?
Moggy
Also Correction: The B17 that Marc was top turret on was actually called “Chistlin Daddies”
By: YakRider - 27th May 2003 at 13:43
Departing back to Duxford
By: YakRider - 27th May 2003 at 13:42
Turning away
By: YakRider - 27th May 2003 at 13:41
Sally B second pass
By: YakRider - 27th May 2003 at 13:40
Sally B
By: YakRider - 27th May 2003 at 13:39
F15 Missing Man
By: YakRider - 27th May 2003 at 13:38
Presenting the colours
By: YakRider - 27th May 2003 at 13:36
Madingley American Cemetery
Rather than start a whole new thread, I’ll add to this one as they are related subjects.
I attended the Memorial Day ceremony at Madingley on Monday, at which many US veterans were also present – doubtlessly including those that Moggy met. Over 3,800 graves of US servicemen and women from the USAAF, Army Navy and Marines laid to rest in a beautiful setting donated by Cambridge University. The cemetery is off Junction 13 of the M11 and is worth a visit for anyone going to Duxford, which is just down the road.
To conclude the ceremony, there was a ‘missing man’ flypast by 4 F15s and than several passes by Sally B.
Attached are several pictures of the ceremony and flypasts.
YR
By: BlueRobin - 27th May 2003 at 12:14
Attended in my Jodel…only tailwheel GA-type to fly-in 😎
There was another VIP there – the Tornado pilot who got shot down in 1991 Gulf War and later became an ITN correspondant. What’s his name?
The Harvard raised a few hairs on the back of my neck. To see that radial and wing come towards you, lights on, put me in mind of beingon an airfield under attack. Prop was noisy on takeoff. Are they almost supersonic?
There’s little left at Knettishall in terms of buildings. One of the T2 hangars is still there, converted now for agricultural use. The other hangar, tower, crew rooms and accommodation have long since gone. The peritrack remains. Part of the main runway remains serving as hard standing for the modellers and alongside, a small GA-hangar and grass strip from where Moggy flies his kite.
If one were to take a trip along the peritrack, you would see that the site is now agricultural. Fields, crops, the odd lapwing and pheasant. One hard-standing remains. Spookily there is a gap in a hedge, with a single bush standing in the middle. This is where a B17 crash landed and the mark still remains today.
I recall there were 117 losses whilst the base was in operation.
By: Ashley - 27th May 2003 at 08:40
I always enjoy reading threads like this, and look forward to the next installment, Moggy 🙂
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May 27, 2003 at 7:37 am