In late 1940 my friend Jack Wakefield was training as an Air Gunner in Boulton Paul Defiants at No. 5 OTU, Ashton Downs. One of the things he mentioned to me when i interviewed him about his wartime experiences last may was the “thing to do” at the OTU was for everyone to have a go at flying under the Clifton Bridge.
Curious about this while rewatching the interview just now, I decided to look up the bridge and found this photo on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clifton_Suspension_Bridge-9350.jpg
Perhaps not exactly a challenging bridge to fly beneath, but I was interested to see all those houses or buildings right next to it. It must have been dangerous to fly under a bridge in such a populated area for the very reason that someone might spot your code letters, ring up the station and “pot” you.
I wonder if any of the locals there ever managed to snap photos of the Defiants flying under the bridge?
By: Snoopy7422 - 17th November 2011 at 19:36
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There’s a photograph in the Shropshire Airfields book I did with the late Barry Abraham, of Dave Williams flying his Saab Safir, G-BCFW, under a road bridge on the Hinstock by-pass, a 18ft high bridge on an ordinary A road, and on a bend. The By-pass had not opened at the time so there was no chance of a passing motorist getting a heart-attack. There were three people on the bridge looking down as Dave flew under them.
What year would that have been..?
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November 15, 2011 at 3:55 am