Welcome to the Swan Inn!

Regrettably the landlord died a couple of months ago, but his wife continues to run the pub superbly.

It is warm and welcoming, the beer is excellent and as well as the traditional pub food menu there is an Indian menu which is basically pre-prepared ‘take-away’ stuff, but none the worse for that and very affordable. Cleverly they even offer it as a take-away for those in the village who want the food but not a night down the pub.

The 388th b&w pictures are still on the wall. I still have all the scans from the missing album, they will not be lost.

Sadly I no longer fly from Knettishall, so my appearances there will be less frequent.

Moggy

Just been going through some of my old posts and came across this one.

I see that the 388th website is not full of the promised pictures taken by Louis Lane that were kept in the missing album!

Can an update on the resurrection of the lost photo album be given and is the The Swan Inn still have Jean and Kevin as owners along with some memorabilia?

Thanks.

Brian.

Hardwick airfield…. Never heard of it…

Fraid not.

Their tenancy lasted a fairly short time.

The new landlords are nice people and running a very good pub with excellent good-value food and well kept beer. They show every sign of succeeding, but little sign of being interested in the pub’s aviation heritage.

Moggy

Sorry to Moggy and others if this thread so old but I was looking for info on Hardwick Airfield in the forums and came across this one.

Yes, October 2005 was the last posting, but the story just ended without an outcome and I just wondered.

Are Jean & Kevin still resident in The Swan Inn?
Has the album been completed and in place at the pub?
Can it be viewed?

Thanks.

Brian.

[email]flypast@keypublishing.com[/email]

Title: Attention Ken Ellis

That should do it.

Moggy

ok then how can i contact him to add our pub into the guide?

Flypast do a pub guide that features in the magazine about pubs with aviation connections. Ken Ellis (editor) does like his beer and food!

Make sure you get an update in Flypast’s Aviation Pub guide

what is this guide because i do not know what it is.

hi guys just to let u know that we are now the new owners on the swan inn coney weston and heave been in for a week now 🙂

thanks

Jean & Kevin

Great to hear that and good luck Jean & Kevin. I will visit when I am next in the area. Make sure you get an update in Flypast’s Aviation Pub guide
Regards
Tony 🙂

hi guys just to let u know that we are now the new owners on the swan inn coney weston and we have been in for a week now 🙂

thanks

Jean & Kevin

.. will get rid of the cheap and tacky pictures i.e horses etc.

Jean & Kevin

🙂

Moggy

What a gentleman!

any chance that we can have a few pictures to frame and put on the wall’s
we are in the process of having a model of a B17 built (by me (kevin) if ive got time, if not 1 of the local model club members (from kent) will be making it)
its a 1/48th or a 1/72 scale dependant on getting correct decals

hopeing to make the main bar (in the Swan inn coney weston) lots of B17 photographs etc instead of just the few thats in there now (will get rid of the cheap and tacky pictures i.e horses etc.

Jean & Kevin

I’m in a position to reinstate an album containing the images that were present on the day of the 388th reunion (others had been stolen before then, which is why we carted a PC and scanner down to the pub and archived all the rest – just in case.)

I’ll add some bits of my own research, then when Skipper gets over here next he can add whatever I have omitted. With his blessing I’ll contact the webbie in the US and see if we can get the other images as prints to make it more complete.

Timescale? Three or four weeks for me.

Cost? F.o.C. My bit for the 388th, whose airfield still gives me so much pleasure.

Moggy

so what do you guy’s have in mind?

There are craters all over the Suffolk countryside!! Mainly near the bases but certainly scattered around Knettishall for miles. Whether they are German or from US planes returning and dumping the bomb load before landing, I have no idea.

I knew “Hardluck” crashed near the airfield and that her bomb load “cooked” and went off “big style”:

Ref:http://www.388th.freeserve.co.uk/hardluck.htm

[INDENT]The 388th Collection holds many artefacts of the Aircraft 42-30193, ‘Hardluck’ which crashed on take-off on 14 October, 1943.

The following account is taken from “The 388th at War” by Edward J Huntzinger:

1st Lt Paul Swift saved the lives of himself and his entire crew when an engine failed and caught fire just as his Flying Fortress was taking off on a mission to bomb the Kugelfischer Ball Bearing Works in Schweinfurt.

The aircraft, loaded to the limit with fuel and bombs, was near the end of the runway and travelling at 110 mph when this airman’s nightmare suddenly became a reality. Lt Swift brought the burning ship to a stop so that the crew emerged unharmed and got clear before the explosion.

“We almost had flying speed when the co-pilot, Lt Tipper, called out that the oil pressure was zero on No 3 engine. The ship began to pull to the right and he saw flames coming from the dying engine. Observers report that smoke came from the tires as the brakes were applied. With a rough field ahead of him, followed by a solid wall of trees, Lt Swift ordered wheels up. The take-off became a belly landing. The ship stopped with her nose crushed in by a tree.”

The entire neighbourhood was cleared of personnel, planes were sent out by a different runway, and preparations were made for the explosion, which was spectacular when it came. Nobody was hurt.”[/INDENT]

Other than that this is “news” to me. I guess I need to do a little “digging” (if you pardon the pun) to see how the others came about!

Skipper

Hi, Simon!

“If you ever fly over the area, look in the fields surrounding the old base and it is still littered with bomb craters.”

Moggy, can you shed any more light on this?

Regards

Skipper

They are certainly there. I’ve always wondered if it was the beastly hun or the 388th toggling off because of some sort of problem with an aircraft.

However if the latter was the case (odd singleton hang-ups apart) I’d have expected them to be less randomly spaced.

Moggy

Hi, Simon!

“If you ever fly over the area, look in the fields surrounding the old base and it is still littered with bomb craters.”

I’ve only flown over the Knettishall field once, during the 2003 388th BG Reunion with one of the vets, and I can’t recall any bomb craters. I’m not saying you’re wrong in what you say, I’m just fascinated to know where those craters are and from which raids they came from. I know the nearby village of Hopton was bombed whilst the Luftwaffe tried to attack the Knettishall field but I was not aware that any damage had ever been inflicted on the airfield or its immediate surroundings.

Moggy, can you shed any more light on this?

Moggy, your plan sounds great, by the way, I’ll have a word with the guys in the 388th Collection and see if I can organise something with them (I’m not promising anything on their behalf, mind, but I’m sure they’ll be keen to support this following what we discussed with Jean and Kevin last December).

Regards

Skipper

Ah, the Swan. Now that brings back some memories. Used to be my weekend watering hole for about a year when the Skydiving centre was based on the old airfield. The pub was run by a really nice chap called Ben (I think?) in those days. I think he made a small fortune that summer when his sleepy village pub was over run skydivers! Some of the locals were really nice too but sadly, some were not.

If you ever fly over the area, look in the fields surrounding the old base and it is still littered with bomb craters.