Fred ButcherHello to all interested readers, I have two significant statements to make concerning the use of the Rotary Launcher on th Stffkey Marshes; Firstly, I have written confirmation that the Launcher was seen in action during 1953 by a credible witnes – no less than W/Cdr Ken Wallis who made a day visit at the invitation of a US Army Major, to see the McCuolloch engine in action. Secondly, I have e mail from Richard Strifosky – a US Army Veteran who was invloved in a met. section detachment providing weather info. to the AA gun range at Weybourne from Dec. 1955 until April 1957. He was accomodated (with others) in the Morston Road communual site of RAF Langham and confirms that all of the RCATS used during his period of service were launched from Weybourne AA Practice camp using an RP A7 Catapult launcher. He never heard of Stiffkey and the Whirlygig and never went there!
So, the Whirlygig was used by the US Army but then went out of use for unknown reasons. More information is still required! Fred Butcher.
Fred ButcherHi to Steve Touchdown, Richard Gray and Moggy C. Three for the price of one!! Steve – from where please did you get the reference to ‘1951 to 1957 Radio Controlled Target Aircraft detachment at RAF Lanham’. I have had a reply from Richard Strisofsky that I would like to discuss with you on the telephone. Please ring when convenient.
Richard – please note that my e mail address given in my post is not correctly displayed because it is fred underscore butcher – and the underscore bit gets lost in the underlining of the whole address!
Moggy C – I have attempted to e mial you with a question – how to insert a Quote in a Post – but the message will not send using mailto:tigheffernan.com…
Regards to you all. Fred Butcher.
Fred ButcherHi Richard – again. Just to say that my e mail address does not show correctly because there is an underscore between the fred and the butcher that becomes obliterated when the whole address id underlined…. Sorry about but I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards, Fred Butcher
Fred ButcherHi Steve Touchdown, Can you please give me more information about the two USAF units at old RAF Langham mentioned in your long message of the 14th January, namely;Radio controlled target aircraft det. 1951 to 1957 and M51 39th AAA Battery training det. 1953 to 1957.
I have been trying to get helpful response from a number of other contacts that I gathered from a site that carries memoirs from USAF AA gunners stationed at Upper Heyford during the years of the cold war. One such specifically refers to ‘going periodically to Langham camp near Cromer and fire at Radio Controlled Aerial Targets over the North Sea’ but unhappliy, I have not yet had a reply. I have sent to 10 men with similar history but only two have responded and neither of them profess’s to any Knowledge of the Rotary Launcher or RCATS…. Patience, patience.
I am looking forward to your telephone call sometime! Regards, Fred Butcher.
Fred ButcherHi Richard, Very interested to read your new Post and will be pleased to exchange any information with you about the Rotary Launcher and the RCTS that were flown from it. I have not received the e mail that you refer to – will you please check my address; [email]fred_butcher@lineone.net[/email]
I have not seen Len Barthams book but have seen a number of references to it. Can you tell me please where I could obtain a sight of it?
Your piece on the Langham Dome Trainer is most interesting and was very well researched.
Regards, Fred Butcher
Fred ButcherDear Moggy C, Many thanks for your instructions telling me how to insert an image into a Post – and Bingo, I have done so!
I seem to be making great progress with my enquries concerning the Stiffkey Rotary Launcher – just what I had hoped for!! REgards, Fred Butcher.
Fred ButcherDear Steve,Many thanks for your last two submits., that provoke many comments… I hope that a picture of Tiger Moth Queen Bee N1846 sitting on a MASSIVE Naval powered catapult launcher in 1939! This picture is on display in the Mucklebugh history room as well as shown in Action Statons, East Anglia. I do not know of the two Henley’s that say were brought down when they were presumeably towing drouges rather than being shot at… I assume that most of the Queen Bees were recovered from the sea if they were equipped with floats and there are references to HMS Radstock being stationed at Blakeney harbour or that purpose.
Your message of today refers to an excellent account of the operations of an RP19 from an A2 Rotary launcher – exactly as it must have happened at Warham/Stiffkey. I too am in the midst of trying to obatain personal accounts of operations at Stfiffkey from men who were with the 4th AAA on AA guard duty at Upper Heyford and made periodic visits to Langham and Stiffkey for target practice. Snap!! We shall have much to talk about… It’s all GOOD stuff and much appreciation for your contribution to the topic. Regards, Fred Butcher.
Fred ButcherDear Flat 12×2 Exactly right! The circular track of the Rotary Launcher shows up very clearly on Get Mapping’s display. It seems to me that its precise location is not within the boundaries of the old Stiffkey No 11 Light AAPCamp and strangely, there are no roadways leading right up to it to it (how were the target aircraft got to it?, nor are there any building foundations nearby for last minute assembly…). It is placed on a small piece of firm ground next to the extensive salt marsh of Warham Greens or Stiffkey Marshes, either of which might belong to the vast Holkham Estate. The odd fish shaped item to the left of the track is the site of a disused effluent plant that might have been placed there for the benefit of the western end of the military camp (the effluent from the main part of the camp was presumeably carried out to sea by the surface pipe still to be seen). The North Norfolk Coastal path actually crosses the southern part of the trackway. Was this a recognised footpath during or immediately after the war? Questions, questions… But it is all good stuff! Regards, Fred Butcher.
Fred ButcherDear Steve, Great comments on the Whirlygigg. I agree the surface of the trackway to be in excellent condition (no cracks or weed penetration) considering that it has been in place for fifty plus years! And on near marsh too! (Warham Greens or Stiffkey Marsh?) Can you please ewxplain your reference to DOD?. My use of the designation A2 is taken from Radioplane and USAF documents (such as USAF AN 28-10C-26 Flight Operating Instructions for USAF series OQ-19D Target Aircraft, issed 19 FEB 1951). I assume that you live in the area and as I live in Shipdham I suggest we talk on the telephone sometime. My number is 01362 820 101. Your pictures are very good and I would very much like to know how to insert them into the Forum pages. Please tell me how! Regards, Fred Butcher
Fred ButcherLayout of A2 Rotary Launcher
Hi. Here is a layout diagram of the Radioplane A2 Rotary Launcher at the old No11 Light AAPC camp at Stiffkey, Norfolk. Fred Butcher
Fred Butcherre Stiffkey Rotaty Launcher….
Just done a google and found this, thought it might be of interest.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A3189279
Brian.
Dear Pimpernel, Thanks for your finding a reference to the Stiffkey AA camp and someone under training there in ’39/40… intresting even though there is no mention of pilotless target aircraft! Stiffkey was home to No 11 Light AAPC using Bofors guns and there are other references in the Search engines about a special sighting device that was deleveloped for the Bofors called the Stiffkey sight! Thanks for your comment. Regards, Fred
Fred ButcherDear Texan Tomcat, You are correct in saying that the Dome Trainer at old Langham airfield was used for air gunner training during the war years and is now a listed monument. There was a Beaufighter strike wing there that operated against enemy shipping following the Dutch/Danish coasts – dangerous stuff… The airfield also usually had drouge aircraft serving the Army AA camps of Stiffkey and Weybourne, starting with Henley target tugs in 1940 flown by No 1AACU and on to No2 Civilian AACU run by Marshalls from ’53 to ’58. Read Action Stations Revisited by Michael Bowyer. Thanks for the comment. Regards, Fred Butcher.
Fred ButcherDear Merlin Four, Thanks for your contribution confirming your knowledge of the Whirlygigg site.. Unhappily, the comment by Wilfred George continues a misconception that the circular launch track was used by ‘Queen Bee’ target aircraft. They were in fact flown from a powered launcher at Weybourne, the parent camp of Stiffkey and there are some facts about that in Action Stations 1 and in a display in the history section at the Muckleburgh Collection museum. My researches suggest that the Whirlygigg is a post war construction (ca ’52/53), possibly by the USAF, and is a ‘standard’ Radioplane A2 Rotary Launcher designed specfically to launch Radioplane 19A type pilotless aircraft. Weybourne also flew these but launched them from a linear catapult (as mentioned in the museum there). I am hoping to confirm all of this and want to obtain more details of the aircraft, the operations, the dates etc. Any help will be much appreciated. Regards, Fred Butcher.
Fred ButcherRotary launcher at Stiffkey, Norfolk
Hi. I confirm that I do not mean Weybourne which is the Muckleburgh museum but has very little information about pilotless target aircraft. Tiger Moth Queen bee’s were flown from there as well as Radioplane 19’s that were launched from an inertia catapult system. If you contact me on [email]fred_butcher@lineone.net[/email] I can tell more about the Rotary launcher that still exists on the Stiffkey marshes. Thanks for your reply, Regards, FCB.
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