I wish I had bothered to do a bit more research before writing the previous, it would have saved you reading it. This Independent article is a good summary of the situation I think, for the lay reader, outlining the widespread storage of mustard gas in WW2 at RAF bases.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/sixty-secret-mustard-gas-sites-uncovered-1335343.html

Dave Homewood #495.

This link to WW2 Talk site, (if you have the time to work through its length!) has photographs of several wrecks of Hurricanes, Spitfires and a Ju88 on the Dunkirk beaches, including N3200.

? Spitfire over Audlem?
A friend reports that for three days up to yesterday he has seen a Spitfire over Audlem on the Cheshire Shropshire border south of Nantwich

Any thoughts on which aircraft it might be and why ?

Thanks

WZ

Slightly off topic, I have donated old magazines to the RAF Museum shop at Cosford. This was done after discussion with the shop manager so that they could ensure they could handle the number that would be delivered. There is a doorway that you can bring your car up to. In this way, as long as you do not want money for your collection, you can ensure that real enthusiasts can get what they want and more money goes to conservation. “Every little helps”.

They will also sometimes take certain book collections. Again this should be done by prior arrangement as I did.

The Northwich southern by pass was not complete at the start of the war but had long dual carriageway sections already metalled but not all linked to the existing road network. Locals recall that one section was fenced off and became a rubber recycling depot in order to create, presumably, a strategic reserve. One contended nothing ever moved out of the depot for the duration of the war, presumably because other supplies were adequate, but it may be possible that the experiments in post1 were still on going.

Avro York.

The navigator wrote an autobiography which I have somewhere. More details below in his obit.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-air-commodore-john-mitchell-winston-churchill-s-personal-navigator-1-4033527

Re post 100 by Mustang 51. No way am I getting into the warfare over originality, but adding to 51’s point, in wartime it really wasn’t so unusual to cannibalise from the parts bin. The RAFM Hampden at Cosford has parts from three aircraft in it if I remember correctly and many BoB Hurricanes in particular and some Spitfires were mongrels rather than thoroughbreds after going back to central repair depots or even manufacturers after crash or battle damage, R4118 was rebuilt several times in WW2 before Tony Ditheridge weaved his magic of more recent times. Simply put, I defy anyone to show me a currently flying aircraft that is 100% original as built. We all have got to compromise somewhere.

Whatever your view point, lets have as many as possible flying and bless everyone who has the money to do it so we can keep these skills alive and show the products of those skills to the next generation.

Marauder in the background of the hangar.

The Spitfire is a beauty, but they all are. Grandad would have loved it, a CBAF sheet metal worker.