A Visit To Intruder Country

I always associate heavy bombers with winter weather, Mosquitoes with summer....

Having recently read Bowman's 'Confounding The Reich' , I took a drive up to North Norfolk, the wartime home of 100 Group ( motto : 'Confound And Destroy' ).

A lovely hot day, nice clear roads, beautiful countryside and villages. Here's the signpost : LITTLE SNORING

Couldn't have a more English name than that for an airfield. A few houses, then, isolated in a field, the mediaeval round-towered St Andrew's Church. Inside, total silence, and on one wall, four wallboards, carefully hand-painted : VICTORIES and DECORATIONS & AWARDS. Every claim meticulously painted on as they happened.These historic boards once adorned the Officer's Mess and were saved when the buildings were demolished in the 1950s. Many famous Mossie Intruder names here, 'Sticky' Murphy, 'Sammy' Hoare, Paul Rabone, even Dambuster Mickey Martin flew Intruder ops from here while 'resting'. Amongst all the aerial claims, one stands out :

'20 March 1945 : Station Browning Battery : JU88 Damaged'

I leave the Church and walk up the lane. Very little remains of the old airfield now, but the Control Tower still stands in a sea of wheat. Appropriately, hundreds of Poppies are mixed in with the crops. The only sound to be heard is the song of skylarks.

Southward now, and through a maze of country lanes. I have to stop frequently to check the map. Suddenly, the tyre noise changes to a familiar thump-bump-thump. The road tarmac has been laid over sectioned concrete - a sure sign that an airfield is near. Out of trees and into sunshine, and the road is crossing SWANNINGTON This was home to 85 Squadron which included Branse Burbridge DSO*DFC* among its top-scoring aces.One of the war's most famous 'Mossie' photos shows a NFXIX on dispersal right in front of another ancient church.

The perimeter track still curves through the corn, and St Peter's Church, Haveringland stands unchanged. Sadly, dispersal and Mosquito have long gone, but I park the car on the track for a satisfying 'then & now' match. Nearby woodland is full of old hut bases and ruined buildings.

Back on the airfield, the Tower is now part of a very shabby farm and is disappearing among bushes and abondoned farm equipment. A rather sad sight.

On again, and along the beautiful valley of the River Wensum. Here, on the right of the road in the trees, should be the ruins of BYLAUGH HALL , the nerve-centre and HQ of 100 Group, abandoned after the war.

I'm surprised to see that it's now a building site - the ruined Hall has been bought and is being converted into luxury apartments. In the trees are ruined Nissen huts - I call at the site office and get permission to photograph the buildings where the complex 100 Group ops were planned. The site manager obviously thinks I'm crazy - 'All those huts are going to go. they're an eyesore..'.

I was just in time.

Back on the main road South, I see a sign - BODNEY 1 mile - and turn off on impulse. I park among trees and walk down a forest track - it's hot now ! - and there, still intact, is the Tower. This is not intruder country, this was the home of the 352nd Fighter Group ; the USAAF's legendary 'Blue-Nosed Bastards of Bodney'.

The Tower is in much worse shape than when I last saw it 15 years ago, and the fire/ambulance sheds are about ready to collapse. There is total silence - not a P-51 to be seen, but plenty to be imagined.

And then home.

 

Martin I'll go backwards first. I had thought that friends from the UK that are members or I should say friends of the 352nd blue nosers were trying their best to restore or at least keep up what was left of Bodney ? maybe I misunderstood them....will have to send a note today off to Bob "Punchy" Powell, former pilot of the group and who runs the association newsletter.

Also pward in your great posting, are the 100th group mossie kills then still in one of the buildings for all to see or am I understanding they have been moved and saved under glass ? would love a pic of that.....

E ~

 

for Martin .....a neat colour shot of a line up of Blue nosers...........and you know where Martin !

 

Thanks for the pic, Erich ! The sky, the trees and the stubble field at Bodney still look the same....

There is, I'm afraid, certainly no evidence at the moment of any effort being made to preserve the Tower.

The scoreboards at Little Snoring were saved from destruction and are now in St Andrews Church which stands just a few yards from the perimeter track. These are the records of 23, 169 and 515 Squadrons, 100 Group.

[ 18. June 2005, 11:52 AM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

 

Great martin about the 3 squadrons kills being saved.....you have a few pics of this scoreboard possibly ? I just wrote Bob Powell about Bodney and will give his reply here.

also in my nf losses data for 18./19 March 1945 .... nothing for 20 March; I have 1 kill over a Ju 88G-6 S.W. of Gelnhausen/Hanau from IV./NJG 6, shot down by a Mossie XXX coded RS-K from the 157th sq.

Martin was the 157th from 100 group or ?

say could you post the Mossie nf squadrons here by breakdown of the groups ? this is something I have never put in my meagre RAF data files

E ~

 

Nice one Martin!
Any chance of seeing the pics in the military archaeology thread?

 

great idea Historian !

ok in my depleted RAF files I have the folowing for RAF 100th group....

23
85
141
157
169
239 squadron

were there more.... ? please add

♪

 

The Mosquito squadrons of 100 Group ( Bomber Support ) were :

23 Squadron
25 Squadron
85 Squadron
141 Squadron
151 Squadron
157 Squadron
169 Squadron
192 Squadron
239 Squadron
264 Squadron
307 Squadron ( Polish )
410 Squadron
456 Squadron
515 Squadron
605 Squadron
BSDU ( Bomber Support Development Unit )

Some of these units spent only a very short time with 100 Group before being transferred to 2nd TAF.

 

Gordon - I fired off an entire roll of film that day, still don't have digi I'm afraid....

The Squadron scoreboards don't really lend themselves to photography as they are very finely painted in small, copperplate letters. Photos of them can be found in Bowman's 'Confounding The Reich'.

BTW, 85 Squadron at Swannington used Haveringland Hall - right next to the 'field - as their Officer's Mess. It was largely demolished after the war and I found a fist-sized piece of carved stonework under a bush. It's now serving time as a great book-end for my 100 Group book collection.....

 

A pity Martin; would like to have seen them.
However, nice bookend!

 

Nicer than I thought when I picked it up, Gordon...

It was really filthy and had probably be thrown/left in bushes when the Hall was demolished. Now I've cleaned off the moss and dirt, it can be seen as quite fine worked marble 4" high and 2" deep, with a flat base and back and curved front - rather like something which would hold up a mantle-piece.

Yes - it's a perfect bookend and if it could only talk ( ) would tell some interesting stories of 85 and 157 Squadrons, both 'ace' Intruder outfits.

Another famous memento of those times....

http://www.swannington-norfolk.co.uk/index-page7.html

[ 20. June 2005, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

 

wow!

 

I hasten to add that that little memento is not sitting in my study.....

 

Erich
Yes, we have several loyal British friends in the area, but
the old base is owned by the British government and is used as a training base for the Queens Guard and other military
units. And we, or they, have no authority to go on the base
to make any repairs or improvements. In fact, you have to
have permission to get on the base. This we get whenever
any of our vets or family members are going there but this
is usually confined to Sundays.
It is in no more disarray now than it was when we visited it
on several occasions in past years, beginning in 1983 when
we dedicated our monument there. Britain is very strict about historical places. You cannot modify most any buildings on the outside, only on the inside.
I will discuss this with Bill Espie when he comes to our
reunion in Wichita in September to find out what we can do,
if anything, and then the Q becomes how do we finance
whatever we do if allowed to do it?
Appreciate your concern and your Q and will follow up on
this via correspondence with our friends there, but doubt
there is little chance that we can do anything. Unlike some of
the big bomber group associations, who have treasuries
in the 20 and 30 thousands of dollars or more, we do not.
I think our balance at this time is slightly less than $10,000
and not growing but getting smaller each year.
blue skies,
punchy

 

Thanks for the reply Erich - ah, the phantom airfield-visitor struck again ! No Guardsmen around the day I was there.....

Sad to say, the old tower is getting rather derelict now ( I just got my photos back ) and your friend is right - up to a point . If a building is 'listed' by the Government, then it has a certain degree of protection. If not, someone can bulldoze it tomorrow for use as hardcore ( as happened very recently at Deenethorpe, for instance ) and people such as myself and Gordon can only fume impotently.

As to whether Bodney is listed, I don't know. Maybe Gordon can say how this can be found out ?

 

Martin I also received a message from someone in England on this matter so when I find it I will post for your asessment .....

thumbs up !

E

 

here is another response to my question to the boyz of the US 35nd fighter group. From England :

All

Anyone or body can ask for a historic listing on a specific building. If accepted over here in England the building is known as a ‘Listed Building’. Thereafter the building cannot be removed or modified without the consent of the Local Authority of the Area in which it lies. Each Local Authority has a Conservation Officer who is a local authority employee. It is his job to ensure that every condition is complied with. There is also a process where funds to maintain or restore a building can be applied for. Furthermore this work has an exemption from VAT presently 17.5%. It is the owners’ responsibility to ensure the building remains as listed.

Generally speaking where the Government owns listed building they will comply if they are monitored.

Basis for listing is importance of building, normally either architectural or historic.

On an architectural basis there will not be a very strong argument for listing however for historical I think there could be a good chance but it would be best for your Association to put up the case.

Certainly along the lines of “Most original 8th Air Force WW2 Control Tower in existence”. I know that there are already several listings on WW2 Pill Boxes (concrete machine gun emplacements) I am sure there will be other listings and you may have to add Norfolk or East Anglia to my suggestion above.

I would start with Norfolk County Council on Google www.norfolk.gov.uk Chew it over between yourselves and do not be frightened to seek advice from the Conservation officer personally. He’s probably never had a call from the US. You hopefully will be pleasantly surprised and his personal co-operation would be one of the most important factors in gaining a listing. Do not start by slagging off the building be enthusiastic about its condition and importance. Send him photos and get into dialogue with him. Try and get on personal terms it can be done quite quickly.

www.solarnavigator.net/ historic_building_conservation.htm

I hope this helps

Regards to all Robs Lamplough

Pilot/Owner 472216 ‘Miss Helen/Nita’

 

That's interesting - and it's from none other than Robs Lamplough, who is the proud owner and pilot of P-51 44-72216 'Miss Helen', a genuine, original 'Blue-Nosed Bastard' which actually operated from Bodney !

 

A quick heads-up for any BlueNoser fans - the Nov 2005 issue of FlyPast ( just out in the UK ) contains an interesting article about the 352nd FG, 487th FS missions on D-Day. Of particular note are a good number of photos taken from a private collection which include some rare shots of the airfield - plus one of the Control Tower destroyed in an accident early on D-Day.

 

Hmmmm...my wife has just booked a weeks' holiday for us at Easter on the North Norfolk coast, blissfully unaware that will be a wonderful excuse for another visit to 'Intruder Country'

And this time, I'll have my digital camera with me