Waddington itself turns out to be a somewhat dour little village with high walls and narrow streets. I wonder whether it has changed much since my father was based here in WW2.
Not being a tourist town it is not endowed with a range of cafes. We find a tiny one and manage a cup of tea - but it is clear they are closing. We are still early and feel a serving Air Force base is not the kind of place to show up when they aren't expecting you. The pub across the road, known as the Wheat Sheaf turns out to be open - so we pop in there. Again I wonder if it may have looked very similar in the 40s when my father was in town. Did he drink here I wonder?
We arrive at Waddington base still in good time and follow our instructions to wait in the lay by just past the gate. Our guide, Chris finds us immediately, and, once we have been issued with temporary passes, takes us to the heritage centre.
Chris turns out to be very well informed and can tell us all about the history of the base - from the Roman Road outside onwards. It has a long history - with theRAF operating out of there in one way or another since WW1. Chris is retired , but has a service record mainly on the Canberas.
Of course the highlight for me in particular is the 463 and 467 part of the story. The remains of a crashed Lancaster are the first thing we see when we enter the heritage centre. Apparently this one came down in a fairly remote corner of a field and has only recently been retrieved and significant pieces fitted together around a frame. The farmer who owned the field having become concerned about it being on his land.
Chris has searched the archives for mentions of Dad - but has not really found much. However the model of a Lancaster on display in the museum turns out to have the nose art do none other than Nick the Nazi Neutraliser. S Sugar is the plane that has the publicity for the most missions - but old Nick is right up there - and Dad flew a good few of those!
The son of the pilot who crashed Nick has also arranged to have a small plaque listing the names of that crew - who were all killed in the crash. It was on a training exercise - they somehow didn't have their wing lights on and ended up colliding with a Hurricane which was also on the exercise.
Chris had dug up all the operational records of Dad's missions - which were good to see. He was intrigued because Dad and his crew had arrived on station from another squadron rather than from the Lancaster "finishing school" or from some other type of training. Will have to ask Dad about that. Also they were curious about the colour that Nick was painted. Was it yellow or red?
On the way off base he points out the original WW2 control tower - now in disrepair.
All in all a really worthwhile journey down memory lane. On to York.
Not being a tourist town it is not endowed with a range of cafes. We find a tiny one and manage a cup of tea - but it is clear they are closing. We are still early and feel a serving Air Force base is not the kind of place to show up when they aren't expecting you. The pub across the road, known as the Wheat Sheaf turns out to be open - so we pop in there. Again I wonder if it may have looked very similar in the 40s when my father was in town. Did he drink here I wonder?
We arrive at Waddington base still in good time and follow our instructions to wait in the lay by just past the gate. Our guide, Chris finds us immediately, and, once we have been issued with temporary passes, takes us to the heritage centre.
Chris turns out to be very well informed and can tell us all about the history of the base - from the Roman Road outside onwards. It has a long history - with theRAF operating out of there in one way or another since WW1. Chris is retired , but has a service record mainly on the Canberas.
Of course the highlight for me in particular is the 463 and 467 part of the story. The remains of a crashed Lancaster are the first thing we see when we enter the heritage centre. Apparently this one came down in a fairly remote corner of a field and has only recently been retrieved and significant pieces fitted together around a frame. The farmer who owned the field having become concerned about it being on his land.
Chris has searched the archives for mentions of Dad - but has not really found much. However the model of a Lancaster on display in the museum turns out to have the nose art do none other than Nick the Nazi Neutraliser. S Sugar is the plane that has the publicity for the most missions - but old Nick is right up there - and Dad flew a good few of those!
The son of the pilot who crashed Nick has also arranged to have a small plaque listing the names of that crew - who were all killed in the crash. It was on a training exercise - they somehow didn't have their wing lights on and ended up colliding with a Hurricane which was also on the exercise.
Chris had dug up all the operational records of Dad's missions - which were good to see. He was intrigued because Dad and his crew had arrived on station from another squadron rather than from the Lancaster "finishing school" or from some other type of training. Will have to ask Dad about that. Also they were curious about the colour that Nick was painted. Was it yellow or red?
On the way off base he points out the original WW2 control tower - now in disrepair.
All in all a really worthwhile journey down memory lane. On to York.
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