RAF Tour 3

Not really a tour, as I only visited 2 sites, more a run out. Keeping up the theme though.

Through Phil at Spitfire Club, I became aware of a memorial at Dungeness, for 2 Polish pilots from 303 Squadron, killed in that area, on the same day and presumably in the same dogfight, in April 1941. I'm not sure why I hadn't seen this when I planned RAF Tour 2, as this memorial is only a few miles from Greatstones and the Liberator memorial I visited but anyway, it gave me another excuse to get out for another ride.

It was another very warm day and I took a leisurely ride through the Kent countryside. I'd timed the trip so that I could have my picnic when I arrived, so that I did, before going in search of the memorial. It was fairly easy to find, only being a few hundred yards from the old lighthouse. Basically, you just walk straight from the end of the car park and there it is. It's lovely to think that people still care enough to remember these chaps and I take my hat off to anyone involved in the upkeep of these memorials, from this one on the windy exposed shingle of Dungeness, to those tucked away at the roadside down some country lane. We should never forget the sacrifice many made to keep our country free and in this case, chaps whose country had already been overrun by the Nazis. What spirit, what guts, and what great skill those of 303 Squadron in particular showed.

From Dungeness, I decided to pop up the coast to Capel-le-Ferne and pay a visit to the Battle of Britain Memorial. It's only about 2 years since I last visited but I'd seen on a TV programme that they had a new exhibit, a Junkers 87 Stuka dive bomber.

I dropped in on my brother on the way passed and saught his advice on where to get fuel, cheap supermarket fuel, as Ginny was by now showing a range of just 14 miles. Failing to actually take in what he said, I found myself way off course and having to resort to the phone, to try and locate the Tesco stop. I'd been riding around for a good 3 or 4 miles, with range showing zero, before I eventually got to Tesco. Mild panic over and with a full tank, I carried on to Capel. They have a new tarmac motorcycle parking bay, big enough for about 4 bikes, right by the entrance, which is good. Not so good, you have to ride across the gravel driveway to get to it, which is always a nervy thing on a big bike like Ginny. It's not so much the grip of the bike but that of your feet. Lose your footing even slightly and the weight of the bike can have you on your arse in the blink of an eye. I had no problems I should say, just clenched those buttocks a tad.

Sure enough, just behind the display Spitfire & Hurricane, there stands, nose down in the dirt, a gleaming silver Stuka. I don't know if they have any plans to paint it but I must say, it does look mighty good in silver, with the sun glinting off it. 

The ride home was a somewhat less leisurely than the ride down, as I just jumped onto the M20. Another lovely day for riding and another interesting one too. My next RAF related outing will be to Tangmere, near Chichester. The WWII airfield no longer exists but there is an aeronautical museum there. That is still closed due to Covid-19 at the moment but my purpose of visiting, is to visit the grave of  Pilot Officer Donald Millar Lake, whose name I carried on my back when I ran the Spitfire 10k at the RAF museum in Hendon last year. Killed in September 1941, aged just 20, I want to pay my respects. You can read about that visit soon. Till then, cheerio.

RAF Tour 2

I'm calling this an RAF tour, though it's not strictly all RAF related. Another chance to get out on Ginny and visit some memorials, to those who risked and lost their lives in the skies above Britain during WWII.

I started off by making my way down to the airfield at Headcorn. This is quite a busy place. From here you can take a parachute jump or even a flight in a 2 seater Spitfire. In normal times, they have quite a few events/air shows on during the year. There were some aircraft taking off whilst I visited, including a wing walker Boeing Stearman.

I watched for a while, then sought out the memorial, which was my reason for stopping off. 

From Headcorn, I went down to the outskirts of a village called Hamstreet, where there is a memorial, called Johnson's Corner Memorial, in memory of a US Flying Fortress pilot. Limping back from the continent, it became clear that the aircraft wasn't going to make it back to base. The pilot, Lieutenant William "Bill" Johnson, ordered his crew to bale out. Realising that if he did, the aircraft would crash into the village of Hamstreet, he stayed on board to pilot the plane away from the village, paying the ultimate price in doing so. Here I had my picnic, in the small garden in which the memorial stands.

Another, ex WWII airfield, now gone but now with an Aeronautical museum on site, at Brenzett. As with most of these places, there's a memorial.

From Brenzett I made my way to the coast and to a car park just behind Greatstones beach. There, hidden out of the way almost, is a memorial to another USAF aircraft crash. Not far from this site, a Liberator bomber came down, after taking a direct hit on the nose from an 88mm anti-aircraft gun. 2 crew were killed instantly. 2 more were killed when baling out over the sea, having insufficient height for their parachutes to open but 7 of the 11 crew survived the forced landing.

Heading back towards home now, I stopped at a memorial to Pilot Officer Arthur Clarke, who was killed when his Hurricane crashed nearby, having been shot down during the Battle of Britain. He was just 20 years old.

Finally, I made my way back to the other side of Headcorn airfield, where there is a memorial to US and Canadian air crews, who flew from the airfield.

Another lovely day for riding but sobering and thought provoking subject matter. Lest We Forget.