. RAF 100 GRoup MeMoRiAl MuseuM AssociAtion newsletteR 100 Group Association Chairman Wg Cdr John Stubbington: 01420 562722 100 Group Association Secretary Janine Harrington: 01723 512939 Home to RAF 100 Group Association City of Norwich Aviation Museum Old Norwich Road, Horsham St Faith, Norwich, Norfolk NR10 3JF Telephone: 01603 893080 Membership Areas Each dot represents an area where there is a cluster of members Big dots show where members of the RAF 100 Group Association Committee live Members who live abroad are in the following countries: Northern Ireland Canada Austria China Germany Australia USA 2 Dear Friends, I am deeply touched by your cards, gifts, letters, emails and telephone calls wishing me well. Thank you. In July I went by train to spend my birthday with my daughter, in Brighton. I saw Ian briefly at a London station. He looked so gaunt and thin and ill. Later I learned he was rushed to hospital early one morning with a suspected heart attack. I have absolutely no idea what the future may hold for either of us. However, while in Brighton, as an unexpected birthday treat, my daughter Jo took me to a very different and thought provoking art exhibition by Drew Cameron, a remarkable achievement by a man who served a tour of duty in Iraq who uses a unique art and book form to make a statement about the war. I have included something about it here, together with images, and I am most interested to share members’ feelings and the concept behind it. A particular joy as Editor comes in re-living through the written word and photos shared the wartime experiences of various people. It is like travelling back through Time to an age of Respect, Dignity and Pride, when everyone worked together for the sake of our country as a whole. Eric Dickens’ rare photographs of Oulton in our Summer edition sparked many members into writing, and more of these photographs are shared here. Leslie Barker also kindly sent a CD of his uncle, Flight Sergeant Hadder, 214 Squadron which I will be happy to share in the next Winter edition when there is more room to do justice to him. However, the following pages do include a memorial piece to Bryan Gale, 157 Squadron who passed away on 2nd January. Bryan and I corresponded through the years and so I consider him a friend. It is therefore a privilege, on behalf of his daughter Valerie and son Chris, to share some of his past writings with you. They join me in welcoming any further information about Bryan that anyone might like to offer. News of the sudden death of another valued member is Alan Mercer, 214 Squadron, who passed away on 6th June while visiting his daughter in America. Thanks for the phone call Ken to let us know. On a brighter note, a totally unexpected surprise arrived in the post - a book by Stephen Hutton which I would urge members to read. ‘Squadron of Deception’ is a beautifully bound and colourful volume in which many names and photographs are familiar. Stephen, thank you again for the touching dedication. I just hope I can live up to being ‘… a faithful Servant of the Valiant RAF 100 Group Association …’ Stephen shares his father Iredell Hutton’s wartime experiences in this Newsletter. Enjoy the bumper read! Janine X Items for Newsletter should be sent to: Janine Harrington ‘New Dawn’, 7 Ashley Court, Filey, North Yorkshire YO14 9LS Telephone: 01723 512939 Email: [email protected] 4 Letter from the Chairman Members, It has been very pleasing to hear from many of you that the Reunion in May was so well regarded. Thank you for those comments. The Committee – and especially Janine – really appreciate hearing from you. We are now thinking about the planning for the next Reunion, in May 2010. We shall have to be more conservative with the costs for this. The outline concept that we are thinking about has the following possible topics: 1. For those members who like to arrive on Friday, there could be a visit arranged in the afternoon to the RAF Radar Museum at Neatishead. A simple snack lunch will be available at the Radar Museum, which is about 10 miles North-East from Norwich along the A1151. For dinner in the evening, we could meet together for an informal meal, perhaps at The Plough at Marsham or some other local Inn. 2. We have been offered a slide show by Eric Dickens, based on photographs taken at RAF Oulton when his father was the Station Commander during the war. We have not yet been able to arrange where or when to have that slide show. It is more likely to be on Friday, because Saturday is always very busy. 3. The programme for Saturday will be as usual. The Annual General Meeting and buffet lunch will be at the Norwich Aviation Museum. Visits to the local airfields will take place as members wish, on an individual basis. There will be no coach this year, as a cost saving measure. We expect that Tea in the afternoon will be provided at Oulton, to whom we are always greatly indebted. The choice of location for the Dinner on Saturday evening is open at this time. I am looking at several options during the first week of September, when I shall be staying at Marsham. Our after-dinner Speaker will be Air Vice Marshal Grahame Jones. 4. Morning Service on Sunday will be at Horsham-St-Faith with The Reverend Andrew Beane. By no means least, I say “Thank You” to the Committee members for their help and support. John E G Stubbington, Wg Cdr (ret’d) Chairman PS. There will be a one-day seminar at the Defence Academy, Shrivenham, on 14th October. Some members have already expressed interest. The subject will be World War 2 and Cold War military electronics. I shall be presenting a paper that will address the task of No. 192 Sqn within 100 Group and the intervening history through the re-numbering to 51 Sqn and the latest aircraft, the RAF Nimrod R that supports current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Members who are interested should contact me directly. 5 Dear Janine, Just to say an immense thank you for all the hard work you must have put in to make the weekend such an enormous success. It was all excellent and went like clockwork. The committee has done a first class job and we are all so grateful. The folk of Foulsham & Oulton are so welcoming and generous and it is all very touching. The only blip, and it was a minor one, during the whole weekend was the layout at The Plough where those of us at the extremities of the long thin area we occupied could hear absolutely nothing from the speakers. This is where the Aylsham Lodge scored - but that was about its only good thing latterly! With my best wishes - and again, my sincere thanks, Alan Thomsett Hello Janine, What a superb weekend! Thanks to the Committee and especially to you. Even the weather played its part, but I cannot claim any kudos for that! The welcome we received from everyone was touching. The time and trouble taken by all in preparing food for us was tremendous. Thanks to all. The only snag was having to wait at Norwich airport for 4 hours due to planes being u/s. Flybe had to play musical chairs with the aircraft to get all the passengers home. My good neighbours were there to meet me at Manchester and I eventually arrived home at 11pm. Keep in touch and take care, Love Dorothy Hudson Dear Janine, We would like to thank you and the Association Committee for all the effort you put into the organizing of the 100 Group Reunion. Although we didn’t attend all the functions, we enjoyed the full day on Friday and the evening meal on Saturday albeit that we had to leave a little early to get the last bus which dropped us off outside the Norfolk Club where we were staying. Roy Smith Dear Janine, Eric Dickens’ letter and photographs were enjoyed and I just can’t wait for the next batch of his photos to follow in the next Newsletter. I can’t help over identifying folk to be seen in the photos, but I’d say definitely not Queen Mary in the one on page 5. The lady always stood out in pictures – regal in every respect! And not to be trifled with!! 6 Can I put forward my thoughts on the photos – page 12? The aircraft in the top one is a Fairey Battle and the serial number is L524- (shame about the last digit), and I would say ‘taken in France between September ’39 and May ‘40’. The bottom picture looks ‘French’ and we didn’t camouflage with trees our small buildings on UK airfields. If Eric has his father’s log book that will give him the Squadron number for the Battle, also dates. And if Eric could list his father’s Op sorties that would be most interesting. The losses sustained by the Battle units in trying to stem the German advance tells you they were suicide missions, leaving you with the utmost respect for the RAF aircrews who didn’t come back. Thank you, Eric, and please give us more details about your father, plus the photographs as we learn so much. I just can’t wait!! Ron Durand Dear Janine, I am not a great lover of poetry, but the one printed on page 31 Summer edition, is the one exception.