Coltishall

[Howard]

There was a programme on the telly a couple of days ago which I caught a bit of.  It was about RAF Coltishall, the last of the Battle of Britain bases still in commission, though the programme was about its closing down.

There was a part of the programme I found incredibly moving - in fact I get quite gulpy when I think about it, as I am doing now.

It showed young pilots of nowadays taxi-ing their Jaguar fighter jets past the control-tower, to their take-off points.  As each one passed the tower, he waved to it, and the control staff waved back.  What was the reason for this rather unnecessary and unmilitary behaviour?  

The narrator explained.  It had been been the custom on that base always to do this, since the days of the Battle of Britain.  For many of the pilots it was, of course, the last wave they would ever make, and the returned wave from the tower would be the last gesture of comfort they would ever receive.  




[Footnote:  I've looked at the base's website.  A number of Canadian squadrons were stationed there from time to time, along with the RAF ones.  We must remember that a number of brave Americans disobeyed their own country's laws, and neutrality, at the beginning of the war, and flew with their Canadian cousins on our behalf.]

[saucywitch]

Howard, I wish I would have caught that programme. It sounded really interesting.

[Tabitha]

What was the name of the program Howard?  I'm interested in seeing it.  My grandfather was in the RAF and was involved in the bombing of Dresden at the age of 22.  I find these programs fascinating.  

[Howard]

It was called Over and Out, BBC2, I think, Tabitha.

[Debbijmac]

I haven't seen this programme, so I hope they will repeat it so I can make a point of seeing it.

I love this sort of thing--some of you on here already know that.

I've made a few friends of the old timers who are all around us and had served in any capacity in WWII. One of the men I have had the privilege of making an aquaintence is an 82 year old who comes in only to my till at work and we have a wee gab about what he did during the war. It all started when I noticed he was wearing an airplane pin on his lapel and asked about it. That's when he went into his Navy experience in the war and that the pin was a seaplane he remembered and went to see the month before at an air show (commemorative--Battle of Britain era).
I shared with him my feelings about what his generation did and my gratefulness. We hit it off like a house on fire!
The next time he was in to shop he gave ME a copy of his pin. I was gobsmacked and delighted, and very moved.
The WWII generation is slowly leaving us. On either side of the pond, they were our finest, and I believe this whole heartedly.
They can talk about it as if it all were yesterday, sixty years melts away in their faces when they recount. It's great fun, and a great inspiration.

[Howard]

They can talk about it as if it all were yesterday, sixty years melts away in their faces when they recount. It's great fun, and a great inspiration.

Oh, it is indeed!

I remember, I think it was at the end of last year, a programme about a group of young pilots of today being trained how to fly a Spitfire.  That bit was interesting enough, but the best were the inter-cut pieces where veterans talked about their own experiences.  

One, a very gentle, modest and soft-spoken gentleman, was a high-scoring ace.  He explained that he always got his ground crew to trim his Spitfire so that it flew slightly crab-wise.  Thus, to an  enemy on his tail, he looked as if he was already in a turn.  The enemy would allow for the necessary deflection as if he really was turning, and of course, miss.  He attributed his survival to this trick, but I think probably it was his enormous skill that saved him for us.  As I say, he was a very modest man.