Well, I promised I would if I could...

Visited Norfolk today and checking the map, saw that a deviation of my homeward route would take me right past Bodney airfield ; wartime home of the 'Blue-Nosed Bastards Of Bodney', the 352nd FG.

The weather today was just perfect, freezing cold but dry and bright - absolutely superb ! I walked down the familiar track next to the trees, around the corner, and there it still - thankfully - is...



So, without me blabbing on, take a tour of this historic building ; -














I'm not kidding ; when you walk around a derelict building such as this, alone - where there must once have been such activity - you can certainly feel the hand of history on your shoulder......

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Here's a picture from Bodney 'Then'....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

that would make a kick @$$ house, but it would be expensive to convert, and renovate...

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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill

YES, YES, YES !

thank you Martin and this is a great Christmas treat !!

Cile is Chet Harkers mount from the 486th fs.

Martin do I have your permission to send thes to the 352nd fg association ?

thank you

Erich

No problem at all Erich - I'd be honoured.... [img]graemlins/salute.gif[/img]

Glad you like them !

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Those are really great pictures. On the picture of the P-51, I see the three crosses under the windscreen but do any of you know what the star is for ? Just decoration or an early start on the cold war ?

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Very nice pictures, its strange to see this once frantic place so lonely, all in autumn colors.

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Police cars carry three agents. The first one can read, the second one can write and the third one keeps watch on those dangerous intellectuals.
Unknown subversive activist - 20th century.

Yes, very nice. It must be great to visit such sights. Also, the star on the P-51 looks like decorative artwork. But that is only a guess. [img]graemlins/salute.gif[/img]

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Yes,

thanx Martin! Excellent pics! Thanx for sharing them with us!

Are you sure it was not a guard or a police officer saying you should not be here it´s private property ?!

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...I'd have seen him before he saw me....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Martin has such a foreboding nature about him that NONE would deny him access .........

Growl

Hi Guys, I have spent many many hours in Bodney camp and walking the old airfield site,I would give a lot of money to be able to purchase the Tower and turn it back to its original state, i have never had the oppertunity to speak to the landowner and its a crime to see this tower go to ruin as too many have done so already.I try to visit once a month or so to have a look and a ponder and still wonder what it was like way back when it thundered to the sound of youth.
To all those that flew from Bodney and all the other airfields, THANK YOU for my freedom today.

Hello Gabbie, welcome to the forum. If you wish you may go to the new member thread and introduce you there, this way many more people will read your post and welcome your warm thoughts. I hope you"ll eventually manage to buy the site and restore it.

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An amazing thread and thanks for posting it Martin. It's a shame to see these old sites go to ruin.

There are a few around my hometown as well. And not speaking of WWII vintage stuff just lying about wasting away, just yesterday as I was on my way by another route to the library, I spotted sitting in a field with overgrown grass and Cactus and such, two 1965 Ford Mustangs-one was sky blue-the other was white. The blue one had it's hood raised. I'd give my teeth to be allowed to go onto that property to rescue these two beauts.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Yes, great thread! I copied those pics, hope you don't mind!! Thanks for reviving this thread Gabby! BTW, stellar first post!!
I wonder if anyone else has photos of the airfield int it's hey day!

thanks again!!!

I have got to take about 6 months and go thru the old threads here!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

Looking at this photo again, it just hit me that at the US Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB, they have a mock up of the control buildings and it looks like an exact, and I mean exact, replica of this one here. I will have to take a look at my files and try to post.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Here it is







Windows are a little different but the door locations and the interior rooms are exact but I did not get good photos. You can see more here, just scroll towards the bottom

Air_Museum

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Gabby :

if interested do you want to contact the 352nd fg rep ? I've been a friend of the Blue Nosers for years, great bunch of guys, they might find your photos of the old place quite interesting but knowing full well many have often re-visited the area.

E ~

PzJgr,

great pics! truly a fantastic tribute!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

.. very evocative shots Martin, making possible this 'Then & Now' of the tower ... (which you mentioned in another old thread..)

...the tower at Bodney holds a poignant place in the history of the 352nd as related in the 'Bluenoser Tales' book, a story entitled 'A blue D-day ..'

...D-Day began at 0230 for the 352nd FG. The first flight to get airborne powered off without difficulty but one of the P-51s struck the runway lighting and knocked the lights out. The second flight of the 486th FS lined up in the darkness but were off the centre of the runway. With zero visibility, the ill-fated Lt Robert Frascotti at the controls of P-51 B 'Umbriago' smashed into the tower on his takeoff run, his aircraft exploding in a fireball. The blaze enabled the rest of the group to safely get airborne ..

I'm at risk of being attacked by a swarm of Bluenosers here, so correct me if I'm wrong - I believe that the tower which was destroyed on D-Day was situated at the Northern edge of the field and had to be demolished ; the one in my photo is the replacement which was rebuilt half-a-mile away in the centre of the field.....

At least, that's according to After The Battle.......

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson