Cornishpete
08-12-2008, 03:00
Greetings. I am new to this forum. I’m an ex-pat Brit who has lived in central Illinois for the past sixteen wears. I was born and lived in Cornwall for my first seventeen years and was a member of Air Training Corps 1225 Sqd whilst at St Austell Grammar School. Now, with hindsight I realize how privileged we were to be less than 20 miles from both RAF St Eval and St Mawgan. I am thinking that quite a few of you younger guys will envy me for having had “air experience flights” in a Lancaster, two versions of Shackleton, an Anson, a HP Hastings and a Chipmunk, The Lanc was at St Mawgan and if I remember correctly were ex French Naval maritime reconnaisance a/c. No doubt some expert will put me right on that ; and it would have been c.1952/3 . The Shackletons were at both St Eval and St Mawgan and again I am hazy on this but the 201, 206 and maybe 210 squadrons come to mind. The Anson flight was from what was formerly the Empire Flying school at RAF Hullavington but then a huge aircraft storage unit and air navigational school. The Hastings trip was about as exciting as taking the bus to school This was from RAF Lyneham. No school kid who was brought up during WW2 could be too enthusiastic about sitting in neat rows in a transport! We weren’t even issued with parachutes so hardly felt like intrepid airmen! The Chipmunk flight was back in St Mawgan and I can best remember this from the pilot handing me the controls and then later barking at me for using the artificial horizon rather than looking out and flying the thing visually!
I think you will now see that my interest in the forum is greatly affected by nostalgia and I thank all who have put so much work into this.
Pete
I think you will now see that my interest in the forum is greatly affected by nostalgia and I thank all who have put so much work into this.
Pete