Bitteswell

[woodstock]

Many thanks for all your remarks and the images. Facebook can be a bit of a minefield but one does not need to register to view the Bitteswell pages. The page is " open " and should be accessable to all. There is so much on there now that it would be a little impracticle to post it all here... I am still trying to track down colleagues from my time there and even after some 35 years I have managed to at least recall 30 odd names although some may be playing their Argosy Harps by now. I see the above image is dated 1985 and ssume that it refers to the post HSA/BAe days when there was a preserved aircraft collection at Bitteswell, Actually, the pair of hangars in the background are Hangar 5 and 6 on what we called " the old site ". hangar 6 was my department , The Paint Shop.

[REF]

Scanned newspaper article sent to me by Nigel Bailey-Underwood

[woodstock]

They built the Disney Store Warehouse right accross runway 01. It greaves me . All the history that was made there in what was only a few short years. Wellington Bomber training, Lancaster assembly, Whittle's power jets, plus an unsung hero, Maj. Hugh Quentin Alleyne Reeves who was killed at Bitteswell by being sucked into a jet engine while testing a muffler he had designed for it. Blimey.This guy desrves a memorial.. :0/

[stevie]

I remember flying over Bitteswell in 1992 in an Auster from Leicester East and a section of one of the runways still existed until a big warehouse brought it to a premature ending.I wonder if thats the Disney Store that you mentioned Woodstock? There was no other Runways left from what i remember at that time (September 1992).

Cheers
Steve

[woodstock]

Hi Steve... and seasons greetings to you and all who read this page ! Re the Disney warehouse. if you look at a current google sat map , it's the third structure down , on the right. Bitteswell fans may be interested that on Pathe' there is some monochrome footage of the flying Wing ( glider and jet ) and it is most certainly Bitteswell, even though it claims to be Baginton. I can clearly see hangars 1 to 6 in the background and inm thwe case of the Glider Flying Wing, it is actually " wheeled " accross the road from the old site on to the airfield ( you can see an engineer looking left and right for traffic ! ). Some of the footage has sound... you can even hear the voiceover call it " Bittsfield " !!

[woodstock]

Thanks again to all who have responded to my posts. Can I ask you all to " have faith " and type in the following link. You will not have to register. No one will know you have visited ( but if you do, then you can contribute if you wish ! ) You will not find any strange people there. It is simply a page for anyone interested in Bitteswell from the days that it was farmland right up to Magna Park. It's all part of the story of this short lived but historic site. Please " linger no longer " but go immediately to Facebook . that will take you straight in with immediate clearance to land ! There are about 180 images relating to Bitteswell and lots of posts and yarns. Please feel free to harvest anything that may be of interest and to add anything that you may wish.

I had a visit to the site over the new year and was lucky to meet the site manager , Mr Roy Davies. Roy very kindly gave me several photographs along with an A.W.A. drawing of the aerodrome showing the " projected " layout for what became known as " The New Site " . This drawing is a fantastic mine of information and I am currently thinking about the best way to make it available to researchers. Get thee to Facebook and enjoy ! Paul.

[woodstock]

Oh , the total joy of technology !! ( when it works ) I see the link I put on has gone " HOT "....... I have also put a link back to here from " Bitteswell " so now you can bouce back and forth ( joy ) ...just click and go !!! there is a word of welcome waiting for you all ) . Paul.

[REF]

Rather than keep plugging the facebook group - I notice a few images on there from AiX, I assume you asked the relevant poster before copying them?? It would be nice if you add some content to this thread too?? Perhaps you could post some of your photos on here in the interests of sharing information?

Thanks - Richard
AiX Site Administrator

[tigger]

Going to the farceblog link in the earlier post I am presented with a screen about joining ...ah well, I'm sure it's a useful resource for those who do use it.

[woodstock]

Helo Richard and thanks for your remarks regarding the Bitteswell page. First of all, I am not wishing to " plug " facebook. I know that it attracts a lot of strageness. I have only been suggesting that members " go have a look " at the page Re the images : Yes, I did ask Paul if I may use the images from Airfield Information Exchange and as I had no responce, I assumed that as long as I credited them and these pages and as they were not for monetery gain, there would not be a problem. Paul has not contacted me to the contrary on this matter and I am happy to remove them if that becomes the case. I will most happily upload images here ( once I figure out how to ) and let me say here and now, anything that I do upload will be free of any copyright and I invite anyone to harvest and use my offerings for the benifit of all.

tigger : I am so sorry that you have not been able to access the Bitteswell page. I am not sure why this is the case and I apologise for any inconvenience.