Drem Lighting Training

**P Bellamy** · 05-07-2009, 18:46

From the US Air Force WWII Photo Archive:

1st Lt. James A. Long of Rockwood, Tennessee (center) instructs 1st Lt. Frederick B. Farrell of Caledonia, NY.,(left), and Lt. Roy A. Burton of Kansas City, Missr., on procedures of night landing.
They are being instructed on the Drem Lighting Table.
Bovingdon, England, 22 July 1943.

And a close-up of the table:

All the best,
PB

**P Bellamy** · 11-02-2011, 15:11

Another photo of the same training table has turned up:

Closeup:

PB

**Ossington_2008** · 11-02-2011, 16:44

Is this the photo used in "Works"? If it is, I once went through the whole of a "Willis & Hollis" looking for a match. I could find nothing exactly, but IIRC, the Shawbury was a goodish fit. Sad or what!

**Carnaby** · 11-02-2011, 20:35

Originally Posted by Ossington_2008

Is this the photo used in "Works"? If it is, I once went through the whole of a "Willis & Hollis" looking for a match. I could find nothing exactly, but IIRC, the Shawbury was a goodish fit. Sad or what!

Don't think so - and Shawbury had only two runways.
However assuming it's 8th AF, and using Roger Freeman's War Manual., Horham is the best runway / peri match. Though I'm not convinced about the road layout.

(When you do a thorough Willis and Hollis search, do you start at Abbots Bromley or Zeals, knowing that the find you're looking for will always be at the other end

)

Graham

**P Bellamy** · 12-02-2011, 01:16

Just to clarify, the table was used as a training aid by the USAAF at Bovingdon, so probably is a purely representative imaginary airfield.
Both photos are from the USAF WWII Archive.

PB

**PNK** · 12-02-2011, 01:21

Looks like Horham but as PB says ir is probably representative.

**REF** · 12-02-2011, 21:57

I'd agree its Horham, great photos

**Carnaby** · 13-02-2011, 11:58

Re Paul's last photo, it can be seen that the two totem poles at the bottom near the threshold, are not in line with the latter. This is correct - they were frequently staggered within a limited amount to cater for an uneven airfield boundary. There is also a box formation off the threshold - possibly the contact lighting approach floodlights (which Horham should have had) - just a guess.

EDIT: just found my photo from the Bomber Command Synthetic Training Manual - it's the same airfield. However the 'box' mentioned above seems to be missing, and the two runways which end at the eastern peri-track in the photo are incomplete - they are cricket-bat-handle runways. I think they are in the above photos too.

**P Bellamy** · 03-08-2011, 19:44

Originally Posted by Carnaby

...the two runways which end at the eastern peri-track in the photo are incomplete - they are cricket-bat-handle runways. I think they are in the above photos too.

Yes, they are indeed.

I wonder what the two cylinders connected by the white cable are for. Floodlights?

PB

**Carnaby** · 03-08-2011, 20:34

There is a slightly different photo in the Training Manual and the white cable is connected to a 'floodlight' well outside the aerodrome. On closer inspection this photo is a Drem Mk.1 installation (Which interestingly it calls 'Modified Drem') whereas Paul's pictures are the Mk.II system. That external floodlight fits in with the approach floodlight used on the earlier system. I wonder if Horham had two 'cricket-bat' subsidiaries in its early days. It certainly didn't in October 1942.