Our schedule of openings for 2022, which began on Easter Sunday, can be found on the 'Schedule of Openings' page under this same pull down menu.
We recently hosted a private visit by former RAF administrative apprentice David Aston (37th entry) and his wife Mary, who is a former member of the WRAF. They were enjoying a mini break at Corton coastal village near Lowestoft and took the opportunity to drive over to Bircham Newton for the day. David graduated from the 37th Entry of RAF apprentices in 1960, and hadn't revisited his old training station since then. They were met by our Chairman, Jamie Heffer, and one of our volunteers, William 'Dixie' Dean, himself a former administrative apprentice, who showed them around the Heritage Centre. We are always keen to accommodate such adhoc visits if possible, particularly if they are requested by former veterans who served or were trained at Bircham Newton.
Find us on Facebook: A Facebook group, called RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centrer, has been established to discuss this former RAF station and its satellite airfields. You are encouraged to join this group, which is a forum to discuss all things about Bircham Newton and other closely related topics.
We do not repeat the things that are discussed within the Facebook group here as it is updated on a daily basis and would soon overwhelm this page. However, as a small taster, we will provide an outline of a recent post on Facebook. It concerned the auction of a group of medals, including an Air Force Medal (AFM), which had been awarded to a Wing Commander Brett. Just to cut a long story short, it was discovered that the AFM had been awarded to Brett when he was a Flight Sergeant serving at Bircham Newton in 1924. He was the observer on a Vickers Virginia bomber, flown by Pilot Officer Perry-Keene which was on a night training exercise over Hunstanton, when an engine fire broke out as a result of the breaking of a petrol feed tube. Acting spontaneously and on his own initiative, Brett climbed out of the cockpit onto a wing in the dark to douse the flames. This brave action enabled the pilot to get back to the aerodrome at Bircham Newton and save the entire crew. He was awarded his medal in the 1925 New Year's honours List. He was also awarded a Bronze medal of the Society of the Protection of Life from Fire for the same incident. If you like to discover stories like this, or wish to share stories of your own, please join the Facebook group.
Recent Scheduled Openings in 2022
Opening on Easter Sunday, 17 April 2022: Thirty-one individuals visited the Heritage Centre on Easter Sunday, which was the first public opening of the year. One old friend who visited again was Peter Collison, from Heacham, who is a former civilian employee who worked at Bircham Newton in the post-war years, and who will celebrate his 90th birthday in June of this year. Peter has always entertained the Heritage Centre team with his wealth of stories from Bircham Newton's past. Another old friend who visited was Tony Nelson, who has displayed his large aircraft models outside the Centre in the past. We are planning for Tony to display them again during one of our upcoming openings during the summer months. One Bircham Newton resident visited to ask the team to suggest a suitable name for a small road at the Stanhoe end of the site where new houses are currently under construction. The team suggested 'Anson Way' to commemorate the Avro Anson reconnaissance aircraft which was the first to fly on combat missions from Bircham Newton during WW2. A very unusual donation was the top of an old wooden RAF packing case addressed to a Flight Lieutenant K.W.P. Jones, who lived at 23 Hyde Close at Bircham Newton. Surprisingly, this object was found by Mr. Alwyn Bates in the loft of a property in Foundery Close, in Sculthorpe!
Opening on Sunday, 1 May 2022: Thirty-six visitors came along to the Heritage Centre on the Sunday of the May Day bank holiday weekend. A new volunteer, David White, also joined the Heritage Centre team and was on duty for the first time during this opening.
Heritage Centre Openings in 2021
OPENING ON SUNDAY, 27 JUNE 2021:
Forty-one visitors came to Bircham Newton on the 27th
of June, when we opened the RAF Heritage Centre to visitors for the first time
in 2021.
Roger
Farmer visited from the Fenland and West Norfolk Aviation Museum to share
information about Reginald Smith, who served at Bircham Newton with No. 99
Bomber Squadron in the mid-1920s. Roger had recently shared some aeroplane
photographs taken during Smith’s time at Bircham Newton via the Facebook group.
He brought the photograph album and Smith’s service record along to the
Heritage Centre to allow copies to be made.
Another visitor, John Lewis, from Holt, made a second visit to capture some
video footage of the Heritage Centre. John donated some interesting books,
including an RAF Souvenir book/magazine 1971 Edition, for our collection.
He also supplied additional information about the Heinkel – He115 crash
at Sheringham on the 6th of December 1939, in which Oberfeldwebel
(Staff Sergeant) Emil Rodel and two other crew members died. Emil Rodel was the
first WW2 combatant to be buried in in St. Mary’s Churchyard, Great Bircham.
This occurred with full military honours on the 9th of December 1939.
Bob
Danes, a former RAF administrative apprentice, who trained at Bircham Newton as
a member of the 33rd Entry, also visited. Bob later became a Master
Air Loadmaster and legendary winchman on Search and Rescue helicopters. He was
awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC) and Bar for his courage and devotion during
extremely hazardous rescues he performed as a winchman.
OPENING ON SUNDAY, 25 JULY 2021:
Despite a
Met Office yellow weather warning for heavy showers and thunderstorms, sixty-two
visitors braved the elements and attended the second open day of the year at
Bircham Newton on Sunday, 25th of July. Amongst the visitors was
former RAF Warrant Officer Anthony ‘Charlie’ Chaplin, from Aylsham.
However, Charlie didn’t come along to discuss his own service career.
Instead, he spoke about his late mother, former Leading Aircraftwoman Edith
Eileen Chaplin (nee Newton), who had served as a member of the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
(W.A.A.F.) during the war. Edith, seen on the left of the above photograph,
had been a Motor Transport Driver, who had
spent time at several RAF stations during her wartime service, including Bircham
Newton, Chivenor, Thorney Island, St. Eval, Davidstow Moor, Leuchars and St
David.
Mrs. Jennifer Oliver also visited with a little mystery she
had discovered in her late father’s flying logbook. He was Pilot Officer
Frederick Harry Bishop, who had completed his flying training in South
Africa under the Joint Air Training Scheme. After he returned to the UK,
Frederick spent a short period in September 1946 attached to a unit called ACAC
at Bircham Newton, before he left the service.
Although we suspected that ACAC was an aircrew holding unit or clearing
house for surplus aircrew at the end of the war, we had not previously heard of
this unit. No. 27 Aircrew Holding Unit was the unit normally associated with
this role. However, 27 ACHU had formed at Bircham Newton in September 1945, but
had disbanded in May 1946, prior to Frederick’s arrival in Norfolk. Subsequent
research has revealed that ACAC was an Air Crew Allocation Centre which moved to
Bircham Newton in August 1946 and disbanded in October of the same year. It had
previously operated at Eastchurch, Brackla and Catterick. Bircham Newton was its
final move before it too was disbanded.
We must now thank Jennifer Oliver for adding yet another unit to our
ever-growing understanding of Bircham Newton’s history.
Another
visitor, David Dodson, from Stowmarket, came along to discuss his father, former
Corporal Gordon Harry Dodson, an airframe fitter who had served at Bircham
Newton during WW2 with No. 695 Squadron, one of the resident target-towing
units. Gordon was a skilled
carpenter, who made wooden toys, in his spare time.
David donated one of his prized possessions, a wooden scaled model of an
RAF mobile crane that his father had made for him as a Christmas present in
1944. Mr. T. M. O. Richards, from
Harpley, donated a folder containing his research into service personnel who
were killed or died in training accidents at Narborough and from Zeppelin raids
over Norfolk. It is our intention to put this on display in Room 3, where we
display information about World War One and on early military aviation in
Norfolk.
OPENING ON SUNDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 2021: A total of forty-three visitors attended the Heritage Centre opening on Sunday, 26 September, much less than the footfalls in the corresponding openings in July and August, when we received sixty-five and seventy-five visitors respectively. This might have been due to the lateness of the holiday season, the current fuel shortages due to panic-buying at petrol pumps, or a combination of these factors. One interesting visitor who did call in was Roger Dean, a Norfolk-based singer, actor and former cruise director, who has toured the UK singing in a Johnny Cash tribute show. He has also spent may years as compere of a talent show 'Search for a Star' at his favourite local theatre, The Princess Theatre, in Hunstanton.
We introduced local visitors to the new East Anglian Aviation Heritage Trail, which was launched at Marham earlier in the week. The news of the aviation trail was met with much enthusiasm, and we issued several trail brochures.
OPENING ON SUNDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2021: Thirty-five visitors attended the opening on Sunday, 17th of October, including eleven members of the Wensum TR Group, who brightened up our car park with their classic sports cars. Brian Scott also visited and discussed his interesting Facebook page: The Glorious Dead in the UK. Brian informed us about Corporal Sidney Albert Howard who served at Bircham Newton during WW2 as a member of No. 1611 Flight. Sidney died, aged 53, on the 15th of October 1943 and is buried in Cambridge City Cemetery.
Another visitor, Mrs. Clare
Garrods, told us about her uncle, former Warrant Officer MacDonald. Although she
didn’t know much about his service career, she knew that he had served at
Bircham Newton in the early post-war period, during 1947 and 1948. She recalled
that he lived in a married quarter in the estate which is now called Monks
Close.
Mr. Paul
Van der Hulks visited in the afternoon and informed us about his great uncle,
Peter Derrick Seaford, who had served with No.
280 Squadron at Bircham Newton from February 1942 until September 1943.
Paul possesses a poor photocopy of Peter’s service record, which is
unfortunately unreadable but has requested a replacement copy. Also, he is
currently studying the Operations Record Book (ORB) entries for No. 280
Squadron, which he downloaded from the Public Records Office, so we hope to find
out more about Peter’s service in due course.
HERITAGE
CENTRE OPENING ON SUNDAY 31 OCTOBER:
Thirty-one visitors made the trip to Bircham Newton on a wet and windy
Halloween. One was Peter Wells, who visited from Lincolnshire to discuss his
relative Group Captain J.C. ‘Johnny’ Wells, a
highly decorated WW2 pilot, who was born at Sheringham, on the north Norfolk
coast. Following his RAF apprenticeship, as an aero engine fitter, Johnny’s
first posting in 1930 was to No. 35 Squadron at Bircham Newton. He developed a
love of flying and began training as an air gunner on the squadron’s Fairey IIIF
and Fairey Gordon aircraft. He soon realised that his real ambition was to be a
pilot and he successfully applied for pilot training, leaving the squadron in
1934 to begin his course at No. 5 Flying Training School. This led to a
glittering flying career. By the end of WW2, he was acknowledged to be one of
the most successful and highly decorated Typhoon Wing Leaders in the Air Force.
Peter generously donated the book ‘To Scale the Skies’, by Peter
Cornwell, which tells Johnny’s story. This will be incorporated into the
Heritage Centre’s aviation library.
Other visitors on the 31st of October included former college lecturer Christine Dean, who discussed research she has conducted into personalities with connections to the nearby village of Heacham, and Jon and Shelly Booty from the West Raynham Control Tower
Heritage Centre Opening on Remembrance Sunday, 14th of November: The RAF Heritage Centre welcomed seventy-six visitors on Remembrance Sunday, including a group of eleven cyclists who arrived from King's Lynn. The highlight in the morning was a wreath-laying ceremony to remember those who fell in two world wars and other conflicts past and present.
One of the visitors to the Heritage Centre was Michael Newman, from Heacham, who discussed his late uncle, Wing Commander Claude Dunkerley. Claude had served at Bircham Newton in the late 1930s and ealy 1940s, first with No. 207 squadron and then with No. 206 Squadron. Michael was shown items of Claude's RAF memorabilia and a memorial seat all donated by Claude's son David Dunkerley.
In a sad conclusion to the day, the Heritage Centre team said goodbye to one of its longest-serving volunteers, Avril MacArthur, who is retiring after 15 yeas service. Avril was responsible for publicity, liaising with the local press, the editors of village magazines and others to keep the Heritage Centre in the public eye. She will be sadly missed.
Final Heritage Centre Opening on Thursday, 18th of November: The Heritage Centre was opened for a final time in 2021 on Thursday, 18th of November to coincide with the National finals of SkillBuild, the largest multi-trade skills competition held in the UK for construction trainees and apprentices. During the morning, the CITB Chief Executive, Tim Balcon, and the CITB Chairman, Peter Lauener, both took time out of their busy schedules to visit the Heritage Centre for the first time.
© D. Jacklin 2019. This website is owned by the RAF Bircham Newton Memorial Project.