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Heroes Of Our Time

I have always been interested in airfields, and have either been stationed at, or visited in the course of my Naval duties, a number of them, including Yeovilton, Lee on Solent, Culdrose, Brawdy, Arbroath, Lossiemouth, Weston Zoyland, St Athan, Watton, Changi,

Seletar, and Tengah. Yes, I know that Weston Zoyland has been derelict for many years, but I took part in a major Civil Defence exercise there whilst at Yeovilton in 1964-66.

 

I recently became interested in the former RAF base at Oulton Street, after researching the wartime activities of my father, F/Sgt, later F/O John Mills (see left) of No 214 Sqdn, and his regular pilot, A/Sqdn/ Ldr Ralph Van Den Bok, and other members of that crew (see end of article). I had read about RAF Oulton, naturally, and seen various photos of what remains, but was finally able, this year, to go and see for myself. An added incentive, within the last two years, was the unexpected discovery that my ancestors, on my mother's side, came from the nearby villages of Corpusty and Wood Dalling.

 

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My partner, Karen Hemmingham (a Suffolk "Dorling") and I stayed at a caravan site at The Old Windmill in Great Cressingham, a pleasant if somewhat noisy (thanks to RAF Tornadoes!!) spot, not too far away from my objective, from July 21st until August 1st.

 

Setting off on the Tuesday, we went "grave hunting" in Wood Dalling, before finding our way to Oulton Street. We soon spotted a distinctly WW2-type Nissan hut, next to a pond, with another vintage building in a "farmyard" nearby. I went to these premises to

ask permission to take photos, but was assured that these were NOT wartime buildings, but part of "the old granary"! I pointed to, and enquired about, a distant hangar, which he grudgingly admitted MIGHT be WW2, but was now a "dairy & cow-shed", and that we

should go into the field opposite where we stood, where we would find a "monument to the airfield, but there's nothing written on it"! We duly followed his advice, trudging across stubble to find ... an Ordnance Survey Trig Point Obelisk!

 

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By now a bit disheartened, we left the unhelpful seed merchant truck-driver behind, and went looking for the "proper" roadside memorial that I knew to exist (somewhere!), and so it was that we found ourselves on the road to Oulton (yes, we passed the memorial on the way, but didn't see it, although we DID find & photograph the old WW2 "Gas Clothing and Equipment Store". Only stopping to investigate a chunk of WW2 concrete by the roadside, we found ourselves in Oulton church, where we snapped the memorial "plaque", and me holding a cushion with a Blenheim embroidered thereon. Then we drove around a bit, not much the wiser, and went "home"!

 

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Our next trip was to Horsham St Faith, to use my new “100 Group” card to get in free. There was much “gen” about 214 Squadron AND Oulton, albeit a bit high up in the top left hand corner; however there were some photos and maps, etc, that I remembered, mainly from “A Thousand Shall Fall”, and a bit about Murray Peden himself. Thus, confidence restored, we decided to give Blickling Hall a go the following day.

 

Following a lazy morning on the Thursday, we set off for Blickling Hall after lunch, arriving at about 1400. After buying tickets, first port of call was the "RAF Museum" through the "hole in the hedge", where we soon found much to get excited about, including a photo of my dad's crews' rear gunner, F/Sgt Al Schaeffer, from Canada, a board bearing Sqdn/Ldr Van Den Bok's name, as Officer Commanding "B" Flight, 214 Sqdn, and a booklet containing two items written by my father, concerning his log-book entry for 2nd May 1945 (last Operation of WW2 Kiel area) and his recollections of the remarkable career of former WOP/ AG Ralph Van Den Bok, who became a bomber pilot in Canada at age 38 after winning the DFC twice with 408 (Goose) Sqdn RCAF (he was awarded a third DFC in late 1945!) and with whom my father flew most of his 18 "Ops":

 

In April the Squadron was heavily engaged in its last full month of operations against Germany without the loss of any plane or crew member. Then, on May 2nd, just as in the first World War, a 214 aircraft participated in the last bombing mission of the war. This particular operation was flown by the O. C. B. Flight S/Ldr Van Den Bok, DFC and bars, and his Wop/Ag P/O John Mills states: ‘My log book contains an entry for May 2nd 1945: Operations Schleswigjagel Aerodrome, Kiel area, take-off time 20.48 hours, flying

time 4 hours 50 minutes.’ This was, I believe, the last offensive operation of the war in Europe.

 

Feeling happy and relaxed, following such a pleasant afternoon, we decided to try RAF Oulton once more, little imagining what lay in store for us. On arrival, having been apprised of the location of the REAL memorial by someone at Blickling, we duly discovered it just as a shower loomed and photos ensued. We then proceeded along the road that had been closed during WW2, and stopped by what we thought was the site of the main runway extension. Then, on the airfield side of the road, we found another (very small) memorial plaque next to a small commemorative "evergreen oak", something we hadn't seen on other websites, etc (see above). Whilst examining the remains of the runway extension, a young man drove up to ask what we were doing. It was John "Johnno" Harold, son of the owner of Harold's "Hangar Dairy", who then gave us permission to photograph the T2 hangar inside & out, which delighted us, as well as telling us of other remaining buildings, and what the aerodrome had looked like. What a nice young man! Many photos of the Hangar soon got taken, and also of the curved section of perimeter track leading away to what we (correctly!) deduced had been the main runway threshold.

 

Whilst we were engrossed in all this, a Land Rover came charging towards us; "Oh-Oh ", I thought, "What now?" But it was only "Phil", the airfield Gamekeeper (yes, it's now a "shoot", if you didn't know!), who was very friendly & informative. After a long "chat", we got in his Land Rover, and he drove along the edge of the ploughed field where another T2 hangar had been, and into a wood, where we saw, looked inside, and snapped the former" station cinema & gym" we also saw hundreds of young pheasants!

 

After all the excitement of meeting "Johnno" and "Phil", and all their help and kindness, Karen and I were somewhat overwhelmed, but more was to come. Phil offered to drive us over to the actual airfield itself, as he had some partridges there to check on, so we set off down the concrete track that leads back to the Oulton Street road, turned left, and then entered the airfield site at a point somewhere nearly opposite the T2 "Dairy Hangar", where there is also, incidentally, the concrete end of one of the 4,200 foot runways. After threading our way between some of the many buildings that have sprung up over the years, we started to speed up, and found ourselves hurtling down Runway 07/25 until we reached an intersection with the main runway 12/30 - very impressive! Eventually, we reached an intersection with another of the 4,200 foot runways, where we turned off and drove around a block of cages housing about 3 to four THOUSAND young partridges .....yum yum! Phil then took us back to the dispersal/perimeter track near to the T2 hangar, where, having said our goodbyes, and proffered our undying admiration for all Yorkshiremen (as Phil is) everywhere, Karen dashed off to photograph the remains of what Johnno described as a "pillbox" in a nearby hedge, but which looked more to me like a simple hut for sentries, or a "picket post". Our last "find", again thanks to young Master Harold, was a fortified structure (and this one WAS a Pill Box), tucked away out of sight on the Oulton Street to Oulton road.

 

By this time, it was getting dark, and we reluctantly had to tear ourselves away, but what a day. What an experience! And we were SO glad that we went back to Oulton for that second visit!

 

Roger Mills

 

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Crew of Flying Fortress Mark II BU-C Dec 1944, No 214 Squadron RAF Oulton

 

FS Blake, Waist Gunner

FS Green, Flight Engineer

Sgt Herbert Harker, Waist Gunner (3rd from Right)

FS John Tudor Mills WOP/AG RAFVR (4th from Right)

FS Plumber, Navigator

FS Al Schaeffer DFC, Rear Gunner, RCAF (far Right)

Flt/Lt Shiel DFM, Special Wireless Operator

FS "Smithy" Smith, Mid Upper Gunner, RCAF

Sqn/Ldr Ralph Van Den Bok DFC**, Pilot, RAFVR (4th from left)

 

 

This article is from the Autumn 2010 issue of Confound and Destroy

  

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