The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent.

Old ghosts eh Terry?

There was certainly an 'atmosphere' at Thorpe Abbotts Jim, when looking out over the airfield from the tower.
I've since wondered what it would be like to be there when the museum is closed, with no one around - I think there would probably be an even stronger 'atmosphere'.

Putting a lot of time into this Terry. Appreciate it.

Looks a great trip Dogsbody

Agreed.

Thanks all, glad you approve.

On to the campsite / touring park at Leiston, and some general shots of the former dispersal area of the 363rd Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group, 8th USAAF.
Where motor homes, caravans and tents now sit, was the area where P-51 Mustangs, with their red and yellow checked noses, once stood.
The roads and hard pitches on the site are mainly laid over the original taxi tracks and dispersal hard-standings, as will be seen in the pics below, and the entrance to the site is through the original gate (although now replaced with a modern, automatic security gate), with the main camp road and taxi track heading up to the remains of the perimeter track, with part of the original concrete loop track of a former fuel store still in evidence.
The last pic is an airfield plan on the wall outside the Memorial Museum (shown later), and I've indicated the general area of my pitch with a blue cross, with the blue arrow indicating the area of the fuel store, and the reception / bar building, built on the western side of the original loop.

Pics 1 and 2. The 'Tin Tent' established on its pitch on the former dispersal point area, and a general view, looking roughly west, with the outline of the original tracks clearly visible where vans and tents now stand.
Pic 3. Looking north east, and the reception / bar on the loop of the former fuel store.
Pics 4 to 8. The loop of the fuel store roadway, extending across the road / taxi track to the location of the reception building. The east side loop is intact, and is the original concrete track. Note that these pics were taken on different days, one of which experienced a sudden light rain shower !
Pic 9. Looking back from the fuel store area to the entrance to the park, once one of the base gates.
Pic 10. Plan of the airfield, with my additions showing the locations described. Ignore the red 'You are Here' arrow for now - it's indicating an area I'll cover later.

I'll post another up-date either later tonight, or some time tomorrow.

Beautiful camping site Terry. Very Very nice

Nice shots Terry!

Thanks, Andy, Wojtek, Mike and Hugh.

Starting at the reception building on the former fuel store loop. here are some more photos of recognisable features at Leiston.
Again, the airfield plan at the end of the photo display, indicates the areas shown.

Pics 1 to 3. The memorial and 1/3rd scale Mustang model outside the reception building.
Pic 4. Opposite the fuel store, looking NW up the taxi track to the perimeter track and airfield site, the latter behind the tree line in the distance, and now private farm land. At the right are the touring park playing field, golf range and tennis courts.
Pics 5 and 6. This was once a hard-stand, now a peaceful flower garden, and is indicated by the black arrow on the plan below.
Pics 7 and 8. The entrance to what was once the revetment where Bud Anderson's P-51 "Old Crow" used to stand, taken from the perimeter track looking roughly west, and shown by the yellow arrow on the plan, and a wartime photo of his aircraft in the same location.
Pic 9. "Gus's Hut", the small Memorial Museum at the junction of the taxi track and perimeter track, which will be covered in a following post. Beyond the hedge at the left is the former airfield, now farmland, although parts of the runways, dispersal pens and perimeter track still remain.
Pic 10. Airfield plan, with areas noted, and the red "You are Here" arrow showing the location of "Gus's Hut".

Back soon with more shots of the Lesiton airfield and museum.

I asked at the park reception i it would be possible to have a look at the Leiston Airfield Heritage Center - "Gus's Hut" - and I was very kindly given the keys.
As can be seen in the photos, this is indeed a hut, but very well presented, and with some interesting exhibits, and is a credit to all those involved, over the years, with the Friends of Leiston Airfield, a completely voluntary organisation, helping to keep alive the memory of all who served here during WW2.
The photos below are general shots of some of the exhibits, and include a display of Drem lighting, rescued from the airfield, the airfield history, and other fascinating exhibits relative to Leiston.
More to come in the next post, before moving on to Framlingham.

great stuff Dogsbody

The final selection from Leiston, again with the airfield plan indicating the areas shown.


Pics 1 to 5. More general shots inside "Gus's Hut".
Pic 6. The Memorial on Abbey Lane, the road running across the former airfield.
Pic 7. One third of the remaining runway, looking SW. Along the treeline at the right of the picture, the perimeter track, and some dispersal points, still remain.
Pic 8. The line of the same runway, now farmland, looking NE.
Pic 9. Looking East to the treeline, marking the edge of the perimeter track and the boundary of the touring park.
Pic 10. Section of the airfield plan, with the arrows showing the location and direction of the above photos, and the location of the airfield memorial.

Next stop is Framlingham (Parham ) airfield, which I'll post very soon.

Before leaving Leiston, here's a few shots showing the ever-changing weather in England, from 10/10th cloud, to sunny skies, and some Suffolk sunrise and sunset pics.

Pics 1 and 2. Thick cloud over the coastline, 2 miles away, and looking in the same direction just a few hours later.
Pics 3 to 8. Sunrise and sunset.

Just compiling the coverage for Framlingham, which I'll post nest.

Thanks Wojtek.

On to Framlingham airfield in Suffolk, also known as Parham, as it's closer to that village.

The airfield lies 3 miles (4.82 km) south east of the town of Framlingham, with its castle, and construction commenced in 1942, the airfield finally opening in early 1943.
Built to Class A spec, it had the standard three runways, and two 'T 2' hangars, and housed 3,000 personnel.
Assigned to the 8th USAAF, 3rd Air Division, it was designated Station 153, and it's first occupants were the 95th Bomb Group (H), equipped with B-17s, who arrived from Rapid City, South Dakota, on 12th May 1943, and carried out its first mission, an attack on St. Omer airfield, northern France, on 13th May.
This unit suffered disastrous losses over the next three to four weeks, and was transferred to Horham to re-group on 15th June 1943.
On 4th July, 1943, the 390th Bomb Group arrived form Great Falls, Montana, also equipped with B-17s, their tail markings being a 'J' in a square, and carried out combat missions from 12th August, 1943, until their last mission on 20th April, 1945.
The Americans departed in August 1945, but not before holding a riotous farewell party in the control tower, which apparently got rather 'shot up' !
After the war, the vacant base was used as a Clearing Station for Polish nationals, and eventually closed in 1948.
The land returned to agriculture, and the runways and hardstands were dug up, to be used as hard core for new roads, a common use for the many abandoned airfield runways and roads in Britain.

In 1976, a group of local enthusiasts and volunteers, after a five year, self-funded restoration project, transformed the derelict control tower into what is now the 390th Bomb Group Memorial Air Museum and, since then, a second museum annexe has been added, opened in 1997, in the form of the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation, a little-known, secret network of Auxiliary Units, tasked with underground resistance / disruption etc, should Britain have been invaded and occupied.
Both of these museums are located in the same compound, just off the edge of the NW / SE runway, and behind the original perimeter track to the west of the tower, there is still one of the original 'T 2' hangars, now used for warehousing. The remainder of the airfield site is now agricultural, with a small number of other businesses utilising some of the remaining hard areas and, although evidence of the airfield itself, from public roads, is relatively sparse at ground level (unless one knows what to look for) with the runways either removed or reduced to tractor width, the original outline is clearly visible from the air.

The pics below show the airfield today, how it looked during WW2, and the airfield plan, and the next post will show those pics I was able to get during my relatively brief visit.

Thanks my friend.

As related earlier in this thread, I tried to visit the Museum on Sunday, 8th September, when it would be open. But, due to missing some turnings, mainly due to lack of or obscured road signs, and also "Bitchin' Betty", the voice of the SatNav, directing me the wrong way, I ended up on a Magical Mystery Tour of a fair proportion of this part of Suffolk and, after over two hours of driving what should have been a 20 minute trip, binned the SatNav, used the sun to navigate, and returned to the campsite for a cold beer !
However, I was determined to visit this airfield site, even though I knew the Museum would be closed, and so, using my trusty, hand-drawn 'pace notes', I very easily found my way there during my journey from Leiston back to the first campsite at Scole, the following Tuesday.
Obviously, without access to the Museum itself, photo opportunities were relatively limited, but I managed to get a few useful shots which give some idea of the airfield layout, and show the restored control tower and the Museum area in beautiful lighting conditions.
As before, the airfield plan at the start of the photo presentation shows the area where the photos were taken (red rectangle), and the dotted red line shows the approach road across the field to the route into the Museum, along the remains of one of the former runways.
I've divided the photos between this and the next post, which I'll upload asap.

Pic 1. Location on the airfield site.
Pic 2. Approaching the Museum entrance road along a remaining stretch of the NW / SE runway.
Pic 3. Looking down the original vehicle track to the tower and Museum buildings, with the original 'T2' hangar behind. This track would have been used by emergency vehicles, parked near the tower, for access onto the airfield.
Pic 4. A closer look at the beautifully restored tower, Only birds now wheel where B-17s once turned in the circuit overhead.
Pics 5 and 6. Looking west to the perimeter track and the threshold of the east - west runway, where farm buildings now stand.

Next selection to follow.

Continuing with the final few images from Parham airfield.

Pic 1. Looking north west along the remains of the runway, now reduced to a farm access track.
Pic 2. A view to the south east, from the same location, with this short section of the runway still almost intact.
Pic 3. A part of the runway still exists at its full width, where the public road, seen crossing from right to left. leads into the approach to the Museum.
Pic 4 and 5. The control tower in May, 1944, and a similar view in September, 2019.

Although my visit was relatively short, it didn't take much imagination to visualise B-17s taxiing around for take off, or vehicles and personnel moving between the outlying dispersal points, and I'm glad I made the effort to visit, after the shambles of the first 'sortie'

The next posts will cover my final two days, when I visited Lakenheath, and camped at the end of the runway at Mildenhall - back sometime tomorrow.