The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent.

[Donivanp]

Not ever having been stationed to Europe, I missed seeing it, this is quite excellent and to finally see Terry is quite nice. It would be nice to see several others and follow around the country side. I shall indeed follow this trail with excitement. Thank you for inviting us all along.

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots Terry!

 

[Jeff Hunt]

Excellent travelogue Terry. Quite a talent you have for spinning a yarn.

Cheers,

Jeff

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps, glad you're enjoying the first installment. I'll post more as and when I get 'out and about' in the Tin Tent.

 

[Marcel]

Just saw this, great pictures Terry. I love the British countryside. Haven't visited the UK for far too long.

 

[Airframes]

Well, it's been a year since I posted anything in this thread, so time to add some more underwhelming tales of travel and adventure.
The 'Tin Tent' hadn't been used over the winter, its last outing being to the BoB airshow at Duxford, last September. As it had stood immobile for six months, work began in March to get it ready for this year's airshow 'season', and also to prepare it for the dreaded 'MoT' test, the annual safety inspection.
The bottoms of the passenger door and sliding side door needed new panels, and the sills needed some welding, along with a few minor mechanical problems, and a full service, and the van was ready to roll by the end of April, passing the 'MoT' test, with a comment from the garage stating that it was in very good condition for its age.
The first 'proper' trip was to the American airshow at Duxford, over the past weekend (May 28th and 29th), and I set off on Saturday morning, to meet up with Karl at our usual campsite at Fowlmere, just up the road from DX, where we set up for the weekend, attending the show on the Sunday only, and returning home on Monday, although we were able to watch some of the show's participants as they turned overhead the site, on Saturday.
The campsite is situated opposite what was Fowlmere airfield, still used by light aircraft, and once a satellite station for Duxford, with the Spitfires of 19 Squadron being based there during the BoB, and later the home of the 8th USAAF 339th Fighter Group, with their checker-nosed Mustangs.
The threshold of one of the runways, which used to cut across the road to the village of Fowlmere, is in the field behind the campsite, and there's a very good chance that the site itself was once part of the airfield. I'd been meaning to get some shots of the old village at every visit, but never managed it, so this time, Karl and I took his car into the village before we departed on Monday, and took some photos of the village and the pubs once frequented by RAF and USAAF aircrew and ground personnel.
The pics below show the places that would have been familiar to the RAF and USAAF personnel, during WW2, and the village has changed little since that period, with its thatched cottages, and timber-clad buildings.
The photos from the show will be posted in a separate thread in the warbird shows section.

PIC 1. Setting up our camp at Fowlmere, with the 'Tin Tent' and Karl's 'dog kennel'.
PICS 2 and 3 General shots of the village, taken through the windscreen of the car, on a dull, cold morning.
PIC 4. The village church, quite large and impressive for a small village, and difficult to photograph from the car !
PIC 5. 'The Queen's Head' pub, still with its ancient thatched roof, was used by aircrew, and was the place where Flt.Sgt, George 'Grumpy' Unwin, the BoB ace from 19 Sqn,, took his ground crew every Friday night, against King's Regulations, to buy the a few pints as a 'thank you' for looking after his aircraft.
Karl, Mick and myself visited this pub, which started out as the village bakery, during one of our previous visits, and had a good meal along with a few pints of real ale, and can thoroughly recommend it. We noticed that it's for sale, so I hope it remains as a pub, and doesn't close down and get converted into a house, or restaurant, after so many years
PICS 6 and 7. The other pub still in business in the village is 'The Chequers', used by pilots from the RAF, and later from the 339th FG.
The sign board hanging above the door has the red and white checks of the 339th on one side, and the blue and white checks of 19 Sqn on the other.

I'll post more on the travels of the 'Tin Tent' during its next outing, which should be some time in June.

 

[fubar57]

Beauty Terry. I did a Google Earth Street View walk around of your neighborhood using the address on the parcel you sent me and I believe I saw your camper tucked away

 

[Airframes]

Nice one Geo !
It must have been up-dated, as the last time I looked, my Range Rover was shown, and I haven't had that since 2005 !!!

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

At a loss for words Wojtek?

EDIT: weird, smileys don't show up until I refresh the page even when I post them. Yesterday I used the "Rolleyes/sarcastic" one, came back later...nothing there...hit refresh and a purple smiley shows up instead

 

[Wurger]

Yep. I like the UK scenery. It always makes me sure I should come and see that personally.

 

[Airframes]

Strange -- the pics posted three times !

 

[Wurger]

I have edited that Terry. Just you had to click too many times. No problemo.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks my friend. I clicked to post the pics, and nothing happened, so after about 90 seconds, i did it again.

 

[Wurger]

So this is that reason for. Just your net connection slowed down while uploading pics and before the page was reloaded you had hit the Post Replay again. It was saved by the OS and resent a while later again.

 

[Airframes]

Ah, I understand.
I seem to be having a connection problem at the moment - running slow, and keeps disconnecting from the 'net. I've just had to re-boot and re-connect to the Internet for the third time in 40 minutes !

 

[Wurger]

I see. Have you been talking to your friend who took care of your computer, about changing the WiFi channel?

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots Terry!

 

[ontos]

Great shots Terry and thank you for the tour and narrative.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Hugh and Merv.
Wojtek, I might change to the much faster, and more reliable, optic fibre service from Virgin, as they now have their system installed for my part of the street.