News - Battle of Britain monument to be built in Doncaster

A monument to commemorate air crew from Yorkshire who took part in the Battle of Britain is to be built in Doncaster.

Organised by the Battle of Britain Historical Society, it will be based at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum - the former site of WWII RAF Doncaster.

It is the second of five such memorials planned for sites across Britain, with one already in London.

The society said it would feature the names of all 105 Yorkshire air crew who flew in the battle.

Bill Bond, society founder, said: "The fact there were 105 Yorkshire men who flew in the Battle of Britain is an amazing number for one county.

"No other county in the UK had anywhere near that number."

The town has strong links to the battle, with 616 Squadron being based at RAF Doncaster during part of the conflict.

'Bows and arrows'

Mr Bond said a fundraising campaign was now under way to raise the £600,000 needed for the monument, with building work hopefully starting in the new year.

He said building the monument would help educate children on the battle.

"We did a survey and found that 90% of children did not know about the Battle of Britain," he said.

"A lot of them thought it was fought with bows and arrows.

"Had the Battle of Britain been lost, we would have lost the war and those children would probably not be here today."

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-17421177

NEWS – RAF Worksop Website wants memories of base

70 years ago this summer the Air Ministry began the construction of a new bomber base in north Nottinghamshire, called RAF Worksop.  A new website has been set up to commemorate the life and times of this base and to remember the personnel and aircraft that served there.

 

The airfield opened in March 1943 as an outstation to RAF Finningley to look after the 18 (Polish) Operational Training Unit until they left in 1945.  After this the base was used by various small units before the base was used by the 6^th Royal Tank Regiment in 1948.  The Korean war and the need to train aircrews on fighters saved the airbase and 211 Advanced Flying School moved in during 1952 with Gloster Meteors.  The base was also home to 616 RAuxAF squadron until 1957.  211 AFS was absorbed into 4 Flight Training School in 1956 gaining De Havilland Vampires. 

 

David Cook who created the website said “There seems to have been very little written about the airbase and people are constantly asking questions on what happened there, I thought I’d try to compile its history in memorial for all those that served in the RAF.” He also added that “It’s a shame there’s no memorial to the airbase – if you walk past it now you wouldn’t even realise one existed, a lot of foreign aircrews trained at the base including those from Poland, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa”.

 

He also wants peoples written accounts of their time at Worksop “I'm trying to get hold of ex-pupils, trainers and staff who were on the base in order to compile a complete history and to help people share their reminisces”.

 

The base eventually closed in 1960 and saw several uses until it reverted to arable land during the early 21^st century.

 

If you have any information please e-mail them at rafworksop@ymail.com follow them on Twitter at @RAFWorksop. The website is at http://www.rafworksop.btck.co.uk/