Aircraft Archeology – Cambridge Military History

361st Fighter Group Wall Art Preserved at RAF Molesworth

The Eighth Wall Art Conservation Society was an active group in Cambridgeshire in the 1980s. The EWACS, as they styled themselves, saved many works of art from the Second World War from derelict buildings on abandoned airfields. They preserved these works for us today, and while some are available to be viewed by the public, others have been hidden away and forgotten.

At the Bottisham Airfield Museum, one can view a mural of the RMS Queen Mary which was saved by EWACS in the 1980s. The men of the 361^st Fighter Group sailed on the Queen Mary from the United States to England in 1943 and one of the airmen painted an image of the ship directly on the brick walls of one of the airfield’s buildings. This mural eventually found its way to the museum to be appreciated by all.

Originally prepared in 1940 as a satellite of RAF Waterbeach, RAF Bottisham was at first a grass relief field for the Cambridge based de Havilland Tiger Moths of No.22 Elementary Flying Training School. As the war went on, several other RAF aircraft would fly from the field which gradually grew and expanded. In 1943, Bottisham was turned over to the U.S. Army Air Forces’ 361^st Fighter Group. The 361^st Fighter Group’s squadrons first flew the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt but transitioned to the North American P-51 Mustang in May 1944. The fighters from the 361^st Fighter Group, recognizable with their yellow painted engine cowlings, escorted the bombers of the 8^th Air Force to their targets in occupied Europe, including the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 303^rd Bomb Group based at RAF Molesworth.

This may seem a winding thread: the EWACS, RAF Bottisham, the 361^st Fighter Group, and RAF Molesworth – but in the March 1983, the EWACS volunteers, supported by U.S. airmen stationed in the area, rescued several paintings from the old enlisted men’s club at RAF Bottisham before the building’s demolition. At the time, the Bottisham Airfield Museum did not exist and these volunteer conservators sought out a home for this saved art and turned to a growing U.S. Air Force base in the area: RAF Molesworth.

At Molesworth, in a small break room, the EWACS installed three saved pieces of wall art from RAF Bottisham: a mural of a B-17 with a Messerschmitt Bf-109 diving in pursuit, two glasses of wine coming together in a cheer, and a slogan painted in cursive. The slogan, painted across the bricks reads: “Here’s a toast to those who love the vastness of the sky.” Sadly, these murals can only be seen regularly by the men and women stationed at RAF Molesworth as part of the U.S. Visiting Forces and are not regularly available to the public.

One of EWACS saved wall paintings ended up at the Imperial War Museum branch at RAF Duxford in Cambridgeshire. At Duxford, the wall mural “Poddington Big Picture” is displayed in Hangar No. 3, it displays a expertly detailed B-17 from the 92^nd Bomb Group which flew from RAF Podington in Bedfordshire. One of the few signed pieces of wall art, we know the “Poddington Big Picture” was painted by George C. Waldschmidt. A few additional saved murals were shipped to the 8^th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, USA. Others are dispersed in museums and displayed throughout East Anglia.

While it is a pity that these beautiful murals at RAF Molesworth are not available for the public to view, we are thankful for the volunteers of the EWACS who worked to save and conserve these beautiful pieces of Cambridgeshire’s aviation history almost forty years ago. In 1983, Dick Nimmo, Bill Espie, and Brian Cook, all volunteers with EWACS removed and brought these works of art to RAF Molesworth before the derelict enlisted club at RAF Bottisham was demolished. We owe them a debt.

To read more about wall art from the Second World War: https://heritagecalling.com/2019/05/17/war-art-military-and-civilian-murals-from-the-second-world-war/

The Guardian published an article in May 2014 regarding USAAF art from the war with some excellent pictures: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/may/17/art-usa

The Airfield Museum at RAF Bottisham houses the mural of the Queen Mary and many other fascinating items, for more information about the museum: https://www.bottishamairfieldmuseum.org.uk/

To learn more about the USAAF at RAF Bottisham during the Second World War, visit: https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/place/bottisham

For more information on RAF Molesworth, visit: https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/place/molesworth

For more information on RAF Waterbeach’s museum, which is certainly worth a visit: http://www.waterbeachmilitarymuseum.org.uk/index.html

For the murals at the 8^th Air Force Museum in Louisiana, a few photos are available at their website: https://8afmuseum.com/

UPDATE: Aircraft Archeology: Mosquito Crash Site in the Dutch Countryside

A few years ago, I wrote about the night of 27 April 1944, when an RAF Mosquito, P for Pete, was shot down along the Dutch-German border: you can read my original posting here. P for Pete was flown by Flight Sergeant Royston John Edward Adey with Flight Sergeant K. J. Pinnell as his navigator and co-pilot. The De Havilland Mosquito, a high-speed, two-engine, multi-role aircraft, mainly made of wood, was an exceptional aircraft during the war. During this evening, it was making a low-altitude, intruder bombing and strafing mission on Vliegbasis Twenthe (Dutch: Twente Airbase), a German fighter base in the eastern occupied Netherlands.

Both Flight Sergeant Adey and Flight Sergeant Pinnell were killed when their airplane crashed in the Haagse Bos (Dutch: Haagse Woods). After the crash, local Dutch farmers removed their bodies and they were both buried in a corner of the Enschede cemetery nearby, the Oosterbegraafplaats Enschede. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) maintains the two men’s graves in a quiet corner of the cemetery. As I wrote a few years ago, Flight Sergeant R. J. E. Adey was 21 years old at the time of his death. His parents were Ronald John Edward Adey and Edith Rose Mary Adey, still living in their family home at Winshill, Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire. In Winshill, at St. Mark’s Parish Church there are two memorials marking the names of men from the village who fell in the First and Second World Wars, Flight Sergeant Adey’s name is honoured there.

Recently, I received an email from a family member of Flight Sergeant Adey, Lt Colonel Mike Southworth, whose mother was Rosemary Adey, Flight Sergeant Adey’s sister. Colonel Southworth had several items relating to the loss of Flight Sergeant Adey during 1944, and kindly provided those important documents to be posted here in his memory. A special thanks to Colonel Southworth and his niece Claire for letting me share these precious items with you.

Aircraft Archeology: Mosquito Crash Site in the Dutch Countryside

During the night of 27 April 1944 a de Havilland Mosquito night attack fighter from 613 Squadron was airborne for a raid on the German fighter airfield at Vliegbasis Twenthe (Dutch: Twente Airbase) in the eastern border area of the Netherlands. The Mosquito was on an intruder mission, a low-altitude strafing/bombing run on a fighter base in the darkness. Coming in low and from the east the Mosquito was only two kilometres from the Luftwaffe base when (according to local accounts) search lights were switched on and anti-aircraft fire began, blinding Flight Sergeant R. J. E. Adey and his co-pilot K. J. Pinnell, who were brought down into the trees in the Haagse Bos (Dutch: Haagse Woods), both men dying during the crash.

613_Squadron_Mosquito_FB.VI_at_RAF_Lasham_June_1944 — DeHavilland Mosquito FB.VI of RAF 613 Squadron at RAF Lasham, June 1944. This photo was taken two months after the crash in the Haagse Bos. Notice the Recognition or “D-Day” stripes on the aircraft. By Ringwayobserver – Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 on Wikimedia commons.

This area, the Haagse Bos, happens to lie near my in-laws home in Enschede, the Netherlands, and as the years have passed, I have often found myself hiking in the woods. A small wooden marker on the path, near the forest where the Mosquito crashed on 27 April 1994 is there to remind us of the sacrifice by these two men on a night-time raid in a almost completely wooden, high speed, light bomber. I felt compelled to learn more about the crash. I wanted to find the spot where the plane went down, aware that very little of the aircraft would remain, since the de Havilland Mosquito was designed for speed and was mostly a wooden construction bomber built around a metal frame.

I’ve oriented the below photographs onto the aerial photo from the late 1940s mentioned. #3 is the location of the Mosquito crash site. The photograph is oriented with North at the top of the photo, the Vliegbasis Twenthe is 2 km WSW of the crash site.

Aircraft archaeology efforts paid off quickly, as the sacrifice of the two British fliers who crashed here in 1944 were quietly honoured at the time and have been respectfully remembered by the citizens of the Dutch city of Enschede since. An aerial photograph from the late 1940s identified the crash site, approximately 150 meters from a small wooden marker that records the crash. From there, using the overhead photo and a picture from the 1980s which shows scarring in the trees from the Mosquitoes’ crash, I could vector in on the site. It was during these exploratory efforts that we discovered a fresh bouquet of flowers last April, on a cold afternoon, lying next to the wooden marker near the site. The flowers were a moving, quiet act of gratitude to the two men who flew the aircraft from an anonymous person, left 71 years after their death.

This aerial photograph shows the area from above, taken in the late 1940s, and is the one which allowed me to locate the site. At the time, the scaring in the trees from the Mosquito’s impact and fire was still visible. (Remarkably, in the early 1980s, scarring in the trees was also mentioned in a local Dutch newspaper with an accompanying photograph, but by 2015 to 2016 I could not discern any noticeable change, most likely since some timbering took place in the area after the 1980s story). The photos I’ve taken with my camera are numbered, with the number corresponding to a place on the aerial picture where I stood taking the photo. The v-shaped arrow shows the direction of the photograph, to help orient the ground images to the overhead photo. The location of the plane’s final position is a close approximation, since debris was likely spread as the plane hit the trees at high speed, but this final photo is the location of the wreck and visible damage to the woods from 70 years ago.

February 2015 incl trip to Holland 096 — Picture #1, looking north into the Haagse Bos, south of the crash site. © Brandon Wilgus, 2016.

February 2015 incl trip to Holland 043 — Photo #2, the crash site is ahead. The wooden marker honoring the two lost aviators I mentioned is in the foreground. © Brandon Wilgus, 2016.

February 2015 incl trip to Holland 065 — Picture #3, the crash site. Due to the Mosquitos’ almost all wood construction, little of the aircraft remains. © Brandon Wilgus, 2016.

February 2015 incl trip to Holland 069 — Picture #4, the path into the Haagse Bos. © Brandon Wilgus, 2016.

A few kilometres east of the crash site is Vliegbasis Twenthe, which the Royal Netherlands Air Force maintains as a fighter divert airfield. During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe used the airfield as a Messerschmitt BF 109 fighter airfield: the target of the Mosquito’s low altitude night-time raid. Maintained and used by the Dutch Air Force since World War II, there are several anti-aircraft hardstands, pill boxes, and firing positions from the time it was used by the Luftwaffe which still survive.

February 2015 incl trip to Holland 164 — On the roof of one of the WWII era Luftwaffe pillboxes at Vliegbasis Twenthe is an extremely well preserved anti-aircraft gun. I am unable to identify this weapon besides seeing that it is a light anti-aircraft gun on a rail mount system. © Brandon Wilgus, 2016.

February 2015 incl trip to Holland 150 — A Luftwaffe pillbox from the Second World War on Vliegbasis Twenthe, © Brandon Wilgus 2016.

February 2015 incl trip to Holland 154 — The Inside of the bunker, the excellent state of preservation is likely due to the pillboxes still residing on the Royal Netherlands Air Force Base, Vliegbasis Twenthe, with little public access. © Brandon Wilgus, 2016.

Adey

Flight Sergeant Adey’s gravestone. Thanks to http://www.vliegtuigongevallen.nl.

After the plane crashed, locals removed their bodies which were later identified and interred in a local cemetery. Flight Sergeant Royston John Edward Adey was 21 years old at the time of his death. His parents were Ronald John Edward Adey and Edith Rose Mary Adey, still living in their family home, Winshill, Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire. In St. Mark’s Parish Church in Winshill there are two boards marking the names of men from the village who fell in the First and Second World Wars, Flight Sergeant Adey’s name is memorialized there. His final resting place lies under a Commonwealth War Graves Commission marker in the Oosterbegraafplaats Enschede, the Netherlands.

Pinnell

Flight Sergeant Pinnell’s gravestone. Thanks to http://www.vliegtuigongevallen.nl.

Flight Sergeant Kenneth John Pinnnell was 22 years old at the time of his death. His parents, Daniel John Pinnell and Mary Pinnell survived him. Flight Sergeant Pinnell was from Coventry. His grave is also in the Oosterbegraafplaats Enschede cemetery, the Netherlands. He and Flight Sergeant Adey rest a few meters away from one another. Quietly, restfully, these two brave aviators lie in a small corner of a foreign field and I’m reminded of the poet Rupert Brooke, who died on a hospital ship in the Mediterranean in 1915 wrote:

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Several very helpful Dutch webpages assisted me in this blog post and aircraft archaeology effort: http://www.luchtoorlogboventwente.nl/440427RAF.php, and http://www.secondworldwar.nl/enschede/luchtoorlog-vliegveld-twente.php#.Voe7-VgrHIU, thanks. – Brandon.