Today we visit the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Coton.
It was different to the cemetery at Omaha as it was created on the side of the
hill and the graves are arranged in a semicircle. We visited the information
centre which had moving displays of individual stories. Here there are 8,000+
Americans, military and civilians buried, or whose names are inscribed, their
bodies never recovered. Here are remembered the names of Joe Kennedy and Glen
Miller whose bodies indeed were never recovered. We also went into the chapel.
They are probably busy preparing for D-Day service tomorrow.
Imperial War Museum Duxford was our next stop. It was fantastic. Not only is it the RAF’s 100th celebration
this year, but it is also Duxford airfield’s as well. During WW2 it was home to
5 fighter squadrons. As part of our experience we all had a 20 minute flight in
a Dragon Rapide. Dating back to 1934, and described as art deco, we had a
flight over Cambridge. Because Elizabeth didn’t want to go, I had her flight as
well.
Watching the assistant give the pilot the OK while carrying a fire
extinguisher wasn’t comforting. It was, after all, quite a small fire
extinguisher. The strong smell of fuel did eventually dissipate as did my hope
of landing safely again.
The landings seemed incredibly smooth, I guess that’s what happens when
there is so little weight in the aircraft and it seems that it is held together with largely fencing wire. It was quite interesting without being exhilarating, perhaps I needed
to do the Tiger Moth flight for that to happen.
On terra firma once more, there was lots for us to see. We started
with the Land Warfare hangar and it was bursting to the seams with displays,
guns and armoured vehicles. Highlights for me were the Hetzer, Jagdtiger and Soviet tanks. They had a lot on Field Marshall Montgomery, but I suppose
someone has to.
They have added the American Air Museum hangar and it was quite
impressive.
We visited the Operations Room where they have recorded tape of a German
attack on the airfield, it was very good.
We visited the Air Sea hangar and the Battle of Britain hangars, as
well as quite a good display on the Battle of Britain.
We tried our hand at a simulator which involved us being in a Me-109
German fighter, fighting two Spitfires over the cliffs of Dover. It helped
explain the tactics and the difficulties for each side.
Another hangar had planes being worked on and these ones still fly. We visited another hangar with really big planes. Unfortunately the
Concorde was closed, it was the test plane and you can walk through it. No
seats, just lots of bare wiring apparently.
Finally, we visited Petwood Hall, home to the legendary Dambusters. During the war the officers of 617 Squadron
who carried out the raids were based here. Where they stayed is actually our
hotel. Our room is Wisteria suite and is enormous with lovely views of the gardens.
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