Military History Tours          On Tour - Bomber Command (RAAF in the UK) 18 July 2013

We left York at 0800 this morning as we needed to visit Holme-upon-Spalding-Moor as when coming north we ran out of time to visit on that day. We always visit here as Joe Rotherham, the owner of the showroom where there are photographs of the squadrons who served here, allows us free reign within his showroom to view all that he has saved. A must for those following the squadrons who served here during the War.

We gave our farewells to Joe and continued south on our way to Cosford where we had an appointment at RAF Cosford to be taken through the Conservation Centre. However there is a wonderful Memorial Garden at RAF Snaith where 150 Squadron and 51 Squadron operated from during the War. The Garden is attended to by Mike and Isabel and it is a marvel to see. They are so dedicated that they go to the garden every second day to water and ensure things are surviving, the men named at the site would be proud to be remembered in such a fashion.

We would have liked to stay longer but we still had some way to go so we headed south again towards Cosford.

We arrived and were met by our two (2) guides who escorted us firstly to the Conservation Centre where we were shown the Dornier 17, that has recently been recovered from the sea and the other planes that are being rebuilt, namely a Wellington and a Hampden. The work done by the 2nd year apprentice, Beth, is slow and thorough and she has freed up bearings and chains that were previously corroded and immobile. RAF Cosford has an excellent programme for apprentices and is in the top 10 trainers of apprentices in the UK year after year. We saw the benefit of the scheme in the work Beth was doing.

  

After the Conservation Centre visit, we were split into 2 smaller groups and with a guide each we were taken through the various parts of the Collection. The guide in these photos was in one group, Frank was a wealth of information, easy to understand and spoke loud enough so that we all could hear his words. We learnt many snippets associated with the Collection and he was impressed with the general knowledge of our group and the questions that we asked. An excellent visit to a wonderful Museum.

A long day and we then needed to have a rewarding drink at our hotel.

We arrived and were ushered through a seamless check-in procedure by the two (2) girls on duty, Laura and Lila. All our group then dumped their bags in their rooms and proceeded to the bar for a well deserved refreshment.

Tomorrow we head further south and hope that the weather allows some special activities.