Military History Tours          On Tour - RAAF in the UK 4 July 2011

This was a very interesting and long day as we headed north from Salisbury to Wolverhampton.

We started early and headed for Leighterton where we visited the village from where the Australian Flying Corps had trained during World War 1. There are 23 of those trainees buried there in the Commonwealth War Graves commission cemetery. This village is way off the beaten track and does not receive many outside visiters. To ensure that these men are never forgotten we visit them each year and conduct a short service in honour of their sacrifice.

At the church, established in 1286, there is a small ANZAC corner with the names of those who died while training displayed in the church.

This is a lovely town that has been established over a mediaeval town and the church was built on the site of an earlier church.

Leaving Leighterton we headed to Aston Down where many Australian flyers served of transhipped through. There are still a number of the original hangers there and we were able to drive around the perimeter road to view the site.

The Cotswold Glidding Club bought the airfield in the 50's and conduct their gliding activities from the site.

The club greeted us and put on a lunch which was excellent. We were able to go onto the airfield to view the gliding acivities in place and one of our number, Reg Collins is an experienced Glidder pilot and he was offered a chance to have a glide, he accepted and had an excellent experience.

We said farewell to the club and pushed on North to Baginton, through the Cotswolds, where the 460 Sqn was operating. We had a stop at the Pub that was the officers' mess during the War.

A late arrival at our hotel where we had dinner before retiring.