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Post by jacobmogg on Jan 12, 2021 17:25:21 GMT
I wonder if any one can help with this, A friend of mine used to live near Watton, and went to the base families days 1966-1969, when he was a school boy, can any one help with the aircraft present (serials etc), also he can remember Noratlas being at the base for para dropping in the nearby battle area. Any help gratefully received.
Thanks
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2021 10:49:05 GMT
Dear Jacob,
My father was based at RAF Watton at the time as a FL/Lt pilot with 115 Squadron, firstly flying Vickers Varsity aircraft and then the AW Argosy. Unless anyone knows better I think that it was an Argosy that was mistaken for a 'Noratlas'. As a schoolboy and later an ATC Cadet I can't ever recall a Noratlas on the base, and I visited quite often, without any security challenge at all. It did get visits from other NATO air forces so perhaps it was just a visitor.
The training area was Stanford Training Area, (STA) and this battle area was used in the filming of many of the episodes of the comedy series Dad's Army. It was another haunt of mine, within a short cycle ride of home in Watton, and as my friend's dad was a shepherd (!) on Stanford Training Area we often used to run all over it collecting shell cases, and if challenged had the story ready to say we were looking for a lost sheep / sheep dog, but we never had to use it! At night STA was often the target of various RF types of Jets that dropped flares that went off with a big bang, audible from home. It was happy days seeing the likes of F-100 and F-84 Thunderstreak of various NATO air forces flying over at fairly low level.
I hope this helps
Larry
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Post by jacobmogg on Jun 4, 2021 9:17:35 GMT
Hi Larry, Thanks for the post, my friend has found some of info he needed from various sources, but every little helps.
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