On 31st August 2014, a very special group of people from the UK and Europe arrived at Newchurch to visit the site of the wartime airfield.
Most were relatives of pilots who had served at Newchurch in 1944 and they were joined by a representative from 3(F) Sqn Association and the webmaster of the Hawker Tempest website.
From left to right: James Davy, James Rose, Mrs Jennifer Rose, Joe Moreno and his wife, David Kosh, Maria Kosh, Christer Landberg, Graham Berry and his son ,Mark, Eric and Marilyn Chamberlain.
Mrs Jennifer Rose is the wife of F/Sgt Morris Rose 3(F) SQN RAF. James is his son. They travelled from Scotland. Joe Moreno is a nephew of PO George Edward "Ted" Kosh 3(F) SQN. David Kosh is also a nephew of Ted Kosh and travelled from Switzerland. Graham Berry is the cousin of Sqn Ldr Joe Berry 501 Sqn (FIU) RAF and is also responsible for the original artwork on our ALG website. Christer Landberg, from Sweden, is the webmaster of www.hawkertempest.se a website devoted to everything about the Hawker Tempest which flew from Newchurch. Eric Chamberlain was the standard bearer for the 3SQN Association.
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The group looked around what little was left of the airfield including 3SQN HQ at Oak Farm and swapped stories of their relatives over lunch.
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Some of the group also posed to re-enact a 1944 photograph of 486 NZ SQN pilots at dispersal at Wills Farm.
Text & photos:
http://newchurchvillage.org