Bovington or Bovingdon? Help an American!
to...@connect.net
to find a place called Bovington. (My dad was stationed there during the Korean conflict.) I was in
England last May and found an area called Bovingdon (or do I have the two names confused)
where a tank musuem is. Any help would be graetly appreciated!!!
Todd Mixon
to...@connect.net
Tony Leeson
Bovington, between Weymouth and Bournemouth on the South Coast, is where
the tank museum is.
Isn't Korea the other way?:-)
--
Tony Leeson
Graham Wilson
>I am an American and will be travelling to the U.K. towards the end of May, with a buddy. I would like
>to find a place called Bovington. (My dad was stationed there during the Korean conflict.) I was in
>England last May and found an area called Bovingdon (or do I have the two names confused)
>where a tank musuem is. Any help would be graetly appreciated!!!
Bovingdon is a village located in Hertfordshire about 30 miles from
London. Bovingdon was an airfield during the second world war. It is
no longer used as an airforce base even though the 3 runways still
exist. One of the air traffic control beacons ("the stack") is
located on the airfield for aircraft entering Heathrow. The main
runway there is technically an emergency landing strip.
The airfield is currently used by 3 farmers and an open market used to
be run on the airfield (Wendy Fair markets) on a regular basis.
At the start of the 1980s the Home Office purchased part of the
airfield in order to build a prison (It is called "The Mount" prison).
In the 1970s my Father used to run a commercial race track at Hatfield
(Hertfordshire) which had to move when the M25 was built. The race
track moved to the airfield at Bovingdon in the 1970s. He sold it
around 1985. As far as I am aware the track is still running, although
the last time I looked a few years ago, it had certainly gone down
hill.
The other town, as you say, is called Bovington (I believe it is near
Yeovil in Summerset?). Bovington consists of a tank museum. I'm fairly
sure if there is not an airfield at Bovington.
If it helps try and watch a film called "Hanover Street". I remember
as a kid a film crew being allowed onto the airfield in order to turn
it back into a World War II base. They flew the planes used for the
filiming in from all over the world.
That's really all I can tell you about the two places. If you have any
questions about the airfield at Bovingdon then I can try and answer
them for you. If I can't answer them then I can probably point you in
the right direction depending on the type of questions.
Graham
Harry Adams
: I am an American and will be in the U.K. at the end of May,. I would like
: to find a place called Bovington. I was in
: England last May and found an area called Bovingdon ()
: where a tank musuem is. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
: Todd Mixon
: to...@connect.net
:
The RCT Tank Museum is at BOVINGTON - I attended my brothers passing
out parade there - well worth a visit.
If you need help locating Bovington let me know by Email, I'll be
glad to help pinpoint it on a UK O.S. map for you.
All the best
Harry
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Harry Adams Smart Art ha...@s-art.demon.co.uk //
Being a Conservative MP means never having to say you're sorry \X/
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Keith R. Bennett
In article <4k3jcn$h...@dallas1.connect.net>, to...@connect.net (to...@connect.net) writes:
>I am an American and will be travelling to the U.K. towards the end of May, with a buddy. I would like
>to find a place called Bovington. (My dad was stationed there during the Korean conflict.) I was in
>England last May and found an area called Bovingdon (or do I have the two names confused)
I think that I can provide you with two answers here. Bovington
Camp is in Dorset and used to be the home of the Tank Corps. They
do have a Tank Museum on site. Also I have driven a Land Rover
around the tank testing circuit, great fun.
Secondly Bovingdon, near to Hemel Hempstead, in Hertfordshire used
to be a WWII aerodrome. It was used by Liberator bombers. It was
also used by USAF Dakota aircraft. The site was used in the
filming of 633 Squadron.As I recall the Mosquito planes used were
painted with water soluble paint and everytime rain threatened the
planes were hurridly put in the main hangar. It was also used by RAF
trainers as Chipmunks were based there. There is now a prison on
the site. Some of the main, dipped, runway still exists. To my
knowledge when the American service personnel quit the site a lot
of equipment including jeeps and K rations were buried in nearby
woods. (I know 'cause I dug a lot of it up!) I can also recall
watching a C47 doing circuits-and-bumps flight training. At one
time the pilot came in too early and the aircraft's undercart took
a long length of Suffolk fencing with it!
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