As we were enjoying our six-week visit in Britain, we drove past a hedge near North Weald, in Essex, and I was surprised to see a sailplane being launched by winch rather than aerotow.

I wanted to watch the operation and take closer photos, so we drove the periphery of the hedge and eventually came to a gate -- "No Entrance Beyond This Point, Please."

Isn’t that nice?

"Please," it had written there.

How civilized.

I love English signs. In the US, our sign would have read "KEEP OUT!!!" -- with the implied, "OR I WILL KILL YOU!"

An English sign is not a threat of bodily harm but is rather a polite suggestion or perhaps a casual recommendation that the reader might consider. American signs are commands.

Being Americans, we hardly slowed down as we drove past the sign and through the gate. (If they had wanted me to stay out, why wasn't the gate closed and locked?) We had entered a large, old airbase now closed to the public.

Driving past the "THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY" sign, I stopped at the most obvious building which I assumed correctly to be a security office.

I told them I was an American aviation journalist and I would like to speak with the group flying sailplanes on the south-end of the runway.

I was given directions on how to drive to that area and I spent a couple of hours watching the launches and landings and asking the cooperative glider people questions.

As we were leaving, just before we got to the exit gate, one of the uniformed security people stopped the car and told us to park, get out, and follow him.

We did.

I thought that surely they wouldn’t have been cooperative and direct me to the glider pilots and then punish me for being there.

We walked perhaps 150' to a small building attached to one of the old hangars and the guard unlocked the door to his private museum. (It really was!)

Everywhere were boxes of photographs, documents, flight-logs, and a goodly number of miscellaneous engine parts -- no air-frame parts -- just engine parts.

This fellow was Fred Hitchcock and he had been at North Weald since he had mustered out of the WWII RAF. He had been in the seaplane/maritime service as an observer and he manned a spotlight aboard the seaplane to illuminate German boats in the English Channel and North Sea. Thus illuminated, an RAF fighter-bomber would be dispatched to do away with the boat.

I enjoyed his interesting tales of his part of the war.

Turning back to his favorite subject, his museum, he said that North Weald was in shambles when he came and some of the hangars were being used to house bombed-out civilians.

North Weald was the first WWII RAF base attacked by Germany in their effort to destroy the RAF on the ground -- which they very nearly did. If they had been successful -- a German ground invasion would have been inevitable. It would have been the first invasion of the island in over 800 years.

At the start of the Battle of Britain, Gus Holden was Adjutant of Squadron 56, all Hawker Hurricanes, at North Weald. He had his pilots issued tents which were set up very near the Hurricanes scattered around the field.

In the first German attack on North Weald, 50 tons of bombs were dropped. The base was badly damaged with a disabled power station and two hangars. The Germans returned that night, guided to their target by the flames still on the field, and they did more damage.

The base commander did not like the performance of some of the ground crew during these attacks and he called a meeting of the support personnel and told them that the fighter pilots were risking their lives trying to intercept the German aircraft and he expected the ground crew to be as dedicated -- then he cheerfully added, "Anyone leaving their post will be personally shot by me." No one doubted him. Just before the next raid, more Hurricanes got off the ground in time.

German bombers had been trying to stop the successful RAF attacks on their bombers and had been bombing both RAF bases and industry.

However, on August 24th, a German bomber strayed from its intended bombing route and dropped bombs over the east and northeast parts of London.

To retaliate for Germany bombing London, the next night the RAF bombed sections of Berlin.

On August 27th, North Weald was bombed again and the base fighter pilots were unhappy that other RAF fighter bases weren't providing air cover for them during these raids.

This unhappiness became very vocal with squadron leaders saying that they had gone to other bases for their defense but that base's fighters were not coming to their defense, etc.

This, they settled without "instruction" from the War Office.

On August 30th, North Weald was going to be attacked again, but this time Duxford's famed Squadron 242, led by Douglas Bader, scrambled and caught the German formations before they quite reached North Weald and basically chewed up the bombers and their escorts. North Weald received no hits.

By September 2nd, it was going badly for all the RAF because the Germans started bombing several bases at one time with smaller formations.  This over-loaded the radar ground controllers and fewer fighter were available to defend each attacked base, consequently, more bases were receiving more damage. But the German navigation error in bombing London citizens and the subsequent RAF retaliation had infuriated Hitler and on September 5th, he ordered more attacks on the cities.

This change in bombing priorities possibly saved Britain by permitting the RAF to recover, and in time, kept Germany from controlling British airspace. This precluded a land invasion of Britain. (With exception of the Channel Islands.)

Right after Fred came to North Weald, he had gone through the hangars, ready rooms, briefing rooms, map rooms, and the whole place, salvaging documents and the like from the floors, desks, and file cabinets and started storing them in "his" museum.

He showed us the dents in the doors from German strafing attacks and where bomb damage had been repaired. Fred was a "museum archive" himself.

He said that he wanted to show us Americans his museum because this was the base where the American Eagle Squadron was stationed.

At the start of WWII in Europe, and before the US entered the war, over 15,000 Americans joined the RAF or the Canadian RAF -- most being assimilated into RAF or RCAF units. However, an exception was the Eagle Squadron which was actually three squadrons of exclusively American pilots.  They primarily flew Hurricanes.  They entered combat in February, 1941. This was nearly a year before the US declared war.

These young American adventurers were raised in some of the finest homes in America, and most grew up reading the tales of the Americans in the WWI Escadrille Lafayette.   Now, in early 1941, they wanted to come to the aid of a small island and help defend a desperate nation in a desperate time. These squadrons fought until late-September 1942, when they were incorporated into US fighter units.

Fred gave me the photo seen here showing one of the American Hurricane pilots taking off from North Weald on one of many attempts to get to the German attacking planes before they could do  damage.

It was to the Hurricane pilot's good fortune that they could engage the enemy at their choice of air-sector. And their most fierce opposition, the German fighters, had but 20 minutes of fuel over Britain. Again, good tactics (and radar) and the recoverability of a downed pilot worked to Britain’s defensive advantage.

The "US-Z" on the Hurricane's side indicates the squadron. The clumsy markings on the fuselage is surprising. It covers part of the registration number, and roundel, and the letters are out of proportion to everything.  Very sloppy this is.   I have looked very closely at this photo and a few other similar ones and I do not think it has been retouched or letters added.

Fred said that if he lived another 10 years, all the paperwork would be sorted, classified, logged, filed, and with references placed in his master catalog. On his death, the old security guys would give the keys to the building and his catalog to "a higher authority."

Fred has now died and I am sure his keys and catalog were passed on.

Today, North Weald is a functioning airport again with a very good museum. They boast of "an extensive collection of photographs and documents."

Fred was a nice man and continued to contribute in his own, quiet way, and without any hope or apparent desire for recognition -- other than his obvious pleasure showing selected, interested, (and privileged) visitors his museum.

I hope Fred has passed on to "a higher authority," as well.

Ken Cashion