Tangmere

This year I had the opportunity, not to be missed, of visiting the RAF museum at Tangmere before it closed for the season.   I took it.   I used to fly gliders there when I was a member of the Air Training Corps, and I have fond memories fo the place, so I went to see what they were up to.  The airfield itself has been turned over to growing vegetables, but some of the buildings remain.

I found it to be a fitting tribute to the people who flew and died, and learnt some interesting facts.   I didn't know that the RAF lost nearly 1,000 aircraft and the corresponding number of pilots in the evacuation of France, nor that Douglas Bader ran the training school at Tangmere towards the end of his career.

There was a lot of information about the pilots and the history of Tangmere, with example aircraft and flight sims that you could use.   Everything that you could reasonably hope for or expect in a museum of this kind.

I also noticed an atmosphere, a feel of the place if you like.   It was staffed, as far as I could tell, by ex-pilots and ground crew who were giving their time to help keep the memories alive.  They had "been there, done that", and had nothing to prove.  They were friendly and pleasant and knew their stuff.   I'm glad I went.