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A Story of Wimpole Hall
by Wit Hill
About Wimpole Hall.
It is a grand old estate and is now under the National Trust that
looks after historical buildings etc. Tourists are invited and is
really worth seeing. To accommodate the tourists they even have
a little tea-room.
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I am not too sure, but if you go to the
91st Web site, you may be able to bring up photographs of
our memorials. The one for the 323 Bomb Squadron has a diagram
showing the estate and where we parked the 323rd B-17s, and
the names of the first nine aircraft of the 323rd Bomb Squadron.
As for Mrs. Bambridge, she was the last
landowner of the estate, and worked to gather up the fine
furniture, etc., that had been in the Hall, but sold here
and there by previous owners. She did a good job.
(Fig 1) See below.
B17 "Nine-O-Nine"
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I guess she was on our side during the war, but
probably put out that the government took part of her property for
a B-17 parking place. On another section of the property there was
established the Arrington USAF Military Hospital. I only saw the
dear lady once or twice, and she was waving a cane and telling me
to get off her property. I do believe, however, that she did invite
some of the officers over for a dinner or tea, but I am not sure.
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I was impressed almost daily as, I went
to work, with the huge giant Elm trees that lined our parking
strip. It was a beautiful set up. The trees ran parallel from
near the house to the Royston/Huntingdon Roads, and pointed
to the Bassingbourn Main Runway that was just across the road.
Pilots coming back off a mission in lousy weather were always
glad when they spotted Wimpole Hall.
The only bad thing about the site there
was no running water, and until we acquired a few glider crates
we had not place to go to get out of the cold, rain and snow.
We did have outdoor privies. One of our
M/Sgt. picked one as his favorite. Unfortunately the one he
picked was not too far from the tail of a parked B-17. The
Sergeant had rather regular habits, and on those days the
plane was "Stood Down" for some reason or other the assistant
crew chief and I would get up in the cockpit and watch for
his arrival. By the time he had gotten his pants down, we
had the engines running.
(Fig 2) See below.
The 'South Avenue'
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The out house door faced the aircraft (I think
it was The Careful Virgin), and we would run the props up and try
to blow it over, and the wind force was so strong he couldn't open
the door. After a few moments we would shut the engines down and
watch for him to come out in a rage. If he went for the tail door,
we would escape out the nose hatch, jump on our bikes and take off.
He never did catch us, and I don't think he even had a clue who
we were.
Hell, one had to create his own amusement in those
days. Eventually we tired of the prank and moved off to something
else, like dropping a loaded 50 calibre cartridge into the potbelly
stove in the glider crate we used for a warmer upper. It was one
sure way to get a place near the stove. The cartridge usually just
went off with a bang as there was no breach or barrel. That stopped
too when one cartridge jammed itself in the fire pit, and did manage
to make a small hole in the fire pit.
And so it went.
Wit Hill
[The above story is the property
of the author and may not be reproduced without the author's consent.
See also www.91stbombgroup.com.]
(Fig 1 above) B-17 "Nine O Nine" in
the snow parked among the 'South Avenue' trees on the Wimpole Estate.
The bomber obtained its name from the last three digits of its serial
number: 42-31909. This aircraft came to Bassingbourn on 24 February
1944 and left the airfield for America on 8 June 1945 having flown
a record 140 missions without turning back for mechanical reasons.
This was a record for the 8th Air Force.
Photograph © The Joseph Harlick Collection
(Fig 2 above) In this long view, the 'South Avenue'
can be seen stretching away from Wimpole Hall at the bottom of the
picture. The service "pads" and Bassingbourn Airbase can
just be glimpsed right at the very top of the picture. This c1950
image is essentially the reverse view of the main aerial photograph
above.
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