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World War II Memories

We moved into a new house on the outskirts of Norwich in March 1938 and we were opposite a working farm. However within six months the Air Ministry had acquired the land and an aerodrome was being built. All the main area was laid down to grass and then four hangars and other ancillary buildings were added to the site. The airfield was to be called Horsham St. Faiths after the village which abutted the northern boundary.

Early in 1939 we saw the first aircraft to be flown into Horsham and they were Spitfires and part of the Fighter Command wing that was centred on RAF Coltishall. They stayed for about three years and then dispersal areas were added to the field and one was over the hedge right opposite my bedroom (I was to spend many hours at the bedroom window). Once the dispersal areas had been completed then the airfield was taken over by Bomber Command and Blenheims arrived. They were to bomb any activity on the French/Dutch seaboard to thwart any possible German invasion threat to the East Coast.
After the Blenheims had been there for some time the airfield was taken over by the American 8th Airforce and their bulldozers and other earthmoving equipment was quickly on the scene to build two main runways. The runways were excavated to approximately 6 feet and then there was the big concrete pour. This went on day and night until the whole of the runway was completed and then it was covered with straw and watered constantly for a week. These runways are still in first class condition and are now used as the runways for Norwich International Airport.

Once the Americans had completed the building we saw that the new aircraft were to be Thunderbolts and it was while they were at Horsham that one of the aircraft broke through the sound barrier in a dive over Norfolk. The Americans then replaced the Thunderbolts with Liberators and Horsham became a bomber base together with two nearby airfields (Hethel and Weston). The Americans operated out of Horsham for approx 2 Years and it was strange to see their Liberators assembling in the sky over Norfolk following a very brightly coloured polka dot Liberator until they were all in formation then they would turn and fly out over Holland and into Germany. They had many near misses as they were not experienced in night flying and one day they did not take off until after lunch and so they returned after dark. The airfield was illuminated like Blackpool front but unfortunately some M.E 110 aircraft followed them back and several were shot down over Norfolk.

The airfield was then returned to the RAF and Whirlwind fighter bombers were the next aircraft to be stationed there. These aircraft seemed to be the fastest aircraft that we had seen in the skies around Norwich but they did not last very long as the very first Mosquitos were assembled in the hangars and then rolled out onto the dispersal areas. These operated for almost six months before it was announced that we had a new aircraft and it coincided with a raid to Norway when six Mosquitos left and only five returned.

As you can see I was at the age (8 – 15) to appreciate all the comings and goings, visiting crash sites to collect mementos and finding ways to break into the dispersal areas to chat to the ground crews.
During these years schooling had to continue and much of it was spent in Air raid shelters both at school and at home. We combined with two neighbours to build a shelter in the next door garden (he was not a keen gardener and happy to give up some of his garden). The Air raid warning seemed to go off at around 10.p.m and we would then get out of bed and trek down the garden and return to bed about 2.00 or 3.00am. Then during the day the warning would go off again and we would wait for the crash warning before leaving lessons and running to the shelters on the school field. There was one famous occasion when the warning had been on most of the morning and then when we went back to school in the afternoon it went off again. At 3.p.m the Headmaster came and said that anyone who was cycling home could leave as long as they went straight home.
As I was cycling along Cromer Road close to the airfield a Heinkel 111 came through the low cloud base and suddenly there were sparks all over the road together with the rat-tat-tat of the machine gun. I dived under the hedge and then carried on home with my raincoat covered with mud. The only time that I escaped the wrath of mother with a dirty coat!!.

Norwich also was blitzed on three occasions by the Luftwaffe and in particular on the night of the 29th April 1942 our school was set alight and four classrooms were lost. However in the morning we all turned up for school only to find that the Army had been called in to demolish the burned out block. There was a snag as the heavy equipment could not be moved over the playground as there were air raid shelters underneath. The Army then decided that the large gable had to be pulled down so asked for volunteers to pull on the rope - I think the whole school tried to help and the gable was demolished in a flash.

Norwich and Norfolk was always known as the “Novices Run” as we were sure that the Germans used it as a training area as they could fly in over Gt.Yarmouth follow the river to Norwich turn around and then get out before the fighters could be scrambled. At the end of the War during the last six months we were subjected to the V2’s and these were very frightening as no warning could be given of their arrival and usually came at 10.00,12.00, 2,00 and 4.00pm on a daily basis. Again we seemed to be the training area.

I trust these ramblings will be of some use but all the mementos,shrapnel,bullets, bits of aircraft have all long been discarded. I do have a small book “Norwich under Fire” which could be of interest, as it is a pictorial record of most of the raids on the city. If you would like to see it can be sent to you.

Yours truly,

Alan G. Moore
(Now Birmingham chairman from 1.1.05)

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