At the start of the Forum’s meeting on the 14th of January we stood for a moment’s silence in memory of member Frank McGuiness and former member Geoff Ward who had both recently passed away.
Our guest speaker was former Wing Commander Alan Mawby whose subject was “RAF Linton-on-Ouse” where he is the honorary curator of the RAF Memorial Room. The establishing of the airfield was bound up with the lead up to the Second World War when in 1937 it was opened as a base for two bomber squadrons to combat the build-up of the Luftwaffe. One of the first station commanders was Air Commodore Arthur Harris who went on to lead Bomber Command.
Alan related the war-time history of the station including the different types of bomber and various people who served at the station. The first raid from Linton was a leaflet drop over Germany but many more destructive raids followed involving many fatalities to both aircrew and those on the ground.
After the war the station was handed over to Fighter Command which saw the first jets to fly locally and in 1957 it became a Flying Training School which it has remained to the present day.
Mike Cook proposed a vote of thanks for a most interesting talk.