WWII airfield

[Guest]

Baldoon

:knight:

Sorry mate i can find a baladoo can you give me a lat and long or if it was called by any other name

After going to all the trouble of registering to answer this enquiry I have since noted that the answer was given by someone else. All I can do is confirm that Baldoon was the name of a farm on which RAF Wigtown was built in 1940-41. My father, a Canadina in the RAF, was a staff pilot, flight commander and later, a Navigations Instructor at the station. My mother, a veteran of RAF Biggin Hill and the Battle of Britain, was commissioned and became the first WAAF officer at the station in 1941 as the Cipher Officer reporting directly to the station commanding officer. My father was the first young man she met on arrival and they lived together happily for the next 63 years. At twenty-two, married, alone and pregnant (my father had been transferred to Harrogate), my mother resigned her commission as WAAF senior officer in charge of a 250 female compliment after almost three years in the military. My older brother and I were born in Harrogate where my father was stationed until sent back to Canada in June 1944. We joined him in March 1945 when I was 5 months old.

RAF Wigtown's role in WWII was simple. It was the training ground for some new navigators and radio operators and also an aclimatization stop for others who had trained in Canada, but who were not familiar to flying with no landmarks being lit up at night, something that could not be cut out in Canada where war was not a local condition. Navigators had to learn to fly by instruments at night and this was the only way to make sure they had learned their lesson properly.

I hope that answers your questions a little better.

[Guest]

Thanks for taking the time to join us anyway and share your knowledge. Feel free to come and have a chat at any time you want. Anyone with such an interesting past will always have something of benefit to pass on to the members here.

[Guest]

Oh I kno I live in hunsdon... I believe it was a main base from which Mosquitos were operated out from... Canadian ace Russ bannock was based there for operation jericho