Living in Coningsby and working in Woodhall Spa I pass Thorpe Camp every morning and marvel at the good work going on the Lightning and Bloodhound restorations, It has been a few years since i had a good look round the Visitor Centre.
XM192 / K / 111Sqn / Lightning T1A
A customer of ours at Just Desserts that used to visit us every Sunday was Dennis Burt and his wife,He used to talk to me about the reproduction of a Avro Lancaster forward fuselage that he was working on. Sadly Dennis passed away this year so I went to check out his project, I am impressed to see his work is to be finished with the fitting out as an on going project.
The first building I visited was dedicated to the Air Training Corps, Displayed in the building was a Training aid built between 1942/43 to teach cadets the principles of flying a Spitfire,This was built by Engineer Geoff Parker for use by Holbeach and Spalding 1406 ATC Sqn.
The next building was the Dining Hall and section A covered the History of RAF Woodhall Spa from operations in WW II, With it’s Lancaster and Mosquito Squadrons up to it’s use as a Bloodhound Base. Section B covers Civilian life in War time Lincolnshire,Section C houses the NAFFI and Souvenir Shop and POW exhibition. Section D has the Radio Shack.
Building 11 has the Theme “Their Past – Your Future”, This building has the workshops which had the Replica Tiger Moth wings under construction, also on display is a Replica Fairchild Argus and the Arrester Gear that was fitted at the War time base,
Building 13 Houses the Replica Mew Gull G-AEXF and the Replica Tiger Moth Fuselage,There is a WW II Polish Squadron display
Stored outside there is another Bloodhound and the Cockpit section of Callair A-9 G-TDFS.
A Museum that has something for everyone and well worth a visit.