The Tempsford Special Duties Squadrons

 
 
Aerial views of Tempsford Airfield in the 1940s
 

Control Tower

  
 

Station Plan

  
 

A DESERTED AIRFIELD

In mists of dawn I lie here still
Abandoned long to nature's will.
My buildings bare, my people gone,
The only sound, the wild bird song.

My mighty birds will rise no more,
No more I hear their engines roar
And nevermore my bosum feels
The pounding of their giant wheels.

The ageless hills from echos cast
Of armadas from the past.
Now stilled in lonely reverie
Their great dark wings sweep silently.

Laughter, sorrow, fear and pain
No more to know these things again.
Emotions that I came to know,
Of those young men so long ago.

Who nows when evening shadows meet,
Are they still here, the phantom fleet.
Do ghostly crews still rise and roam
Above my face that was their home?

Now weeds grow high, obscure the sky;
Remember them as you pass by.
May gratitude with you abide,
For what you have.....is why they died.

Based on a memorial verse at the deserted base of RAF East Kirkby, Licolnshire.
W. Scott (ex air gunner) 630 Squadron.

 


  
 

The Barn stands alone on the deserted airfield, but restored and cared for. Inside, there is a memorial to all those who flew from here to occupied Europe.

Part of one of the old runways, deserted now but some say, that they hear, quite clearly, the sound of engines.

 
 
Part of Barn circa 1942
Barn circa 1950
Barn circa 1980
Barn 2009
 
 
The Barn is constantly monitored for essential maintenance but is, otherwise, kept as a private memorial (courtesy of the landowner) to those who served here. Since its original purpose was to deceive the enemy into believing that it was a simple farm building, it has been, deliberately, kept in that form. The main Tempsford memorial is in St Peter's church, Tempsford.
  
   
   
Sunday, August 16, 2009 9:23  

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