They were indeed happy days. I had never cycled so much as I did in 1972 and I spent two weeks Youth Hostelling around the South and East of England that summer. I packed that booklet along with about 10 1" maps. There must have been a change of clothes but I don't recall them!
Top Deck Shandy, Harvest Individual Fruit Pies and Spam - Luxury
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
The booklet described was indeed published by the Merseyside Aviation Society. I've known the compiler, Phil Butler, since the early 1960s. I happened to meet him last Saturday at the Scale Model World event at Telford. Phil's definitely a pioneer and still going strong with his researches.
Whilst researching Brackley bombing range, which was Croughton before it was developed into a proper airfield, I noticed that Hinton-in-the-Hedges is now referred to as Brackley although mostly in brackets. I assume this is a modern secondary name and was not used in wartime as that would have been odd. Unless my references are wrong and Croughton wasn't originally Brackley!!!
With perpetuated errors in books and articles and errors made in contemporary official documents it is getting difficult to know which is correct. The many contemporary variations of Ynys Gwylan Bach is a case in point. Still it enabled me to remove three ranges from my lists
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
Understood that Preston Capes was the nearest Bombing Range to Croughton.
Told that Croughton which changed first to Brackley and then back to Croughton had been bombed when they were instructed to keep their grass runway flare lights lite during 40/41.
There were also airfields at Turweston and Hinton the Hedges which were some times referred to as Brackley but only Croughton had the official name.
Must have been about 20 years ago that Graham Smith released his book on Northamptonshire Airfields ?
If I've recalled it correctly there were only four bombing ranges listed for the county ~ would it assist if I looked it out and copied you on the names ~ I can only recall Preston Capes.
I was curious which names were used in the book as many secondary sources seem to use names for ranges that don't appear in official records. Most appear to be the names used by the local population and perpetuated by researchers when they interviewed them. Some ORBs don't use official names but it nearly all these cases they quoted the name of the airfield controlling the range.
PILTON is the official name for the range adjacent to Bearshanks Wood and I have often seen both quoted as separate locations. Also Wadenhoe has also been used as a name for the same range.
ALDERTON is the official name for Shutlanger
PRESTON CAPES is the correct name.
All these were located using wartime grid references originally but backed up with wartime aerial photographs.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
Fradley for RAF Lichfield - simply because it's at the village of that name.
I always thought 'official' naming policy was for the airfield to be named after the nearest Post Office unless there could be 'confusion' with the name of another airfield eg 'Fradley' might be confused with 'Madley'.
Course the USAAF came along and cocked up that idea!
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