Norfolk Airfields - Len Bartram

Hi all

Just to inform everyone we have started reproducing the late Len Bartram’s Norfolk Airfields booklets on RAF airfelds during World War Two, with the kind permission of Mrs Bartram. The booklets are Matlaske, Foulsham, Oulton, North Creake, Bircham Newton, Docking, Langham and 100 Group RAF Bomber Command.

All the booklets are in black and white photocopy and are approximately 32 – 34 pages per booklet. They include hand drawn airfield plans, information on based Squadrons, aircraft crashes and losses and other interesting facts.

Some of the proceeds will be given to local charities. These booklets are a great purchase for anyone who wants more information, Len wrote about items hardly ever seen before by the general public.

We hope this is of interest to everyone, please contact me if I can help further.

ALL THE BEST AVROTWO.

If its not infringing any Forum rules perhaps I can provide some further comments about the late Mr Bartram’s publications. I have no connection with the people now distributing these works but having recently purchases all 7 of them I do think they are a valuable source of information for anyone interested in the airfields of North Norfolk or the history of RAF 100 Group.

The term books is perhaps not the best description for these publications as they are really A5 size booklets or pamphlets. They are not commercial publications in the normal sense and were originally self-published by the late Mr Bartram. What is now on offer are photocopies of the original booklets.

I had seen various references to Len Bartram’s works in threads on AiX and have also noticed them in the bibliography of several mainstream aviation books (particularly those by Martin Bowman). I was keen to obtain copies but as they were never conventionally published I had no luck until I recently found out about the “reprints” via a local village web site in Norfolk.

Each booklet is effectively a collection of personal anecdotes and essays from Mr Bartram and individuals who served at or lived near the airfields during WWII. There are also hand drawn sketch plans of the airfields and some tabular information on based units and aircraft losses. The latter information includes dates, locations and aircraft serial numbers plus, in some cases, information about members of the crew that lost their lives.

Although I had visited most of the airfield and read about all of them I still found gems of information in each little book and I would recommend them to people that want to find out more about the RAF 100 Group and its airfields.

It seems clear to me that these booklets are now being made available as a way of remembering the history of the airfields and the people that served there rather than for financial gain – part of the proceeds is going to local aviation museums including CNAM which is closely associated with the RAF 100 Group Association. As I said initially they are a valuable source of information for anyone interested in the airfields or 100 Group so it might be appropriate to move this thread to the Research Media Forum.

All just my 2p’s worth

avrotwo, good luck with the project. I note the proceeds will be going to charity which is really good to hear too. When they are ready, perhaps you could send me a message as I would like to get them reviewed for our magazine.