Readers Letter

In December 1945 we were detailed to take cargo from Rivenhall, Essex and fly to an airfield near Hanover, in Germany, in a 4 engined Stirling bomber. I had on board a crew of six, plus a pilot, a navigator and an engineer from Shepherd's Grove, near Bury St. Edmunds, who were learning the ropes regarding the job we were doing. The journey out to Germany was uneventful, we were unloaded and reloaded. As we ran down the runway, gaining flying speed, a very loud explosion was heard. Luckily, I was able to take the aircraft off the ground, I realised we had burst a tyre. I contacted group headquarters in England as to where we should land and we were diverted to Woodbridge, in Suffolk, this was a crash 'drome, used so as not to litter up an operational station.

On arrival over Woodbridge we made contact with control and were told to land on the grass undershoot before the runway, with the wheels up so that the grass would slow the plane up. We began emergency crash procedure, and the crew went to their positions, myself and the co-pilot stayed at the controls and the seven crew members were sitting braced, their backs to the main spar. We jettisoned as much fuel as we could, because of the fire risk, leaving a minimum amount in case of having to overshoot. This was uppermost in our minds as we knew that, should we land on the runway itself, we would undoubtedly cause sparks, which would cause an explosion.

We then commenced our descent. We landed on the grass overshoot beyond the runway and once stopped, we began to evacuate the aircraft. I went to the emergency exit immediately above my head, as did the co-pilot. We walked along the top of the fuselage to where the crew were commencing to exit. They were not happy bunnies as it was ascertained that when we crashed down, the lid of the 'Elsan' (chemical toilet) had come off and scattered the contents over the seven poor crew members. As we had been flying perhaps six hours and with a crew of nine, the Elsan was rather ripe!

I was called all the rotten names under the sun and they were not at all grateful that I had brought them down safely. Once the smell had dissipated I became their bosom pal once more.

Nigel Ogden Concert

The Nigel Ogden Concert was held on 27th July 2007 in Cromer Parish Church to raise funds for Big C the local cancer charity for Norfolk and Waveney. The concert was organised by The Rotary Club of Cromer and Sheringham, raising £750 towards Big C funds.   The cheque presentation took place on 29th August at the New Inn in Roughton to Lesley Cologne the Community Fundraising Manager for Big C. Lesley said "I would like to thank everyone for their fantastic efforts in organising the concert and for choosing to support Big C in the fight against cancer.

It was a pleasure to meet everyone involved in the concert and I thoroughly enjoyed my evening with everyone involved".

If you would like to know more about organising an event for Big C please phone 01603 619900 or visit www.thebigcappeal.co.uk.

COMPETITION CORNER

When is it correct to say, "I is?"