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Bovingdon Airfield
Today, two of the orginal three runways still exist but the hangers have been replaced by HM Prison 'The Mount' opened in 1988. Several leisure activities are enjoyed on parts of the airfield, including the Saturday market. Bovingdon village was visited by many famous people during the '40s and '50s, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, son Elliott Roosevelt as well as Captain Clark Gable, Colonel James Stewart, William Holden. In July, 1943, Bob Hope came to Bovingdon to entertain the men and women stationed here. His troupe consisted of singer/actress Frances Langford, guitarist Tony Romano, comedians Jerry Colona and Jack Pepper (a picture exists on the wall of the Green Dragon). Although Glenn Miller was a frequent visitor along with his USAAF Band, his fatal flight was made from Twinwood Farm (Bedford) on the 15th December 1944. Forum
Bill Schneider Regarding the photo from Dick Gassman of him sitting on the tail of a wrecked aircraft, the aircraft was not a Royal Air Force aircraft. G-AKCC was an Avro Tudor 5 that belonged to William Dempster. It crashed in fog on October 26 1951 returning from Castel Benito. I spent many happy days in the 1950s as an ATC cadet visiting Bovingdon to fly with either of the 2 Royal Air Force Squadrons. These were Fighter Command Headquarters Communication squadron and Coastal Command Headquarters Communication Squadron. There were also several civil Operators using Handley Page Hermes and Avro York aircraft. There were often visiting USAF and USN aircraft such as C123s, B26 and R4D-8 aircraft as well as numerous C47s of the resident USAF squadron. Many of the Royal Air Force Officers who flew from Bovingdon were much decorated World war 2 veterans and we considered it a great privilege to fly with them. To my certain knowledge, Prince Phillip flew from there and so did Sir Anthony Eden. One aircraft that flew from Bovingdon survives at Aldershot were it is on display at the Airborne Forces Museum. It is Royal Air Force Dakota KP208 which dropped paratroops at Arnhem in World War 2. Jeremy F. Howard
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