The Wartime Memories Project - RAF Marston Moor, Tockwith

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Information. RAF Marston Moor is situated at Tockwith, midway between Harrogate and York, taking its name from the nearby historical battlefield. The Airfield opened in November 1941 as a heavy bomber training school for 4 Group Bomber Command. It was home to 1652 HCU. Today much of the site remains, the main technical site is now an industrial estate, six T2 hangars remain and are in use, along with several other original buildings. The control tower is the offices of a driving school which uses the runways as a training ground, so continuing a long standing tradition of learning, though closer to the ground than the previous pupils. Squadrons stationed at Marston Moor. 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit The Wartime Memories Project would like to hear from anyone who was stationed at Marston Moor during the war years. We would love to hear your recollections of life on the base, flying and the surrounding area. Please contact us: Click to send an email. or Click here to complete the online form. I did not join the RAF until 1947 as a National Serviceman, but lived throughout the 1939-45 war in the village of Tockwith. This is the village next to RAF Marston Moor. I remember the airfield being made - the first of the personnel coming and the first Halifax Bomber being delivered to the airfield. I have many memories of that period. One Air Traffic Controller from Hull called Needler helped with our Boy Scout Group. A large number of crashes occurred in the area and one Halifax Bomber took the top off the vicarage. On member of the RAF Regiment used to eat at our house but he got posted almost overnight, as he shot a horse through his billet window. My mother was cleaning the front of our house when she was asked by a Sergeant, who was from Canada, if she could do a bit of washing for him - he would let her have some soap powder. She agreed and the next day he delivered a tightly packed kit bag with dirty clothes. She never expected so much but felt sorry for him and had it ready for him, laundered amd ironed, in a few days. He was aircrew but he left to go on operations and we never saw him again. I, and my late mother, often wonder if he survived the war. Many more happy memories. Russ Rennie at Queens, Kingston                Keith Shoubridge (front) Sgt Don Duffy            Taffy Venn (top left), Russ Rennie (center front) Taffy Venn (left), Russ Rennie (right) Stan and Nell Cox and son, taken by me at their home in Bradford. I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba where I enlisted as a Radar Technician in the RCAF. Upon arrival in the U.K. in 1942 I was attached to the RAF and in 1943, following a year on an RAF station in Scotland, I was posted to RAF Marston Moor where I spent the rest of the war. There was one other Canadian in the Radar Section at Marston. He was Sgt. Donald I. Duffy. from Hamilton, Ontario. I am now 85 years of age and living in White Rock, British Columbia. My memory is not what it used to be so I have forgotten the names of most of the RAF chaps who served with me in the Radar Section. Perhaps someone will recognize some of them and fill in the blanks for me. Russell Grant Rennie. Photographs Photos by Noel J Ryan. Old Airfields If you have any Photographs you would like to share please get in touch. List of those who served at RAF Marston Moor during WW2 Jack Arnold W/op 1652 HCU Read his story Jack D Bainbridge. Flt eng. Read his story Leonard Cheshire VC, DSO, DFC. Station Commander Read his story Ken Davies, pilot. 1652 HCU Sgt. Donald I. Duffy. Radar Section. Read his Story Sergeant George Albert Everson. gunner. 1652 HCU Sqn. Ldr. "Steamer" Gargill Sgt J Gordon. flt eng. 1652 HCU Read his story Eric Grimswade. rear gunner 1652 HCU Sgt Arthur Hulyer. bomb aimer 1652 HCU Read his story Earnest Maddison. Flt eng. 1652 HCU "Mugsie" Mathews. mid upper gunner 1652 HCU Victor "Ginge" Moulder. mid upper gunner 1652 HCU Read his story Sgt Mundy. bomb aimer. 1652 HCU. Read his story Eric E J "Spike" Newman, rear gunner. 1652 HCU Read his story Cpl Russell Grant Rennie. Radar Section. Read his Story WAAF Jean Salt Keith Shoubridge. Radar Section. Read his Story Flt Sgt Neville C M Skinner. nav. RAAF 1652 HCU Read his story Ray Stoy Sgt Harry Thomas. Flt Eng. Bill Turner. pilot 1652 HCU Read his story Taffy Venn. Radar Section. Read his Story George Westmoreland. nav. 1652 HCU Charlie "Ginger" Woodward. W/op 1652 HCU If you have any names to add to this list, or any recollections or photos of those listed, please get in touch. If you have a story which you would like to share, or a website dedicated to an airfield or aircrew, please get in touch. Send an E-mail to The Wartime Memories Project Links Airfields Index The Wartime Memories Project is a non profit organisation. 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