“From Stringbags to Spitfires!”

A car tour around four sites associated with Castle Bromwich airfield, North Birmingham looking at its history telling the story of the development of military and civil aviation from 1910 to 1950.  Today mostly associated with the building and development of Spitfires in WW2 there is a whole, almost unknown, Great War and interwar years history here, one of the first RFC training airfields for pilots.  We’ll visit three local cemeteries to hear the stories of casualties killed flying there, many of whom had previous front line Army experience.

Hear the stories of training American aviators in WW1, the interwar years of 605 County of Warwick Squadron RAFVR, the development of civilian flying and the famous WW2 years of building 12,000 Spitfires and test flying each one (plus 300 Lancasters) by Alex Henshaw and his team.

Finish mid afternoon for a convivial late lunch!

Accommodation available in nearby Lichfield if stop over required.  A joint meeting with GBG, The Battlefields Trust and Birmingham branch WFA.  Led by Guides Chris John and Anthony Rich, contact Chris on cejb75@gmail.com to register an interest.