Things to do at Biggin Hill?

[Dave Hadfield]

I'll be there in the not too distant future. Does anyone know the name of the WWII pub that's got all the famous fighter signatures on the blackboard?

Other things to see?

Dave

[Zachary]

Does anyone know the name of the WWII pub that's got all the famous fighter signatures on the blackboard?
Dave

The Eagle Pub in Cambridge.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/27b8a04dcb7a

[Mudge]

Does anyone know the name of the WWII pub that's got all the famous fighter signatures on the blackboard?
Dave

The Eagle Pub in Cambridge.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/27b8a04dcb7a

You'll probably have to ask a local how to find it. It ain't easy. Kinda' off an alley and around a couple of corners, but well worth the effort. If you eat there, have the "Steak and Ale pie" with a pint. (Or two.)

The signatures are on the ceiling.

Mudge the gourmand

[Mike]

Wrong pub, Cambridge is a good couple of hours away (the other side of London) and has no blackboard

You're thinking of the White Hart at Brasted. http://www.whitehartbrasted.co.uk/home/

Sadly it has now been refurbished and has, apparently, lost all of its wartime ambience and memorabilia. http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/ ... rt/Brasted

You should visit the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, who have up to 10 Spitfires either flying or under rebuild http://bigginhillheritagehangar.co.uk/

On the airfield, there is also Shipping and Airlines who operate a number of pre-war classics such as a Rearwin Sportster, Travel Air and Civilian Coupe, plus there are also a couple of Proctors and a Vega Gull based on the field, and a PBY under maintenance in one of the hangars.

There's also the RAF Chapel of Remembrance http://www.bbm.org.uk/BHchapel.htm

[Dave Smith]

'Mudge the gourmand' - I love it

Dave, have a look at this. 12 pages to wade through but there are photos of surviving original buildings from the Battle of Britain era and a lot of other info.

http://www.airfieldinformationexchange. ... iggin-Hill

[seagull61785]

This thread got me reminiscing a bit. As a 17 year-old student pilot I had to land at Biggin as a leg of my 'solo long cross country'. This proved to be a lot easier than actually finding it in the first place (the London smog in 1966 sometimes extended well down into Kent). My instructor's advice was quite sound - "Find Bromley Junction and follow the main rail line for a while then head due South. When you see a lot of aeroplanes you will be somewhere near Biggin". (we were quite technically advanced in our navigation procedures back then).

Anyway, I have just looked up Biggin Hill airfield on Google Earth and the image appears to have been taken in the middle of an air-show, which should provide endless hours of amusement with a magnifying glass for the warbird-spotters among us. The reason for this post is the main runway, or at least the eight Hawks performing a streamer landing on it (Red Arrows I presume). So where is number nine? If you look back up the final approach to a close in left base leg, then there appears to be number nine but pointing in quite the wrong direction. Do you think he might have had difficulty finding the airfield too?

I would welcome possible answers/theories from anyone, especially those who are experts/devotees of the Red Arrows.

Cheers

Barry

PS - The White Hart at Brasted back in the early 70's was a great pub. IIRC the BoB signatures were behind glass for their protection. Great ale too!