Marc H (New Forest Ramble)

Thank you for all that came to the New Forest this evening to hear about PLUTO. We had just shy of 100 people. The local interest in WW2 history is quite something.

I heard it's someone's birthday today.
#spitfire

fantastic, see you soon - :-)

If you enjoy stories like this, I post a few a week on YouTube, under the NewForestRamble handle.

As it's Friday afternoon, here's a little bit of fun New Forest WW2 history I recorded which includes naked pensioners, witches casting a spell on Hitler, and the invasion scare of 1940.

Noor Inayat Khan: The Spy Who Learned to Vanish in Beaulieu YouTube video by NewForestRamble (was Trexplorer)

I made a short film at the weekend. It took hours to plan, film, edit, publish. Things like this will never make me money, but I love the creativity - it makes happy, so hope you enjoy it too. It's about Noor Inayat Khan, SOE agent trained in Beaulieu. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y27...

Battle of Britain Story of James Nicolson & Martyn King (Chat with Dilip Sarkar) YouTube video by NewForestRamble (was Trexplorer)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA4G...

William Eagle was a WW2 fighter ace, but later tragically killed in front of his fiancee whilst flying over the New Forest in his Typhoon.

I am giving a talk at Bournemouth University on Feb 26 if anyone is local to the campus.

Here's a batch of metal runway tracking that once held the weight of 200 departures of American P-47 Thunderbolts on D-Day from the New Forest. Unfortunately not enough to build a new Advanced Landing Ground but there is an interesting plan for it. #ww2 #d-day

The grave of Martyn King this evening. He was shot down over Southampton. The youngest Battle of Britain pilot killed in action, aged just 18.

www.ticketsource.co.uk/nfhwa/t-njoa...

Trained in Beaulieu, Executed in Dachau.

Was on the site of a Canadian D-Day camp in the New Forest this morning, and spotted this picket screw. Would have been used to fence the barbed wire and keep the men in camp... it's been left between two limbs, and 82 years later is now part of the tree.

It Started With a Telegram No Parent Wanted to Receive YouTube video by Trexplorer

I made a film this week if anyone cares to watch, or has a spare 5 mins, thank you. It's about WW2 Canadian airmen lost over the Forest and the letters parents would receive. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn1K...

I was at the Montagu Arms hotel in Beaulieu, New Forest, today, so thought a good opportunity to record a 45 seconds of WW2 & D-Day history that happened in the building. #newforest #ww2 #beaulieu #dday

If you look close, you can see where the road's previous level was.

You're welcome

If you attempt to drive under this bridge near Brockenhurst today, it will likely be flooded... due to WW2. The road was lowered in the lead up to D-Day to allow for military vehicles to pass under the bridge. Which is why it floods and traps cars to this day.

Here's a little about the site of the former New Forest D-Day WW2 airfield, RAF Lymington... and news

The former RAF Lymington looking a little soggy this morning. #ww2 #dday #newforest

Spotted on my travels this week were sections of the metal runways from the former RAF Lymington in Hampshire.

On D-Day, American P-47 Thunderbolts rattled down this metalwork over 200 times on that day alone, starting at 3am in the morning til 7pm at night. #ww2 #dday #newforest

The talk I am giving on the RAF Lymington WW2 D-Day airfield sold out, so if of interest, a second date has been arranged. Book a seat on www.ticketsource.co.uk/nfhwa

Throughout the New Forest you can find evidence of where 1000s of men were camped up in advance of the D-Day Normandy Invasion. They left some traces... #newforest #ww2 #dday

Buckler’s Hard in WW2 + exciting news #ww2 #newforest YouTube video by Trexplorer

Buckler's Hard during WW2....
www.youtube.com/shorts/TQATg...

Buckler’s Hard today; they’ve asked me to put an exhibition on here in the summer. Not of myself you’ll be relieved to hear. #newforest

Hey Mikey, hope you good - and thank you :-)

Tonight 100 people turned up to hear me talk about stuff. Well, old WW2 airfields, proving there are others out there just as odd as me. Thank you. #ww2 #brockenhurst #newforest

Speed of construction too. Take that large airfield RAF Beaulieu in my film. Built in just 8 months was enough infrastructure for over 2,000 people, and 300 'temporary' buildings.

The scars on the landscape so visible. Even where concrete has been pulled up, you will tend to see ghostly outlines due to the alkaline that seeped into the soil, changing the acidity. And oft repeated claim is 9,000 miles of the stuff was laid.