Hedon Branch visit RAF Leconfield

Several members of Hedon & District branch visited DST Leconfield at Normandy Barracks Leconfield on Monday 11 October 2010.

The visit was arranged between the Branch Secretary Mr Gordon Lane an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) instructor at the camp and the Camp RSM WO1 Mr John Ford. This followed several requests from branch member who were keen to see more of Leconfield after seeing just some of their vehicles at the Armed Forces Day held in Beverley earlier this year.

On arrival at the camp the members were treated to tea and toast in the WO and Sgt's mess, they then went to Saint Martins on camp and were given a lecture and tour of the garrison church by the padre Maj MacGregor. The majority of the fixtures and fitting came from Longmoor Military Railway Camp in Hampshire. There are several priceless stained glass windows commissioned by the various Railway companies such as GWR, LNER and LMS. There is also a memorial to HMS Lancastria, the ship that was sunk in World War 2 with the loss of 6,500 Service personnel, just after the Dunkirk rescue.

The visit continued with a stop at the war memorial made from parts of the old hanger no 4. The silhouettes of all the aircraft types based at RAF Leconfield were made from the blast doors from hanger 4 and many had bullet holes in them from German raids during the 1939-1945 conflict. The site of Normandy Barracks has been part of crown property for many hundreds of years as King Henry VIII use to hunt on the grounds where the former air base was built.

We moved on to a talk by WO2 Huggard (Huggy) on the new armoured wheeled　vehicles that our troops are trained on prior to deployment to Afghanistan. These included the Mastiff 1 and 2, Ridgeback, Wolfhound and Husky. All are fully armoured to withstand Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) attacks as well as those fitted with bar armour to defend against Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs)

We were all amazed at the modern facilities in the gym, no longer do the troops throw medicine balls about and go for log runs. There are scores of state of the art fitness equipment which actively encourages the troops to stay fighting fit.

We had a drive round tour of some of the 16 km training area, where the Tri Service personnel from 50 countries are trained to drive Large Goods Vehicles as well as coaches and many new MAN trucks that have replaced the old Bedford's and DAF trucks.

Moving on to the junior ranks mess facilities we were given an insight in to how the modern army is fed and watered in a large clean open plan "cook house". Before returning to the WO and Sgt's mess were we were treated to a hot and cold buffet and the RSM bought us a drink from the bar.

A thoroughly enjoyable day, all the members that went on the visit are still talking about it and are the envy of those who could not attend. Our thanks go out to the RSM and all his staff who made our visit so rewarding.