An old photograph was given to me recently. It shows the Armourers of 92 squadron at Biggin Hill. They were stationed there between 1940 and 1941, also moving to Marston.

The man on the right is Corporal Watts. He is soon to be 90 years old and has asked me if I could help him to put names to faces.

It was the practice to put a swastika on the aircraft relic when ever the Squadron made a kill. 92 squadron were one of the most successful squadrons at Biggin Hill.

I was talking to Corporal Watts about my website and the incident, during the Battle of Britain, when the 'Belfast' hanger was blown up on the camp to deter German bombers. He told me that HE had actually laid the charges for that.  

Can you help?   Contact me if you have any information at tony@bigginhill-history.co.uk.

Alex Watts

Knowing that I have a passion for the Spitfire, Alex gave me this picture. He didn't know anything about the Spit, where or when the picture was taken, but it is in the markings of 92 Squadron (QJ). After a little searching on the web I have found out some interesting facts about AB910.

Built in 1942 at Castle Bromwich AB910 spent many years in active service, spent the 50's as a racing plane then joined the BBMF where it is still today. But one incident will stand out amongst any other.

It happened in April 1945. It involved a W.A.A.F. flight mechanic, ACW Margaret Horton, and Spitfire AB910. When an aircraft engine had been serviced, the practice was for the training instructors to run the engine and do a particular test. Margaret had finished work on the Spitfire, when the pilot began this test. It was necessary, if it was windy, for a mechanic to sit on the tail of the aircraft while it taxied to the end of the runway ready for take-off. The mechanics were given the order‘Tails’. Having got to the runway, the aircraft would pause for the mechanic to drop off. This time the pilot did not pause. Whether he was unaware that the order to ‘tail’ had been given, nobody knows. He just carried on with Margaret Horton hanging on for grim death, and him unaware that he had a ‘passenger’ on the tail. ‘I thought the aircraft was tail-heavy’, he said later. The Spitfire had risen to 800 feet or more when the strange shape of the tailplane was noticed from the ground. The emergency services were called out and the pilot talked back in without being told what had happened. The aircraft landed safely with Margaret Horton still in one piece. Just how daft the machinery of the R.A.F. could be was shown when she was reprimanded for her unofficial flight and charged for the loss of her beret! She was posted later to West Raynham and, despite her ordeal, survived into her eighties.

                                                   Tony Lewis