Page 11 - Oundle Life June 2024

IN THE
MOOD
Kings Cliffe memorial
He was the biggest name in music: the
biggest star in the business. He provided the soundtrack to World War II with massive hits like ‘In the Mood’, ‘Moonlight Serenade’, and ‘Chatanooga Choo Choo.’ In the darkest of times, Glenn Miller and his orchestra offered
a chance to escape the grim realities of war for a few precious moments. Millions listened to his latest songs on the radio or on long-play records, and millions more filled dance floors to the rousing Miller sound. Flying legend, General James Doolittle (of the Doolittle Raids) once told the musician ‘Captain Miller, next to a letter from home, your band is the greatest morale booster in the European Theatre.’
That’s how important Miller’s music was to the Allied cause. And yet he played his last airfield concert in the sleepy village of Kings Cliffe, just seven miles north of Oundle.
During the war RAF Kings Cliffe thundered to the sound of Spitfires, P-51 Mustangs, and P-38 Lockheed Lightnings, with both the RAF
P-51D Mustang of Colonel Robert Montgomery, Commanding Officer of the 20th Fighter Group
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and the USAAF (United States Army Air Force) operating out of the base at various times.
Those American troops needed to be entertained when they weren’t risking their lives in combat, so it was arranged that Glenn Miller and his orchestra would play in the massive Callender-Hamilton hangar at Kings Cliffe on October 3, 1944.
On December 15 Miller took off from RAF Twinwood Farm near Bedford to fly to France to entertain the troops there. He was never seen again.