Page 65 - QDG 2023

The great, good, and wider friends on QDG
Bunch of hats Finest local sparkling
The Lady Dannatt, MBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk, representative of Her Majesty the Queen
the De Kooy airfield. They had a very lucky escape when one engine was hit, causing the propeller to fly off – indeed, they were so low, that one wingtip gouged the ground and the rear of the fuselage scraped the surface of the airfield. In a superb display of airmanship, Kegelman ‘caught’ the plane as it bounced back into the air and brought it back - a feat that saw him awarded the American DSC.
So 81 years ago, US and UK pilots flew a US built plane, operated by the RAF, from an airfield in Norfolk, in a US-UK opera- tion – and 81 years later we see exactly the same with 617 Sqn at RAF Marham! It was an excellent excuse to have a party with US partners from Lakenheath,
Mildenhall and Marham and we were honoured to host the Lord Lieutenant, The Lady Pippa Dannatt
MBE, and General Richard;
sory purchase; and John Carrick, who can still remember those brave airmen flying back and forth from this extraordinary place of
history.
It was an outstanding
party, but it could not have happened without the help of the brilliant mess staff, QMs, Sgt Brown and his Troop (B Sqn), the officers hosting, and so many people to whom I am indebted to. What’s next?
Perhaps we resume flying? We will defi-
nitely run Raid 82!
A succesful raid in 1942 - as it was 81 years later
Brig. Gen. Joseph “Knuckles”
L. Campo, Commander of
the 48th Fighter Wing at
Royal Air Force Lakenheath
and Royal Air Force Feltwell,
England, and U.S. Country Representative (USCR) to
the United Kingdom; Group
Captain Fred Wigglesworth,
Comd RAF Marham; Ben and
Helen Budworth of Bylaugh Hall; James and Vicky Keith, whose grandfather owned the airfield before the compul-
What’s next? Perhaps we resume flying?
AP