firbeck

My information is from someone I'm in contact with, Peter Arnold, the worlds foremost authority on Spitfires, he actually has a list of the registration numbers of every aircraft that took part in the film. While the Spanish 'Heinkels' were still in use as bomber trainers, well some of them, the '109's' were found in a big heap at an airbase in Spain, all 17 used in the film were put together from parts found on the heap. After filming, a large number were shipped off to the States, including the unique 2 seater Buchon, and there they remain, still in their film colours but rotting away in a

Not so, I'm afraid. 26 real spitfires were used in the film, 12 flying, 7 taxying, 7 static plus full scale models that were blown up. Most of the spitfires in the actual Battle were Mk1's. One Mk1a was used in the film, though in real life it never flew in the actual battle. The Mk2 now flown by the BBMF flight took part in film and battle, it still has it's battle damage to prove it. 3 Hurricanes flew in the film, I'm not sure how many were used for statics/taxying, not many, I think they were mainly models. The German aircraft were all licenced built Spanish versions of the original Ger

Unnecessary quote made by mistake. Bip.

The Alms Houses referred to were not the Collins Almshouses. There was a small square of houses situated somewhere between the old Ice Stadium and the old Boots factory, I remember now, they were called the Plumptre Almshouses and situated in Plumptre Square. In the early 1970's when I worked for the local Diocesian architects, the Church Comissioners instigated a repair scheme for the properties. I actually went down there myself, surveyed them and drew up the plans and elevations. As I recall, they were quite ornate. Victorian buildings, lived in by old people and owned and run by the South

I'll try and find out about it from my Aviation Forum, bare with me. but would you really see the results of a collision over Newark from Bentinck Road, HMMMMM

Bloody hell, how wierd, no I don't know them personally, maybe by sight. My association with the village and all it's intricancies dissolved a while ago when all the real people dissapeared, the kids grew up and it became an expensive pain in the bum to live there, full of people emigrating from the London suburbs who wanted to live the village life but in reality were destroying it. It was fantastic 20 years ago when the old boys were about, I took a major part in village life, involved in the school, fete, cricket team, everything going, but it started to become a bloody London suburb, ful

Interesting one. The lead singer and harmonica player of the Honeycombs was Dennis D'Ell. Prior to me moving to Braintree 18 months ago I lived in a very pretty but isolated Essex village called Finchingfield. Dennis lived in a flat in the old Guildhall and his brother Lol lived just along the road from me. They had a very good local pub band called Den and Dell that regularly played in the local pubs, The Red Lion in particular. We used to have some great discussions at the bar, about the Honeycombs, life the Universe and everythng, they really were great people. a bit dodgy, knew how to w

Interesting, I've just been looking on Google Earth and can't find the place, having said that, there is a mysterious area of undeveloped ground in the middle of a housing estate which I estimate where this bunker was situated, the last time I went up Western Boulevard, the communications mast was still there. Another interesting bunker that I investigated, many years ago, was at Watnall. This one was situated in a railway cutting next to the old bread factory, it had a series of derelict interconnecting buildings and had entrances via 2 steel doors that had been welded shut. About 45 years

Sorry pal, but this bunker wasn't small, it's big and still there. It was well organised and capable of taking in a hell of a lot of people, what is still down there, I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised if it was still up and running.

My late Uncle Harold spent most of his working life in the fire brigade, including in the war. He was also a member of the Civil Defence organisation. During the 60's, he was put into a very nice house at the side of Western Boulevard, near to the City Hospital. In the grounds was the control bunker for the services defence of Nottingham. He was responsible for keeping the place up and running and ready to go under all circumstances. Once, he took me down there, it was a very chilling experience. Having negotiated the steel blast doors and switching on the life support engines, I was amaz

Poor Elvis, one of the 20th centuries greats and never to be forgotten, I respect his memory. Unfortunately, he was ruled by a self righteous manager in Colonel Parker. who destroyed his Rock and Roll roots in the search for pan galactic glory. As John Lennon put it, Elvis died when he joined the army, you should read Anthology by the Beatles to see how Elvis, or rather his manager, went behind their backs and tried to unsurp the Beatles growing power in the US which the Presley camp couldn't deal with. A sad, manipulated junky in his later years, who died sitting on the toilet. What a wast

What a coincidence. I was discussing with the family the other night about coming up to Notty for a few days, this led on to talking about taking our 14 year old Goth youth around the various shops I remembered, like Birdcage and Paul Smiths, but it seems that they aren't there anymore then, shame, though maybe they wouldn't deal with Goths anyway. When I was about to move Daan Saaf, 30 odd years ago, I had to buy a jacket, well I had to look 'presentable' for these Essex architects. My mate dragged me off to Paul Smiths, while I was wanting to head off to C & A. I couldn't believe the

Vauxhall Bridge? Thats over the Thames isn't it. I recall Selecta disc being on the right hand side just before the old Arkwright Street station, there was also a wierd second hand shop with a headless skeleton in the window nearby. We made the owner an offer for the skeleton as my mate thought it would look cool sitting on the back of his Lambo TV175, he wanted silly money for it though. It was a real pain having to walk all the way down to Selecta disc from the City Centre, but at the time there wasn't another shop like it, though there was another, second hand record shop on the corner of

Please don't get me wrong, the police down here have a thankless job dealing with all sorts of junkies, scumbags and pykies, I have been liasoning with them on that score, they are mostly lovely helpful people, I sympathise with them, they have a difficult job to do and I am avaliable to help them at all times. Unfortunately, Madam Thatcher drove a wedge between the public and the police, it was deliberate and unforgivable, the police should never have had to have suffered the consequences of her actions, poor old plod has enough to do, whether you agree with my comments or not, she didn't ca

Well, it was a well known fact, who is going to admit to this, unlikely to come from government sources is it. Apart from that, police were deliberately drafted in from Essex and London, these people had no sympathy or understanding with Northern or Midlands working class folk, it was a good excuse for a good kicking against people they resented. I can assure you that there is a serious North/South divide, I've been putting up with the p### taking for 30 years. Don't forget that the incidents started at Orgreave in Sheffield, a mine and coaking plant subsequently totally and deliberately obl

30+ years ago, I used to work at an architects office in the city, Royle and Whitehorn, opposite the castle gates. I was the personal assistant to John Whitehorn and we used to specialise in local authority work, using a system called C.L.A.S.P, which was designed specifically for coal mining subsidence sites. We were a good team, he would do the paperwork and the initial sketches, and I would do all the design and technical information, as well as assist in site supervision. Between us we designed and supervised the construction of a Youth Centre at Aslockton C of E school. One day I came i

Why not contact Margaret Thatcher, I'm sure she has a lot to say on the subject, after all she was the one that set communities against each other and destroyed the coal industry in this country on a selfish political whim. While you are about it, ask why the powers that be think she should have a state funeral and a self congraturally statue in the Houses Of Parliament, mind you, it will be a good area to nip off to when you're caught short during a debate. Incidentally, if any servicemen reading this get conned into taking part in her inevitable state funeral, please remember what she did

This seems to have degenerated into a football thread. I was always a bit reticent about football as a kid, even having Henry Newton as junior school captain didn't do it for me either. When Forest got to the FA Cup final in 59? I wasn't that bothered and went out to play with my mates, unfortunately Firbeck wreck was completely empty, so was every street in the area, no-one was about at all, I had to go home and suffer watching it on the telly. The first match I was persuaded to see live, was a friendly, Forest v Dukla Prague, 1966, I seem to recall that one of the Dukla players had been a

How sad, what a good old boy he was, don't tell me it was lung cancer. Jeff Whitefoot was the alternative sub during the season 66-67, the other one was Alan Hinton. What a great team that was, trouble is, that having brought together a truly world class team, the powers that be weren't prepared to spend any money in developing it, it was madness on the directors part. There was no first team squad at all, when John Barnwell got seriously injured they spent £100,000 on Jim Baxter, what a joke, he was overweight and drunk half the time, I remember watching him play against Leeds, it was pathe

I gather that he went on to be a PE instructor at Aslockton prison, where is he now, he was 35 when he played in that 67 team, the last survivor of the FA Cup winning lot as well. Funnily enough, after that first meeting with the team, I met them again shortly after when they opened a hardware store called 'Able Jacks', somewhere at the top end of Glaisdale Road, good old Bobby remembered me and got out his bloody fags again, I asked him again how he coped, but he dismissed it, I know Gazza liked the odd fag, but I doubt whether it was Players Navy Cut. I remember also that day that every pl

I'm new to this site and there is so much to see and comment on, I'm not used to how it works yet. Trolleybuses. I used to be a member of the Nottingham Trolleybus Group, we hired a trolleybus to follow the last 36 back to the depot in 1966, so I can claim to be one of the last members of the public to travel the system, we even managed to lose the poles at the junction of Parliament Street and Mansfield Road on the way back, which must have been about midnight, on entering the depot, we had a big party, the crews were in tears, I still have my ticket autographed by our last driver and clipp

My mother was a particular friend of Henry's mum, and Henry went to Firbeck at the same time as my brother. By coincidence, when my brother went off to Mundella Grammar School, he was in the same year as David Pleat, another ex Forest player, though I gather not very well liked and supposedly better at tennis than football. Another Forest player, David Stainwright lived on Trowell road in the corner house opposite the end of Park Crescent, I think his claim to fame was scoring a hat trick against Spurs at White Hart Lane, though I gather every one was teed up by Frank Wignall. My mothers fri

I know that this is an old thread, but I stumbled apon this forum completely by accident. I haven't lived in Notty for 30 odd years but still have links. For some reason I was looking up Henry Newton on the Internet yesterday and found this site, I've subsequently registered as it looked so fascinating. There are so many threads and different items that it's difficult to know where to start, what caught my eye was this thread, I'm sure that I must know Mickety and Bip, after all, I lived on Park Crescent for 25 years and my mother still lives there! Yes, I used to buy flag cards from Merry