  | Koksijde Five of us travelled to Belgium for the annual Belgian Defence Day which this year were held at Koksijde. The static layout was so bad it made Waddington Airshow the previous day look good. There was some very impressive stuff in the static including a couple of Turkish RF-4E Phantom II’s (69-7522 and 69-7458), a French Mirage 2000N (304/4-CA), a Ukrainian An-30B (80) and an Hellenic T-6A Texan II (033) but the possibilities for a good photo were next to none. |
| I must admit the organisers weren’t helped by the water logged ground which meant in some areas the barriers had to be moved nearer the aircraft in order for the crowd to walk past out of the mud. But parking the aircraft at an angle instead of nose to tail would have helped the photography. We took the photos we could and after sampling the burgers and beers we decided we had seen enough by 11.30am and headed off to France to see what else we could find. |
| Thiepval We headed for Albert and as we reached The Somme we saw a few of the many cemeteries that cover the countryside. When we came to Thiepval we decided that we couldn’t pass without paying our respects at the Somme Memorial to the Missing. The day we visited, 1st July 2007, was in fact the 91st anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, a day which saw the British take 60,000 casualties, 20,000 of them killed. The week before the attack had seen a massive allied bombardment of the German positions but the Germans simply took shelter underground and many of the 1.6 millions shells didn’t explode. |
| The end of the bombardment signalled to the Germans that the assault was about to begin and they took up their positions and waited. At 7.30am on 1st July 1916 the 11 divisions of the British army started the assault, which involved walking towards the German lines. The German guns opened up and the slaughter began. A few British troops made it to the German trenches but because of the lack of support they were driven back. So began months of carnage and slaughter. The battle finally ended in mid November 1916. The allies had advanced 5 miles while suffering around 600,000 casualties. On such a beautiful, quiet day it was impossible to imagine the carnage that went on exactly 91 years ago. I have visited many war memorials and cemeteries throughout the world including River Kwai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Punchbowl Cemetery and the USS Arizona but Thiepval has to be the most moving experience of them all. |
Amiens We headed into Albert and found the ‘Collection Betrancourt’ but unfortunately it wasn’t open. We looked through the fence but with no sign of anyone around we resigned ourselves to visiting again in the future having had our appetites whetted by the sight, amongst others, of 4 Noratlas’s, a Flamant and a Caravelle.
Next we went to Amiens Glisy Airport where we found a preserved Gendarmerie Alouette III (F-MJBM) and also an active AS.350BA Ecureuil (F-MJCM) outside their hanger. After asking permission we were allowed to photograph both aircraft before heading off for the next stop at Le Touquet. |
| We found the Aeronauvalle office at Le Touquet and again after asking permission we were soon led into the 35 Flottille Detachment hanger where we photographed the beautiful SA.365N Dauphin (91). After thanking our hosts it was off for the short hop to Calais and the end of another great day out pottering around the world of aviation (and a memorial and cemetery as well). |
| | words by
Mike Broad
images by
Mike Broad |
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