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Welcome to the online home of the 609 (West Riding) Squadron Archive. Come in, put your feet up, and take a look at a distinguished past.
This project began with an e-mail on Christmas Eve 2001 from Jim Earnshaw AE, one of the original members of 609 (West Riding) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force. I had met Jim earlier in the year at Duxford Airfield during a squadron reunion and Typhoon day held to launch a book by the Squadron Medical Officer, George 'Doc' Bell. I was present for both business and pleasure - The Hawker Typhoon has always been a favourite aircraft, and having read the 609 Squadron history (" Under The White Rose" by Frank Ziegler) more than once, 609 had become a kind of focus for my interest in wartime aviation. The business side being the photographic coverage, and an article to write, which would be submitted (on-spec) to the aviation press. Having been fortunate to meet with many ex-pilots, and three ex-Commanding Officers on the day, and later interviewing one of these over the telephone, my relationship with 609 had become cemented. Then the e-mail arrived, asking if I could recommend anyone to print negatives from the squadron archives. Well, it just so happened that I did.....
Instead of the initial idea of producing handprints, it was decided to digitally scan the images and save them onto CD (the originals being a collection of both negatives and prints) in order to make multiple copies of the archives in case of fire or flood, and also to allow digital retouching and better quality reproduction.
Of course, things are never straight-forward in life. After consideration we decided to go one step further, and transfer information from the archives into a digital format as well - and then upload it to make this website an accessible home for the resources at our disposal, carrying the name of 609 (West Riding) Squadron further. We hope that you find our efforts both interesting and useful.
The initial photographic work culminated, on 12th July 2003, with the launch at the Duxford Flying Legends airshow of Jim's book:
609 at War
Tally Ho!
Contact Information
Telephone / Fax
(+44) (0) 1502 516936
Postal Address
609 (West Riding) Squadron Archives 38 Tennyson Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR32 1PS England
Electronic mail
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Copyright © 2002 609 (West Riding)
Archives
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609 (West Riding) Squadron Archives
