Stephen Nunn: Dad's war-time escapades were a real adventure

I am and have to say that I am hugely impressed by the historical accuracy.

If you don’t know it, it is all about the American Eighth Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group, flying out of this country to dangerous bombing missions inside German-occupied Europe.

I suppose I am finding it particularly interesting because of my late father’s experiences.

Peter Nunn was born in Maldon in 1931 in what was then known as the Brick House Farm Estate (the former council houses at the bottom end of Mundon Road).

As such the war of 1939-45 was raging throughout his schoolboy years.

Although Dad died back in 1995, there isn’t a day that goes by without me thinking about him and his stories of incidents on the Maldon Home Front – of downed allied and enemy aircraft, the activities of the Civil Defence Services, of the V1 and V2 rockets and the constant military movements across the area.

Not only that but, because towards the end of his schooling he attended the North-East Essex Technical College some 20 miles away on Colchester’s North Hill, he had to travel on a (gas-powered) bus each day.

The bus set off from Maldon High Street and was always stopped mid-way at a US checkpoint, located on the B1022, on the edge of Layer Wood, at RAF Birch, just outside Tiptree.

Got any gum chum? The site of the checkpoint at RAF Birch (Image: Stephen Nunn)

In 1942 the site of the airfield there had been allocated to the Eighth Air Force, but in the event was built for Ninth Air Force use in 1943-44.

It became the temporary home of the 410th Bomb Group and at the stage dad travelled through (during 1944-45) it had degenerated into an Eighth Air Force reserve base.

It was, nevertheless, still a closely controlled military site and dad and his contemporaries made friends with the GI guards there and were often given gifts, not least supplies of the obligatory chewing gum.

Having exchanged niceties with the guards, the bus drove on and I remember dad saying that, on one occasion, he saw a downed B17 on its belly in a field opposite today’s Colchester Zoo.

Dad’s close association with American airmen extended even further during the school holidays when he went to stay with his uncle and Maldon-born aunt at their farm north of Thetford in Norfolk.

On those occasions he travelled by train out of Maldon East Station, joining the main line at Witham and passing through Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds, Thetford and alighted at Watton, where he was picked up by his uncle.

The farmhouse happened to be right in the middle of another US base – naturally enough called RAF Watton. Designated Station 376, the Eighth Air Force took the airfield over in 1943 and it became the 3rd Strategic Air Depot, primarily used for the repair of B24 Liberators.

In addition, Watton was home to the 25th Bombardment Group (Reconnaissance) with units flying B17s (Fortresses), Mosquitos, B25s (Mitchells), B26s (Marauders) and A26s (Invaders).

Visiting the airfield in Norfolk and being allowed to get up so close must have been every schoolboy’s dream and Dad again made friends with the personnel – particularly a kindly Technical Sergeant.

To feed his interest and enthusiasm, the Sergeant in question really did go beyond the call of duty, allowing access to what was actually quite confidential information.

Firstly he gave Dad a bound copy of a Pilots’ Information File. It is dated April 9, 1943, is stamped 'Restricted' and has seven revisions entered on the inside cover, starting on May 20, 1943, and ending March 1, 1944.

Mundon Road schoolboy Peter Nunn (Image: Stephen Nunn)

Then the Sergeant even started taking pictures of the aircraft – finally totalling a collection of 20 quite remarkable black and white images.

They include B24 and B17 nose art, a B24 fitted with RATO (rocket assisted take off) packs under the wings, a gaudy assembly ship, a black Mosquito that was possibly an OSS (Office of Strategic Services) aircraft used in behind the line missions, and an RAF Avro York, a visitor used for transport.

The holidays over, back at home in Mundon Road, Dad kept all of his precious gifts safe for years and now I have them.

The experiences of Birch and of Watton must have had an impact on Dad for he went on to serve in the RAF.

He was firstly with Number 4 STT (School of Technical Training) at RAF St Athan, Wales, then 54 Squadron at RAF Odiham, Hampshire (flying Vampires), and finally with 226 OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) at RAF Stradishall, Suffolk (with Meteors).

After discharge he then worked with BKS Airline at Southend Airport (operating Dakotas), took his pilot’s licence and had his very own (1943-built) Piper Cub, which he regularly flew over the family home in Mundon Road.

Throughout all of this and into later life, I know that he never forgot the kindness shown to him by those GIs and, whenever I follow the route between Maldon and Colchester, I can’t pass through the winding roads that once intersected RAF Birch without thinking of his wartime experiences.