NAAFI Corner c1955, Watchfield
NAAFI Corner c1955, Watchfield Ref: W253015
Memories of NAAFI Corner c1955, Watchfield
2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment
My Father tells me that there was an airfield at Watchford and that the Paras used it as a drop zone in the 1950's. Taking off from Abindon, they would drop at Watchfield. My Father did his night drop here and said that the staff on the ground would leave the hanger doors open with the lights on so that the young paras could just see enough to assess how much the wind was making them drift. Does anyone have photos of this aspect of lift in Watchfield. There is no mention of Watchfield in current aeronautical charts. Your Watchfield, NAAFI Corner photograph suggests some military ties. I would be interested to learn more.
Paras at Watchfield
Hi Alan, I can confirm that there was a military airodrome at Watchfield. I remember watching from a distance as learner paras jumped from a baloon basket. The baloon was let up to a great height and the men in the basket jumped out one by one.
Tony Stayne
Paras at Watchfield in The 1950s
Yes, I lived on the Watchfield housing estate from 1952 to 1953. Large numbers of paras and their equipment were dropped regularly at the airfield. Trainees jumped from large silver barrage balloons, but experienced paras from aircraft, often dozens at a time. The equipment canisters, jeeps, etc., came down with colour-coded parachutes. It was famously one of the sites used in the making of the film "The Red Beret", sometimes retitled "Paratrooper", starring Alan Ladd, Leo Genn & Harry Andrews. There was a small Army base nearby where my father, a REME staff-sergeant worked maintaining all the paras' equipment, such as the sprung-bases the jeeps landed on. A few years ago, I met a retired SAS chap who told me he had done jumps from a Blackburn Beverly aircraft over Watchfield around that time. There was no Watchfield School in those days... we Army "brats" had to walk or bus into Shrivenham... older kids went to secondary school in Farringdon. For the Coronation, there was a huge party in the... Read more
Paras
Hi,
My father was stationed at Arnhem Camp in the 1960s, he was a paratrooper. The Paras at Watchfield were 16th Parachute Heavy Drop. I attended Watchfield Primary School and have fond memories of my time there, two teachers stand out in my mind, Mrs Late and Mr Biggs. In my day the village had a Jet petrol station and next door to that a small shop called Smiths, the shop was managed by Mrs Paige. Up by the Eagle pub was the Post Office and a shop called Geoffries. Watchfield was a great place to live for a young boy and we would often go "all the way to Shrivenham" (a distance of a mile or so) or wander around Beckett Lake and the R.M.C.S (Royal Military College of Science)
Great days.
2nd Airborne Company RAOC
Hi I was at Arnhem camp in 1958/59. This was where the heavy drop platforms were rigged with Landrover+trailer, before being transported to Abingdon airfield. There they would be loaded into a Beverly aircraft (with the boom doors removed). The RAF would then fly back over Watchfield and drop the platforms on the DZ at Arnhem Camp. I now live in South Australia, on a trip back to the UK in 2009 it was sad to find not much is left of the camp, but it was good to have a pint in the old pub. Happy Days.
Watchfield/Naafi/Aerodrome Notes
This was the NAAFI shop that served the military quarters at Watchfield, which housed the then many miltary and civilian staff of the Royal Military College of Science, and some of the students at the college, many of whom were from overseas.The RMCS is now the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and is multi-service. I am not a native, so to speak, of Shrivenham/Watchfield, but lived in one or the other for a total of 52 of my now 60 years. My father was RSM F J (Jim) Hodder, posted to RMCS in 1956, he was RSM until 1962 then stayed on as a civilian until retiring in 1978. We lived firstly in 31 Faringdon Road for a few months, but shortly moved to 4 South Street where we lived until 1975. You can still see the Christmas tree that my sister and I planted in the back garden, now about 40 foot high. I stood next to it only today, from the back field (25th March 2012).The NAAFI underwent... Read more
Watchfield & local memories
Read and share memories of Watchfield and Oxfordshire inspired by Frith photos.
Family
My maternal grandmother and three of her siblings were born in Watchfield in the 1860-1870s. As far as I know they lived in a farm cottage, until they moved to Highworth in the late 1870s where they lived in the public house called 'The King and Queen'. My grandmother was a first cousin to a woman who was murdered in WATCHFIELD, and her husband was hanged at Reading Jail for his crime. There are I believe still relatives living in the area, if so please contact me, or leave a message. (The family name is TITCOMB/E).
Military Parachuting at Watchfield
I was in the RAF at Abingdon on two different postings during 1963/4 and 1967/69 and very often did detachments to the Parachute training school drop zone at Weston on the Green as the aircraft controller. In general Weston was used for dropping men and Watchfied was used for heavy drop excercises howver on some occassion when Weston could not accept a drop due to weather or maintenance reasons Watchfield was used. I did a short parachute course (we called a Jolly) and after the two balloon jumps from 800 feet at Weston my next jump was from an Argosy (from 1000 feet). The flight originated from the Parachute training school at RAF Abingdon and I was expecting to drop at Weston but was very surprised when I hit the ground to see I was actually at Watchfield. So I can definitely confirm that Watchfield airfield was used regularly for dropping men and freight throughout the 1960's.
Time Changes Everything
I was born and grew up in Watchfield, which was originally about 100 houses. Rapid changes to the village occurred in the late 1930s when Beckett Estate was aquired for the army. Then came the airfield and REME workshops. In the early 1940s the village was flooded as a rapid thaw melted snow on the airfield and the water came down the road. After National Service in the early 1950s I did not live at home for long, but I like to remember the village as it was when I grew up. I notice that other memories recall the airfield was used for paratroop training, I can also add that some scenes of 'The Red Beret' were shot there.
