Shellingford, first version
Note: This map shows the location for RAF SHELLINGFORD, which was originally listed in this 'Guide' as SHILLINGFORD.
Note: This picture was obtained from Google Earth ©
A LESSON LEARNT
I spent quite a bit of time searching for SHILLINGFORD. Please see my comments, and another from Jann at the end of this listing.
SHELLINGFORD: Military aerodrome
Military user: RAF Training Command
EFTS (DH.89A Tiger Moths)
NOTES: This is an odd case. The only reference to the possible existence of a WW2 aerodrome comes from the account by John Prout in the book 'The Goldfish Club' by Danny Danziger. John Prout was signed up by the Army to become a glider pilot for duties in the various planned invasions. After initial training at the Glider Pilot Regiment on Salisbury Plain; "...I wasn't there very long when I was sent to flying training school at Shillingford in Oxfordshire, where a lot of RAF trainees were, because we all had to learn to fly Tiger Moths to start with. I remember my first lesson. The instructor asked if I liked flying and I told him I had never been in an aeroplane. 'What?!' he said. 'You have volunteered as a pilot and never been in an aeroplane before?' But I don't think that was so unusual in those days."
"It was all great fun. I could loop the loop, and did lots of things we weren't supposed to do, like fly over fields in the countryside, and if I saw a rabbit I would try to bounce my wheels on top of it, and the farmers ploughing with their horses would shake their fists at us. Three months of training as an aircraft pilot and then we were sent to glider training school near Cheltenham, and learned to fly small gliders."
With memories as sharp as these it seems unlikely he was mistaken about where the aerodrome was situated, and all the other places he had to go for training fit perfectly. However, without spending too much time investigating, all my usually highly reliable methods of finding information on SHILLINGFORD produced nothing. As per usual I looked for an aerodrome in that vicinity which might be better known by another name, and found nothing.
THIS IS THE PROBLEM
For a kick off, there is a village named Shillingford in Oxfordshire, so this fact really didn't help.
We have a huge problem in England at least because we have a very seriously flawed judicial system, largely dependent on 'a witness account' whereby a witness swears on oath to tell the truth and only the truth. The problem being that witness accounts have been proved time and time again to be unreliable. But, nevertheless we do tend to rely on witness accounts to record our history. And indeed, much of the information in this 'Guide' is reliant on 'witness accounts'.
This is a good example. Without too much doubt this account refers to flying from RAF SHELLINGFORD.
Please see my other entry for SHELLINGFORD which gives a bit more information.
Jann
This comment was written on: 2017-02-14 11:16:38My father was in the RAAF in WW11. I am looking at his Flying Log Book now and his EFTS was at Shellingford. When I googled it I thought he had the spelling wrong...but not so!
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Jann, Many thanks for this observation which I shall keep posted. Best regards Dick
piers BEDFORD
This comment was written on: 2018-11-23 13:49:35there is an advert currently on ebay for "Czech pilot puda" refererring to him training at shillingford. I have lived 10 years in tiny shillingford Oxfordshire and there is no airfield there with only bensoon nearby..this too must be referring to shellingford.
Malcolm I Gibson
This comment was written on: 2020-01-18 06:19:31As per the comment from Jann above, my father was also in the RAAF in WW2 and flew Stirlings and Lancasters in 3 Group. His Log Book also records him having flown DH82's in night flying and map reading flights from No. 3 EFTS Shellingford in April 1943.
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