Hello, thank you for getting in touch, it's always a privilege to hear from family members. Are there any recollections or anecdotes about Beaulieu Airfield you are able to share which might have been passed down to you please?

Hi Harold, thank you for the comment. I am planning on camping there this summer as it happens, so if I get a chance will shoot some film. All the best 🙂

Thank you - I can't take the credit for finding those exactly. someone else showed me. But once I started looking found more and more out there from different people. I did spot the trench though.... if it is a trench and I suspect it is.

Great memory, thank you for sharing. I do plan on Ashley Walk as it happens, as I know it very well. Hopefully one day

When we've been, sometimes the entrance has been open, other times the gate locked. It does appear to be a target for vandals sadly.

Hi Rob, thanks for watching and the mention of Don. I am aware of Don as have a record of him flying in operations from Beaulieu so am glad you got to see some of the landscape. I wish I could have included all the pilots in this film, including him, but not to be this time. Perhaps I can make some more, I hope so!

There is film of his plane at Beaulieu code D5-N . He did not fly D-Day ops as he was grounded with a tonsillitis.

@@SpitfireCGI thanks Gaz it was such an amazing coincidence and I couldn’t help but relate it to Stanley flying off into the clouds.

@TrexplorerUK I thought that too,it was exactly when you mentioned his name.

@@SpitfireCGI Yep, it can be quite an atmospheric place at times. If you ever fancy a walkabout there, do say if you come this way.

@@TrexplorerUK i bet and yes will do.

Hello Charles thank you so much for sharing his story: to date my knowledge of the hell hawks is very limited to their time in England. I plan to find out more about their time post June 1944 soon so will learn more about Jesse thank you

his name 2LT Thomas F Miller. was was credited with 5.25 kills. He survived the war, which was lucky for me as I was born in 1948.

I myself, am a veteran of the TET Offensive of 1968.

Hi Clarence thank you for sharing that with me. What a legend ❤

@@darrengilbert7438 hi Darren thanks for watching and leaving a comment it’s appreciated 😀

Hi David thank you for watching and the comment. Lovely to hear about dad, legend 😄

Cheers matt 😁

@@wireframebox quite simply a beautiful coincidence. Could not have timed it better.

Thank you 😊

@@antonyroe1596 hi Antony thank you! This video is quite old now and there are a couple of errors in it so I cringe a little now watching it but so glad people still enjoy it all this time later! I’ve got a video coming out tomorrow about Beaulieu airfield so I hope you will catch that. I think I scheduled it to publish at noon. Thanks again!

@@TrexplorerUK Thanks very much for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it. I have walked miles around Beaulieu and the surrounding areas and whilst I liked where I lived before (the Isle of Wight) these walks are so much better when you can add a bit of history or context to where you are. I often follow Dave Ford's walks and will now add your explorations to my "to do " list. I need 50 years or more to cover the areas I wish to walk in and explore for the first time. Thanks for the inspiration, cheers!

Thank you for the comment. Do you have a connection to the 311 at all?

⁠Unfortunately not, but the topic of Czechoslovaks in the RAF is close to me because I am Czech. I don't know of anyone from my family who served in the RAF. I am glad that thanks to such heroes we can live today.

Cheers Steve!

Thank you for the comment, the concrete figure of eight at the Woodfidley Crossing is mistaken for WW2, but instead it's the result of post war experimentation. During the 1950’s & 60’s the Forestry Commission started upgrading the timber extraction tracks in the Forest by making new gravel tracks around the inclosures. The needed to experiment on the mix of sand, gravel and clay so they could find out what was most hard wearing. As such they laid out this concrete circuits which had patches in the central section which could be laid with the experimental mixes. A lorry would then be set to driving over and over the mix again and again with the turning circles at each end to prevent the need for lots of manoeuvring each time they got to the other end.

thank you :-)

I completely agree Pete... it was the worst over the Forest, but by no means the only one. I have researched there were approximately 100 air incidents in the New Forest in WW2... crazy. Not all were fatal, but the incidents were huge. There are so many other names forgotten. I will attempt to document more when I can

thanks Gaz

ha, yes!

You can find them on this map. edob.mattaldred.com/map/

Blimey, thank you Sam. I think the music complements the visuals well. I was lucky in that respect to find it.

thanks

Thanks for the comment Daniel, and for watching. I plan on making more this summer when I get a chance.

Very unlikely, I wrote about the hatchet pond rumours a couple of years ago, you can read my opinions here where I discuss similar tales nfhwa.org/hatchet-pond-plane-crashes-drownings-military-history/

Thank you for watching 😀

@@TrexplorerUK sad there s not more preserved for us to see in the future , i live not far from raf burtonwood , , not a trace , thanks again mate from nick in wigan , lancashire

thank you for the kind comment, I hope to make individual longer ones for each airfield this summer 🙂

Hi Baz thanks for commenting. There’s no evidence that the SOE flew from Beaulieu. It is repeated online but I don’t believe it happened.

Thank, I appreciate you watching it and leaving a positive comment 🙂

Thank you John, I appreciate you watching it and the positive comment. I am planning on doing individual films like this for each airfield as I have some great photos of each one

Sounds good.@@TrexplorerUK

It's a place that has fascinated me for years, I am still finding out new things all the time. Cheers for watching 🙂

Sorry, but I have to correct you. It's beach hardening mat that was deposited in that area during the Second World War when the side of the road was strengthened due to military activity at the top of that hill, and also evidently fly tipped. You can clearly see it was there far earlier than 20 years ago in this photo I have which you can see on this link: nfhwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/beachmat.jpg - I can understand why you think that though as it does look similar to the concrete pads used in modern times, but it's different. There is similar stuff used on New Forest roads, for example from Hilltop to Dibden Purlieu which is modern which is what I think you are probably thinking of.

Thanks Will, do you mind if I ask the rough and general location where she lived? Was it Hampshire?

Nobody cares!

Thanks for taking time to watch it Stefan, and great to hear your view too. Appreciate it!

@@TrexplorerUK im fairly local (poole) and i find your videos realy interesting.I love all this kind of stuff..Great videos please keep it going ;-)

@@stefanrobinson2920 Thank you. I used to live over in that neck of the woods for many years. Cheers !

Hello, I love getting messages and comments like this as it's great to learn from others too. Thanks, will do that now!

PS: Can't see how direct message, but if you get a chance please do drop me a line via this contact form nfhwa.org/contact/