Ross Stewart is a Senior Associate with a crucial role in this enchanted journey. His involvement began before it even became a project. Ross is also the curator of Wethersfiled Airfield Museum. The museum exists to record the rich and diverse military and social history of RAF Wethersfield.
Here Ross recounts his recent visit to The National Archives (TNA) in London. His research focused on military history linked to RAF Wethersfield.
Last week project founder Nick Devaux sent a message. He said he would be visiting London on his return to St Lucia. He had attended a conference in Malta hosted by Project Tangaroa on Potentiall Polluting Wrecks (PPW). His plan was to spend two days researching archives at the The National Archives (TNA).
I became a member of the log book team in 2017. Yet, Nick and I had never met in person. Researching at the National Archives has always been something I wanted to do. This was an opportunity not to be missed.
Train tickets were booked from Sudbury to London. This journey takes about 1hr 20mins. Then it takes another hour on the London Overground to Kew Gardens. Another first was a relative I had never met lived nearby, so a meal at his local Italian Restaurant was set up. Adam is the Great Grandson of Major Adam Ross Stewart. Major Stewart, my Grandfather, was in the SAS during WWII at the Mushroom Farm. The Mushroom Farm features in the museum.
I had to register at TNA for a readers ticket, a membership card that lasts 3 years. I then searched the online catalogue and ordered files to research in advance. You are allowed 12 files a day. These video guides teach you how to handle different types of documents. They show you how to use the various accessories like foam pads and page weights.
When you arrive, you must put bags and coats into a locker. You can only take a notebook and pencil, no eraser, in the reading room area. You can take a phone or camera to take photos. A power cable can be brought as the reading table has two sockets. You can also take a laptop in. In the reading room you are issued a table number. I was given table 37A and a Document Locker. The locker will have the files you ordered. You can take 3 files at a time to the table.
Friday afternoon I researched and photographed 400 pages maps and letters and two photographs. Mostly about the runway extensions of 1952 and 1957. There was a series of correspondence about complaints by two farmers.
The first is from Mr Loftus from Boyton Hall. He was claiming £152 for damage to his land. He made the claim in 1960. The decision-making took 5 years to be resolved. In 1965, the USAF needed him to take the tops of trees on his land on the runway approach. He refused to discuss it until they settled his claim.
The other complaint came from Farmer Blomer of Flowers Hall. He complained about noise from the engine test area near his home. Reports show he was arrested and nearly shot as a trespasser in the process a few times. The file contained two unseen photos of the activity in that area!
Other files contained all the correspondence about the 20th having to move to Upper Heyford. This move was necessary because Stansted became London’s 3rd airport. The file starts in 1963 and of course as we know finishes in 1970.
A file followed about the future of the airfield and USAF use. Then, a file about Project Red Horse opened in 1978. It was interesting to read the opinions of some British hierarchy. They argued that a Royal Engineers Rapid Runway Repair unit should be formed and based at Wethersfield.
In all eight files were covered on Friday leaving four to cover on Saturday. Of these three were on SAS and one Wethersfield. The first SAS file was over 1800 pages, and I will need to view again at another visit. I took 200 photos and only four were so blurred that they can’t be read, not too bad considering. There were so many references to Wethersfield and the Mushroom Farm. I stopped making notes. I decided that would have to be a separate visit. It would also need to be a research day.
I found one reference about my Grandfather on 25th January 1945. A senior officer reported setting up a 20th SAS liaison HQ in Cambridge. He requested that Lt Stewart return from Epernay, France to staff it. My Grandfather’s military record shows that he returned to U.K. on the 14th of Feb 1945.
The knowledge of an SAS HQ in Cambridge is new, so more research to do. The rest of those files show how the SAS was deliberately split up. Top brass drove the effort to disband them as the war was ending. There were also a few messages that are the spark that ignited what the SAS wanted to do and did. This is best read in the Damien Lewis book The Nazi Hunters.
The final file, RAF Wethersfield, ORB operations Record Book Dec 1945 to 1947, was important. I photographed every page because I was running out of time. At a quick glance, there is new and interesting information about the base in that period after the war. I will study those pages later.
Photos of my trip and research, some individual stories and photographs.
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