Reunion 2016

550 Squadron Association Reunion 2016

Photographs from the Association Reunion at North Killingholme 1st-3rd July 2016.

Thanks to Kathleen Robinson, Mike Leeman and others for providing the photographs.

Many thanks to all in North Killingholme who, as ever, pulled out all the stops to make the weekend run smoothly. Thanks also to all the Association members and others who turned up, from all over the UK, as well as Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Canada and Australia to make it a wonderful weekend for all.

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Where there is a picture available in a choice of resolutions then click on the offered link rather than the thumbnail image.
NB: Most of the pictures are not particularly large (ca. 1Mb or less), but a few are larger (2Mb up to ca. 4Mb) and if you have a slow connection they may take a little while to download.

Anniversaries

This year is the 25th Anniversary of Association Reunions (the first having taken place in RAF Hendon, London).

Grimsby Telegraph online:
25th anniversary honours those part of the Royal Air Force 550 Squadron at North Killingholme

Reunion Weekend Welcome Pack

Document	Description
	Reunion Weekend Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd July: Welcome Information Detailed information for the weekend
	Timetable of Events (final version) Detailed timetable of the Saturday events In the event this "final" schedule was revised on the day as the Spitfire flypast moved to 15:32 and finally 16:05

Friday Evening, Dinner at the Ashbourne (informal)

About 20 people were able to attend the Friday evening meal. With no seating plan for the informal dinner people were able to turn up, mingle and chat.

There were a number of displays around the room, and some aircraft wreakage brought back from Jalhay after the unveiling of the memorial there in April.

Saturday Morning

Lunch at the Amethyst Hotel

As usual there was a gathering of people at the Amethyst for a lunch and drink prior to the afternoon events.

Saturday Afternoon

Remembrance Service in St Denys' Church

Jack Harris gave a short talk. The Association members no longer with us were remembered.

Parade to Memorial Stone

Laying of the Wreaths At the Memorial Stone

Vic Parker, Iris Freely

Veterans At the Memorial Stone

Spitfire Flypast

Parade Back to St Denys' Church

Lead by the Immingham Air Training Corps Band.

Saturday Evening, Reunion Dinner, The Ashbourne Hotel

Sixty members of the Association, including members from Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Australia and Canada sat down to dinner on Saturday evening. After the Grace said by Jack Harris a fine dinner was enjoyed by all.

After the dinner Jack Harris said a few words, and proposed the toasts.

Slide sets displayed over the weekend and during the dinner are shown below (these will download and need MS Powerpoint (MSOffice) in order to be viewed):

Document	Description
	550 Squadron and RAF North Killingholme Association MS Powerpoint Slide Set NB: very large document (ca. 21 Mbytes) - will take a long time to download

John Arnold gave a short talk on his father's crew experiences with 550 Squadron illustrated with some photographs of the crew.

Document	Description
	550 Squadron F/O Summons Crew MS Powerpoint Slide Set NB: large document (ca. 4 Mbytes) - will take a long time to download

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

Sunday Morning, Airfield Tour

George Turner led a small convoy of four or five vehicles on a tour of the airfield at 11AM. He stopped at various places to point out items of interest, for example, where "Queenie" bogged down (in a well known photograph), where the "Phantom of the Ruhr" overshot the runway (and where in 1963 the metal "carpet" that was used by the winching crew to retrieve her, was dug up by ploughing), dispersal areas, bomb and fuel dumps, site of the control tower, etc. (although some buildings have been knocked down over the last couple of years as planned developments have commenced). Most of the large hangers remain, and are in current use by various businesses.

This was much appreciated by all attending.

A photo of the map of the airfield that George used is available: here.

Photo	Description
	"Home of 550 Squadron" North Killingholme village sign (one of three on the approach roads to the village)

Sunday Afternoon, Elsham Wolds

A group, including all our visitors from Belgium and Canada, travelled to see the museum at Elsham Wolds (about 20 minutes from North Killingholme).

There the group was welcomed by members of the Elsham Wolds Association and given a guided tour of the museum.

Photo	Description
	Visitors gathered around the Memorial Stone (to 103 and 576 Squadrons which flew from Elsham Wolds)

Many thanks to all at Elsham Wolds, especially Robin Lingard (Curator, Elsham Wold Air Museum), Alan Holmes, and Graham Brett for giving us an extremely interesting and enjoyable visit, with many new exhibits since our last visit including items such as Don Charlwood's uniform.

Afterwards the group also visited the RAF Memorial in Kirmington village.