Airmen of Kent

[Lynne]

There's an exhibit at Strood Civic Centre, Kent, on now until 8th December (closed Wednesdays) on Kent airmen of WW1. open between 9am and 5pm.

If anyone is in the area it should be well worth visiting.

Lynne

[tcrean7828]

Mate,
Welcome to the flagship of the Aerodrome - where the greatest minds on the planet get together and talk about their favorite subject - WW1.

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

P.S. Werner Voss fan here.

[Matt Linton-Smith]

Originally Posted by Lynne

There's an exhibit at Strood Civic Centre, Kent, on now until 8th December (closed Wednesdays) on Kent airmen of WW1. open between 9am and 5pm.

If anyone is in the area it should be well worth visiting.

Lynne

Thank you for the tip,Lynne. Will make a special trip down to my home county from here in Oxford.
Is there much on McCudden and Mannock I wonder?

[tcrean7828]

Originally Posted by Matt Linton-Smith

Thank you for the tip,Lynne. Will make a special trip down to my home county from here in Oxford.
Is there much on McCudden and Mannock I wonder?

Mate,
Welcome to the flagship of the Aerodrome - where the greatest minds on the planet get together and talk about their favorite subject - WW1.

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

P.S. Werner Voss fan here.

[Matt Linton-Smith]

Originally Posted by tcrean7828

Mate,
Welcome to the flagship of the Aerodrome - where the greatest minds on the planet get together and talk about their favorite subject - WW1.

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

P.S. Werner Voss fan here.

Thank You Tom,very kind of you.
I too am a Verner Voss fan,in many ways I personally think he was better than Richtofen,but not as good as McCudden. But they were all individuals, with different tactics. All heros, along with all the lesser known and unknown airmen of the time.
Cheers, Matt.

[Lynne]

Well said that man! But, as a McCudden cousin I would say that, wouldn't I?



regards

Lynne

[Matt Linton-Smith]

Wow,a cousin of THE Captain Jimmy McCudden? Lynne you are Royalty!
So much to ask and so much to say,sadly I have little time at the moment. Suffice to say what a great man he was,working his way up through the ranks,undefeated in combat,a true English gentleman.
Surely his V.C. should be on show? and not locked away in some vault at Chatham dockyard as evidenced on a documentary I saw a while back on WW1 Aces.
Is there a memorial to him somewhere in the Medway towns that I could visit? As I plan to go and see the exhibition at the Civic Hall in Strood.
Lastly,do you have any momentos of him, i.e. the red L.V.G. spinner he had fitted to his S.E.5 that he declared gave him an extra 3 mph?

Regards,Matt.

[Lynne]

Hi Matt

You will find that most museums have replica VCs on display as the originals are very valuable. Only this week a VC was sold for £335,000 (Flt Lt Bill Reid, see the BBC website). I was lucky enough to be photographed holding Jimmy's VC and felt very emotional and privileged. My son Alex looks very much like Jimmy and it really is quite uncanny. Stick Alex in an RFC uniform and you have Jimmy (but with long hair!) This year I also met seven cousins for the first time which was a great event.

We are all heavily into the family history, aircraft, WW1 etc and are pooling our findings, each of us having a slightly different area of interest and expertise. If I were not related to them I would choose them as friends anyway, which is a real bonus. I was delighted to learn from them that any mementos etc have been deposited by the family with national archives so they are available for everyone to see.

Still in private hands, in the US I believe, is Jimmy's watch. It would be nice if everyone could go and see it on display.

I was very impressed with the RAF Museum at Hendon and their collection and what is available at the Royal Engineers' Museum at Chatham. In the UK we are blessed with fantastic resources, run by people who are experts in their field and genuinely interested in the personalities behind the history as well as the artefacts they hold for us, on behalf of the nation.

I'm writing my family history so am grateful for any info, photos etc. My other interest is WW1 aircraft.

Hope you can make the Kent exhibition.

Best wishes
Lynne

[Matt Linton-Smith]

Thank you for all the info,Lynne.I shall definitely pay a visit to the exhibition ASAP.

Best Wishes to you & Alex,

Matt.

[Hawk]

Hi Lynne,

I was wondering if you had seen that Hawk Miniatures released a 1/9th bust of James Thomas Byford McCudden late last year.

Have a look on their website under busts.

Also they are about to release a bust of Major Edward "Mick" Mannock.

Regards
John