Friston
FRISTON: Military aerodrome, previously just a Landing Ground
Military users: RAF Fighter Command 11 Group
306 & 308 (Polish) Sqdns (Vickers-Supermarine Spitfires)
316 (Polish) Sqdn (North American P-51 Mustangs)
41 & 610 Sqdns (Spitfires)
Location: S of A279, W of Friston village, 5nm WSW of Eastbourne
Period of operation: 1940 to 1946
Runways: NE/SW 1531 grass N/S 869 grass
NOTES: Apparently in use from 1936 by anti-aircraft units towing target droques, but did any aircraft actually land here? In September 2015 I had an enquiry from Nick Hopkins (see below) asking me if I could confirm that this was the case, as he was under the impression that these aircraft did operate from FRISTON. I still cannot answer that question, but, presumably somebody can?
This fighter base had 1248 RAF personnel on station including 152 WAAFs in 1944.
THE V.1 'DOODLEBUG' OFFENSIVE
In his excellent book Spitfire's Forgotten Designer, Mike Roussel tells us this story about Spitfire Mk XIV operations. "Another important attribute of the Mk XIV was its speed in order to catch and destroy the V-1 flying bomb, otherwise known as the 'Doodlebug'. However, it was found that by firing at the V-1, the ensuing explosion could be very dangerous for the pilot. The technique of flying alongside, positioning the Spitfire's wing under the wing of the flying bomb and tipping it over was much more effective, as it caused the flying bomb to lose control and crash." After a while Supermarine fitted a length of angle iron instead of the wingtips, which were getting damaged - and this resulted in a slight increase in speed!
Nick hopkins
This comment was written on: 2015-09-04 15:39:00Seside towns like Hastings were often visited by aircraft towing drogue btargets for local AA guns to practise their skills We thought towing aircraft came from Friston Was this so?
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