Top Park in Chesham
TOP PARK in CHESHAM: Temporary but regular Landing Ground
Location: Roughly just W or SW of Chesham town centre
Period of operation: 1943
Note: The local view was obtained from Google Earth ©. The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
NOTES: It really is wonderful regarding just how much extra information for this 'Guide' keeps on arriving. Must admit though, I really am struggling to cope
In this case I was kindly contacted in October 2023 by Terry Clark, a good friend of this 'Guide', whose sister had found a copy of John Young's journal written during WW2. In it John says: "During 1943, U S Army Officers from Bovingdon used to come to Chesham by air to do their shopping. They left their Cubs in Top Park (which nowadays adjoins Lowndes Park to the west). One day I looked inside one these aeroplanes - Piper L-4b Cub 41-1644."
Today of course we can pose some many questions about this account. Were they really U S Army officers? More likely U S Army Air Force officers, as they came from BOVINGDON? Also, it appears today, that in military service with U.S. forces, the Piper L-4 was named 'Grasshopper'.
But, TOP PARK was just 3.5nm SW of BOVINGDON. Surely would have made more sense to arrive by Jeep? (It can carry a lot more than a Piper L-4). However, we need to remember that 1943 was in the middle of WW2, during severe rationing, so what were they shopping for? USAAF bases were much better provided for in general terms. I suspect, given the very healthy 'black market', that they were looking for tempting presents with which to woo the local ladies. And arriving by air would no doubt have given them a great boost.
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