Wings Over Wick
1939 - 1945
Airfield And Aircraft Defence

J Thorpe, Farnworth, Bolton 
I was attached to 2749 Squadron RAF Regiment and was stationed at RAF Wick in 1943. Our duties were to guard the airfield and help to refuel and rearm the aircraft. Horses and carts were used to transport water and soil to the contractors who were building the runways and I remember at one time one of the horses backed into the quarry for water, went off the roadside into the water and was drowning. Being an ex-farm labourer I climbed onto the horse and cut it loose and with the help of others managed to get it out of the water.

Whilst I was stationed there, the late Duke of Kent was killed in an air crash just outside Wick and some of my mates carried him over the moors from the aircraft which we later helped to salvage. After a while at the airfield I moved to Noss Head behind Noss Farm, which was occupied by a farmer named Clyne. I used to help on the farm, threshing and potato picking etc. I cannot remember much about the actual town of Wick but I would like to see it all again.