Historic Places

Into the Solent.

/ Andy Finnegan / 3 Comments

On Wednesday I took an afternoon small boat cruise into the Solent taking in No Man’s Land, Spitbank and Horse Sand forts, designed and built in the 19th century by Lord Palmerston to protect the eastern approaches to Portsmouth Harbour. 

Leaving from Gosport on one of the Hythe ferry boats The ” Spirit of Portsmouth” the trip gave a good close-up of the forts.

Below is a picture of one of the other ferries similar to the boat we were on.

One of the fortification Towers at the entrance into Portsmouth Harbour.

Heading out of Portsmouth we passed Fort Gilkicker one of the shore forts {which I have posted about in the past} This fort is being restored and redeveloped into apartments.

A pilot boat headed out to meet an incoming ship into the Solent.

Spitbank Fort.

No Man’s Land fort.

Horse Sands Fort.

Returning to Portsmouth Harbour we passed the now no longer used Submarine training escape tower – I understand the tower was filled with water and the crew could practice emergency escapes from a stranded submarine there.

Further pictures from the boat trip will be posted later.

My City.

/ Andy Finnegan / 4 Comments

I revisited Southampton City yesterday to see more of the “Light the South art trail”. A public art event consisting of 40 painted lighthouse sculptures each standing 8ft tall. {there will be a further 30 mini lighthouses.} The art trail is to raise funds for Southampton Hospital Charity.

Below is the link to my post of my 1st visit.

https://wordpress.com/post/skylid.travel.blog/11751

Some different lighthouses seen yesterday.

Below 5 of the mini-lighthouses.

While walking around I took some general views of the town centre.

Civic Centre.

2 Spitfires Today.

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Seeing and hearing a distant Spitfire over the Solent I decided to call into Solent Airport on my way home today. There were two Spitfires on the ground.

Piotr Kuryłłowicz, 1919 -2024.

The name on the side on BS410 got me googling.

Piotr Kuryłłowicz died on March 13, 2024, at the age of 104 the last known veteran of the 315th Fighter Squadron “Dębliński” from a Polish Siberian family, Piotr Kuryłłowicz, like many pilots at that time, began his aviation career with training at the Military Gliding Camp in Ustianowa. Shortly after that, he joined the Aviation Cadet School in Dęblin. As a graduate of the famous accelerated XIII officer promotion course, he was evacuated on September 18, 1939, to Romania, from there he got to France, and then on to Great Britain.

While in Great Britain as a Flying Officer with service number 780962, he underwent training at 55 Operational Training Unit at RAF Aston Down. He fought in the 317th Fighter Squadron “Wileński” and the 315th “Dębliński”. It was while serving in this unit that, on Tuesday, May 13, 1943, he took off from RAF Northolt and was shot down over France, by either a Focke Wulf or ME 109.Kuryłłowicz – parachuting near Occoches, he was captured and sent to the German POW camp – Stalag Luft III in Żagań.

Living History.

/ Andy Finnegan / 3 Comments

Lyndhurst is the largest village in the New Forest Hampshire, it became the natural ‘capital’ of the area when William the Conqueror established his hunting grounds in the forest. Lyndhurst was the haunt of royalty and nobility. Kings and Queens regularly visited Lyndhurst’s own manor house. Now known as Queens House, this former manor is still home to Verderers’ Hall, the meeting place of the ancient Verderers’ Court whose history stretches back to at least the 13th century.

Warsash.

/ Andy Finnegan / 2 Comments

As we approach the 80th anniversary of D-Day I visited the village of Warsash on the River Hamble. Today Naval vessels and Landing Craft have been replaced by pleasure boats.

Cwmystwyth Mines.

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The Cwmystwyth Mines site has extensive remains of lead and other non-ferrous metal mines. The site was first mentioned in 1535, although much earlier workings were known to have existed. Today even on a sunny day the site looks dark and dead. On much of the site little grows due to the contamination of the soil.

SM520.

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Spitfire SM520 was built by Vickers Armstrong at their Castle Bromwich factory in 1944 as a single seat Mark H.F.IXe high level fighter and delivered to the RAF on 23 November of that year. With the war in Europe coming to an end she was placed in storage until 1948 when she was sold to the South African Air Force.

After a major flying incident, SM520 was scrapped but was saved and went into private ownership. Later she was converted to a two-seater.