A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

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A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by scooter »

I went out for a 30 miler on the electric bicycle late this afternoon staying relatively close to home:

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I stopped off at Langham House Rode which was famous for a notorious murder in 1860.

Langham House was then called Road Hill House (note the two spellings of Road/Rode). Rode was spelt thus in The Domesday Book but by the 18th Century was known as Road. In 1919 it reverted to Rode because the powers that be decided that a place called Road could prove too confusing on maps.

Road Hill House was the scene of one of the most infamous murders of the 19th century when Constance Kent was arrested by order of the town magistrates for the murder of her 3-year-old half-brother. The case was investigated by Detective Inspector Jack Whicher. Although released at her committal hearing, Kent was later to confess, was charged and received the mandatory death sentence. This was commuted to life imprisonment, of which she served twenty years.

The book by Kate Summerscale was popularised in the television adaptation known as 'The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher' and was broadcasted in 2011:

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Moving on a mile or so I passed through the village of Tellisford which is one of 53 Thankful Villages in England and Wales, so named because they lost no men in The Great War:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thankful_Villages

A couple of miles up the road I came across the memorial to an Australian called Kenneth Christopher Holland Ripley.

Ripley flew Spitfires with 152 squadron based at Warmwell. On September 17th 1940 he shared in the destruction of a JU 88 and on the 19th shot down another into the sea.

On the 25th September 1940 he attacked a Heinkell 111 and set it on fire. Seeing a parachute he went in for a closer look but was shot down by a gunner in the stricken Heinkell. His Spitfire N 3173 crashed near Church Farm Woolverton. Ripley had been shot in the head. This is his memorial.

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The next thing that happened was a little weird if I'm honest. Leaving the memorial I took to a little used country lane. After about 5 minutes I was in the middle of nowhere but could hear the distinctive sound of Merlin engines. Looking up I saw two Spitfires as clear as day overhead. I struggled to get my camera out of my cycling vest by which time they were almost out of sight.

These are two of the three photographs that I took:

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You'll struggle to see the Spitfires in the photographs but the second photograph shows one clearly:

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I know it sounds silly but on magnification all three photographs show one Spitfire although there were two and they were flying almost wing tip to wing tip. It's just a bit odd to me that there is only one and added to the fact that I had just stopped at a Spitfire pilot's memorial.

The only explanation was that in all three photographs one was in cloud.

Strange though.

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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by cincfleet »

What a superb read accompanied by excellent photos :thumbup:
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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by Mikkei4 »

2 great stories and the third is just spooky, what's the odds of seeing 2 flying Spitfires ever nowadays and then the much bigger odds just after you've seen the Spitfire flyer's memorial.

But what animal is your cycle route meant to be ? :D
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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by jkbarnes »

Those were ghosts! That’s why they’re hard to see in the photo.

Great story, thanks for sharing.
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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by kiter65 »

Spooky...I love things like that,no explanation
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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

Touching afternoon ride scooter and definitely something weird going on with the Spitfires and the photos.

These days, one can't just go swanning about the skies without it being know about.

How many airworthy Spitfires are there in the country and how many of those were airborne over Wiltshire this afternoon?

There has to be an airfield or Air Traffic Control centre that will know.


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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by scooter »

Somerset Guy, Somerset!

I have just researched and found out that today was the last day of the Bournemouth Air Show.

They had the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which included a Spitfire and a Hurricane.

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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by STodd »

One in the Bournemouth area today - does this match around the time?

https://www.raf.mod.uk/display-teams/ba ... /displays/
2nd September - Bournemouth 14:00 - HS
2nd September - Bournemouth 14:10 - D
Key: D - Dakota, H - Hurricane, L - Lancaster, S - Spitfire

EDIT: beat me to it...
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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by scooter »

Certainly looks like it Steve.

Probably on their way home.

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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by STodd »

scooter wrote:Certainly looks like it Steve.

Probably on their way home.

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Looks like its the one...
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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by jkbarnes »

I prefer to think they were ghost planes. Ups the spooky factor considerably more than an air show! :lol:
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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by scooter »

Part of me wants to agree with you jk.

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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

scooter wrote:Somerset Guy, Somerset!

I have just researched and found out that today was the last day of the Bournemouth Air Show.

They had the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which included a Spitfire and a Hurricane.

Image

scooter
:oops: should know its Somerset. My in laws lived there for many years.

Makes sense that you saw them as they would be heading back to their base at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by tempusmaximus »

A great read with some great pictures , thanks for posting Scooter .
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Re: A Murder, A Thankful Village And A Missing Spitfire

Post by Thermexman »

Very enjoyable read Scooter. I bet the hairs on the back of your neck stood to attention for moment there?
Steve.
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