War Memorial #906 ~ 323rd Squadron, Bassingbourn
This has been placed with kind permission from the Wimpole Estate National Trust who hold no responsibility for the cache.
The memorial is in memory of and dedicated to the 323rd Bomb Squadron airmen of 91st Bomb Group (heavy), 8th Air Force, USAAF Station 221, Bassingbourn, England. During World War II from November 7th 1942 to June 23rd 1945 there were 105 B-17 bombers of the 323rd Bomb Squadron parked and serviced on nine "pads" that were concealed among an avenue of stately elm trees that stretched from Wimpole Hall to the Huntingdon/Royston Road. Fifty two of the bombers were lost to enemy action while flying 339 daylight missions against Hitler's Europe killing 227 airmen: 216 became prisoners of war and 12 evaded capture. The squadron's B-17 "Nine-O-Nine" flew an amazing 8th Air Force record of 140 casualty free missions from December 30th 1943 to June 8th 1945 (VE-Day).
This is a multi cache and IS NOT at the published coordinates.
The cache is a 30ml tube.
To find the cache:
At the published coordinates you will find the memorial. Check out either side of the memorial (both sides are identical).
Inside a square on the bomber at the top of the memorial are six numbers which are ABCDEF.
The year the memorial was erected is GHIJ.
Final coordinates:
N 52° 0(F-B).B(G+J)I
W 000° 0A.JH(D-C)
Checksum of all digits in the coordinates = 59
***** PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT *****
CACHES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE PLACED ON ACTUAL MEMORIALS OR WITHIN THE BOUNDARY OF SUCH
AT ALL TIMES PLEASE TREAT LOCATIONS OF MEMORIALS WITH RESPECT