Penfields Old WWII Air Base (Memories of the Past) Traditional Geocache
Penfields Old WWII Air Base (Memories of the Past)
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This cache is hidden in the Pennfield area of NewBrunswick. This is just before St.George Newbrunswick on Highway 1.
This place, I noticed on my summer vacation on the way to St.Andrews back in September. It looks as though it was an old Drive In back in it's day but however I have found out that it used to be an Old WWII british air base and army air strip. It has heavily grown over now but if you enter at two Green tipped posts and drive in the old entrance and make your way to my parking coordinates, this will get you close to where there is an old concrete structure which appears like it could have been a screen for movies but however I assume that it must be the remnents of the old airplane hanger shed or something of that nature. The cache is hidden just behind this structure.
It looks like the kids, hang out here because there is alot of graffiti around. But the structure still stands and is quite interesting. Take a look around, the parking lot structure is all around you, abit overgrown by alders now, but still quite visible. There seems to be alot of old junk lying around as well. I am not sure if someone dumped it here, or it is junk from way back when this place was in operation.
******************HISTORY OF THE SITE********************
Construction on the airport, designed to training pilots for WWII action in Europe, began during the Summer of 1940. The facility would be part of the "British Commonwalth Air Training Plan". It was part of the No.3 Training Command with it's headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Pennfield was first No. 2 Air Navigational School (ANS) and later took on No.34 Operational Training Units (OTC). In August 1940, there were over two hundred men working on the project. Dexter Construction Company was contracted to construct the runways which were to be finished by November 1940. The first test flights (day/night) were completed on January 1, 1941. The air base official opened for training on July 21, 1941. By the end of the Summer 1941, there were over 40 buildings including 4 large hangers, observation tower, barricks, drill hall, mess halls and classrooms. The air base was also had its own water supply and internal telephone system. The runways would be lenghtened in the Fall of 1941. With the end of the war, Pennfield became operational location for Heavy Transport and a few years later was purchased and operated by Canadian Airlines. When Saint John airport was opened, Pennfield closed as an operational airfield. Some small private plans would use the field from time to time. It was also used by the New Brunswick Drag Racing Association. Today, the field is used to dry out seaweed, which once dried, is used as fertilizer for plants. There is a fuel reserve tank at the field used by Irving and Natural Resources.
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**********History of some plane crashes near the site******
August 28, 1941 (Four Pennfield Airmen Killed in Crashes Near Liverpool)
Two R.C.A.F. training planes based at No. 2 Air Navigation School at Pennfield Ridge were lost early Monday morning in crashes near Liverpool, Nova Scotia, but five of the nine men comprising the crews escaped, apparently with slight injury.
The four men killed were Fli.-Lt. W.S.L. Smallman, R.A.F., the pilot; Sgt. S. Street, another Briton; Sgt. Observer G.T.S. Woodham, Huronville, Sask., and A.C.G.J. Elliot, Calgary, wireless operator.
Information from various sources indicated that a plane out of Pennfield on night maneuvers over Nova Scotia lost its bearings and ran out of fuel. The five men aboard bailed out and landed safely, although one of them, Sgt. J.H. McKay, sustained a fractured arm when he struck the tail in getting out.
Shortly afterwards other planes set out from Pennfield to search for the missing machine. One of them sighted a bonfire set in a gravel pit near Liverpool by F.O.J. Barneson, pilot of the missing plane, evidently swooped down to signal, and crashed into an orchard at Beech Hill, six miles from Liverpool. The four occupants were instantly killed and the plane was destroyed by fire. The wreckage of the first plane was also found near Beach Hill. The two crashes followed one another within an hour before dawn Monday.
The five who escaped by parachute were F.O.J. Barneson, San Francisco, the pilot; Sgt. J.H. McKay, Montreal; Sgt. D.J. Robertson, Cornwall, Ont.; Sgt. J. Martin Forestburg, Alta.; and A.C.D.B. Douglas, Belleville, Ont.
November 26, 1942 (Two R.A.F. Members Killed In Crash of Plane Near Pennfield)
Halifax, Nov. 24 - Two members of the R.A.F. were killed late Sunday afternoon the crash of a twin-engine plane shortly after a take-off from the R.A.F. station at Pennfield Ridge, N.B, the eastern air command here announced Sunday night.
Names of the victims were withheld pending notification of their next-of-kin. They were the only men in the plane.
January 28, 1943 (Three Airmen Die in Crash of Plane Near Hill's Point)
Three airmen - two Canadians and a member of the Royal Air Force - were instantly killed Saturday morning when a twin-engine training craft from the Pennfield air station crashed into the side of Hill's Mountain, a half-mile from the Waweig highway bridge on the west bank of the river, approximately ten miles from St. Stephen.
An investigation into the cause has been under way for the past several days but no announcement has been made as to the findings.
The statement of witnesses indicate that the plane, which was on a routine training flight in company with another aircraft, suddenly was seen to be maneuvering with difficulty, rapidly lost altitude and crashed into the mountain while the pilot was evidently attempting to bring it down in a field or on the ice.
All three occupants met instant death. Two of them were Canadians - Pilot Officer B.B. Williams, of Calgary, and Pilot Officer P.W. McCarthy, Ottawa. The third man, a member of the R.A.F., was not identified in the official announcement, pending notice of his next-of-kin.
February 4, 1943 (Plane Wreckage Shipped)
A crew of R.C.A.F. men with a truck was in the district the first of this week gathering up the scattered wreckage of the training plane which crashed at Hill's Mountain Jan. 23, and brought the pieces to St. Stephen where they were placed aboard a freight car for shipment to a salvage centre. Except for the motors and a few large pieces, the wreckage was in small bits - mute evidence of the terrific impact when the machine struck the ground.
June 3, 1943 (One killed, one hurt in Air Force crash)
One airman, said to have been an Australian, was reported killed and another injured when an Air Force plane crashed late Saturday near the Burns district schoolhouse at Bocabec, some seven miles from St. George. The plane was reported to have been stationed at Pennfield.
The injured occupant is said to have been a Canadian and he walked to the main highway following the crash.
July 15, 1943 (Two airmen killed in crash at Pennfield)
Two Canadian airmen were killed Saturday when their twin-engined aircraft crashed as they were about to land at the R.A.F. station at Pennfield Ridge. They were the pilot P/O M.W. Hanson of Lethbridge, Alta. and P/O Herbert E. Jasmine of Humbelstone, Ont. The accident occurred on the station as the plane was returning from a routine flight.
August 19, 1943 (Airman's body taken from damaged raft after plane crashed)
Campobello: As the afternoon was drawing on towards 5 o'clock on Thursday, august 12, and Oza Newman and his son, Lawrence, of Wilson's Beach, were busily engaged in pollock fishing on the ground near Head Harbour Island, they were attracted by calls of help coming from an approaching Grand Manan fish-carrying boat, which advised that they had been trying to get some plane wreckage from the water to which was attached the body of a man, but were unable to do so. Both boats started at once for the scene and about two hundreds yards north of White Horse Island came upon the wreckage and together were able to get it from the water.
The wreckage was that of a rubber life-raft, nearly filled with water from a hole which had been torn in the side, but still contained enough air to keep one corner of it above water. Tangled fast in the ropes attached to the raft but deep under water was the body of a man. He was in the uniform of an airman but had no coat on. One hand was badly bruised. He was of perhaps more than average size, weighing about 170 pounds or thereabouts. The body was taken to Black's Harbour when Pennfield officials identified it as being the body of L.H. Lemingham, 24 years of age and married, whose home was in Saskatchewan.
What happened in this particular case is only conjecture. A plane from Pennfield was reported to have come down at sea with four occupants near Grand Manan the day before and this was one of the unfortunate victims. From their observation of all concerned the Newman's believe that the man got away alive and disaster happened after.
Nothing is known to have been reported from any of the others.
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I hope you enjoyed the history of this location and have fun finding the cache.
Enjoy your self and take photos if you wish, you could also upload them to the geocaching site,with your logs.
Thanks, have fun. Fw.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre fbzr qrnq ybtf.