Events & talks

WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2026 (BROCKENHURST)

New Forest WW2 Airfield Series: RAF Lymington (Brockenhurst Village Hall)

SOLD OUT

Uncover the remarkable story of RAF Lymington – a temporary wartime airfield that became home to the USAAF for just three pivotal months during World War II. In this engaging talk, Marc Heighway traces the journey of the American airmen from their departure in New York to combat missions flown from the fields of Lymington. With rare photographs and gripping tales of bravery, hear how P-47 Thunderbolt pilots launched from this rural corner of the New Forest to support the D-Day invasion. A powerful and little-known chapter of local history brought vividly to life.

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WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2026 (BROCKENHURST)

New Forest WW2 Airfield Series: RAF Lymington (Brockenhurst Village Hall)

SOLD OUT

REPEAT DATE

Uncover the remarkable story of RAF Lymington – a temporary wartime airfield that became home to the USAAF for just three pivotal months during World War II. In this engaging talk, Marc Heighway traces the journey of the American airmen from their departure in New York to combat missions flown from the fields of Lymington. With rare photographs and gripping tales of bravery, hear how P-47 Thunderbolt pilots launched from this rural corner of the New Forest to support the D-Day invasion. A powerful and little-known chapter of local history brought vividly to life.

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WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2026 (BROCKENHURST)

Noor Inayat Khan: A Spy Descended from Royalty, Trained in Beaulieu, Murdered in Dachau (Brockenhurst)

Marc Heighway tells the extraordinary true story of Noor Inayat Khan – code name “Madeleine”. She was the first female wireless operator sent undercover into occupied France. This talk traces her Sufi upbringing and family background descended from Indian royalty, to her training in Beaulieu, before her perilous missions for the SOE, capture, and ultimate sacrifice at Dachau concentration camp where she was executed.

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SATURDAY 7 MARCH 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

PLUTO: Pipeline Under the Ocean (Dibden Purlieu)

SOLD OUT

Ivor Ellis presents the story of the ambitious and top secret project to lay a series of pipelines across the English Channel following the D-Day landings in order to supply petrol to the advancing Allied forces. It was described by Eisenhower as “it was second in daring only to the artificial (Mulberry) harbours” and in the words of Winston Churchill “Operation Pluto was a remarkable feat of British engineering, distinguished in its originality, pursued with tenacity and crowned by complete success. This creative energy helped to win the war”.

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WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH 2026 (BROCKENHURST)

New Forest WW2 Airfield Series: RAF Needs Oar Point (Brockenhurst Village Hall)

SOLD OUT

Marc Heighway explains how for just three short, yet eventful months in WW2, the peace of farmer’s fields south of Buckler’s Hard was shattered by the arrival of four squadrons of Typhoon fighter bombers and lorries full of men. Some have said that this was the busiest airfield on D-Day. But just how true is this? Marc investigates the stories of Needs Oar Point and shows how agricultural land near Park Farm and St Leonards was converted into a wartime airfield. The story of RAF Needs Oar Point is one that has rarely been told despite the role it played in wartime. The talk includes never before seen photography and film, tales of bravery, inspiring stories, and how tragedy and high casualty rates struck the young men who flew from these local fields of green.

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SATURDAY 4 APRIL 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

RAF Old Sarum: A History in Peace & Wartime (Dibden Purlieu)

Tim Cornish from the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection and Museum will be talking about the rich heritage of RAF Old Sarum, from its beginnings in 1917 to the modern day as an airfield for parachuting and general aviation. The airfield has played its part both in war & peacetime with a great amount of heroic, selfless and sad stories to tell, with many of the buildings constructed during that period remaining to this day.

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SATURDAY 2 MAY 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

Noor Inayat Khan: A Spy Descended from Royalty, Trained in Beaulieu, Executed in Dachau (Dibden Purlieu)

Marc Heighway tells the extraordinary true story of Noor Inayat Khan – code name “Madeleine”. She was the first female wireless operator sent undercover into occupied France. This talk traces her Sufi upbringing and family background descended from Indian royalty, to her training in Beaulieu, before her perilous missions for the SOE, capture, and ultimate sacrifice at Dachau concentration camp where she was executed.

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SATURDAY 6 JUNE 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

Southampton & D-Day: The Greatest Achievement of All (Dibden Purlieu)

Andy Skinner tells how Southampton played a monumental role in the embarkation of troops and equipment during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy which began on 6th June 1944: D-Day. Over the next year three and a half million service personnel passed through the port of Southampton, along with 250,000 vehicles. This was more than any other British port during the Second World War.

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SATURDAY 4 JULY 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

Mosquitos in the New Forest (Dibden Purlieu)

Alan Pickford from The People’s Mosquito charity presents the stories of the New Forest pilots who flew the Mosquito, including tales of 418 (RCAF) Squadron based at RAF Holmsley South. He will also explain how Mosquitos were constructed at the Airspeed factory at Christchurch.

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SATURDAY 1 AUGUST 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

Thunder Run: Meiktila 1945 (Dibden Purlieu)

Author Jack Bowsher returns, but this time with a new talk. The Battle of Meiktila should be the stuff of legend in our collective memory of the Second World War. Had it been carried out by Monty, Patton, Rommel, or Zhukov, it would be as well-known as the battles of France, Alamein, the Bulge, Kursk, or Overlord. Yet it is the most incredible battle that you’ve never heard of.

The culmination of all-arms manoeuvre warfare in the Second World War; tanks, motorised infantry, self-propelled artillery and air support charging across the dusty dry belt of central Burma, striking the Japanese Burma Area Army decisively. Outnumbered and surrounded, 17th Indian Division and 255th Indian Tank Brigade annihilated their enemy in the battle that really finished the Japanese in Southeast Asia.

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SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

Drivers, Dangers, & Drag Queens: SOE Characters of WW2 (Dibden Purlieu)

Tales of the lesser known characters of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during WW2. Agents ranged from Grand Prix racing drivers to code makers, pilots and deceivers. Their colourful stories all form part of perhaps the most extraordinary allied organisation ever to appear during WW2. Peter Power will highlight their tales of danger and sometimes treachery.

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SATURDAY 3 October 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

Schrecklichkite: Zeppelins over England (Dibden Purlieu)

This talk regards the first Blitz of 1915 to 1918. The story includes two Victoria Cross actions, the first strategic bombing raid of WW1 and the first bombing raid from aircraft carriers by the Royal Naval Air Service.

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SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2026 (DIBDEN PURLIEU)

Finding the Few: No Known Grave

This talk by Andy Saunders focusses on the story of Sgt ‘Paddy’ Adair of 213 Squadron, RAF Tangmere, who was shot down and killed over Hampshire on 6 November 1940 when his Hurricane crashed on the downs at Widley. He was posted as ‘missing in action’. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the CWGC memorial at Runnymede to ‘missing’ RAF aircrew who were lost over NW Europe during the Second World War.

The talk charts the extraordinary story of the disappearance of Sgt Adair in 1940, the recovery of wreckage from his Hurricane in 1979 (including the discovery of human remains) and will explore why Sgt Adair is still listed as missing – despite that discovery!
The wider story of missing RAF aircrew will also be covered, as will the story of the Runnymede Memorial, the recovery of missing aircrew (including the conflicting policies of the British and US governments in this respect) and will also touch upon the ‘official’ dates of the Battle of Britain.

Note: Copies of Andy’s book ‘Finding the Few’ will also be available for a heavily discounted price at the talk.

Andy Saunders is a military historian and author, founder and first curator of Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, former editor of ‘Britain at War’ magazine, founding editor of the German military history magazine ‘Iron Cross’, a regular contributor to military history magazines and TV documentaries worldwide and a frequent feature writer for daily newspapers in the UK. He is currently editing a major update of the iconic 1980 title ‘Battle of Britain Then & Now’.

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