One of Alan Collett's most vivid memories is of spiraling towards St John's church in an open cockpit aeroplane.
Mr Collett was a member of Kenilworth Air Training Corps 8F Squadron, and was in a training plane sent out from Honiley aerodrome, where this picture was taken. Asking where Mr Collett lived, the pilot decided to show the young cadet how it looked from above.
The photograph, of both Kenilworth and Warwick Air Training Corps, was given to the Weekly News by Sue McGowan, whose late uncle Bert Winn was a member and friend of Mr Collett.
The corps was set up in 1940 to train schoolboys in the skills they would need to join the air force. Its members, aged up to 18, paraded on the playing field of St Nicholas School on a Sunday morning. They would then practice morse code, sending messages between Kenilworth Castle gatehouse and the golf course on Aldis lamps, while Monday mornings were set aside for navigation classes at the school.
Mr Collett remembers his first trip in an Airspeed Oxford, and later flying Wellington bombers towing socks, which the gunners would use as target practice.
He said: "It was very exciting. Everybody got to know each other pretty well. They were pleasant times we had together. There are still quite a few people around."
Caption: Members of Kenilworth Air Training Corps 8F Squadron and Warwick Air Training Corps on a week's camp at Honiley aerodrome. Back Row: Mac Adkins, Bob Fear, Dennis Tutton, Roy Burke, Bert Winn, ? and Richard Tibbats.
Second from back: ?, Arthur Rose, Eric Twissell, Viv Rawson, Alan Collett, ? and ? Dutton. Third from back Arthur Gaydon, Bill Bragg, Gordon Watts and Norman Skelsey. Fourth Row from back Reg Fox, ? Sketton, Denzil Biggs, Ron Barnbrooke, ? Wain and Officer Sale. Front row Bill Baker, ? Burke and ? Robinson.
Anyone who can remember the names of the unidentified Kenilworth boys or any of the Warwick boys should write to the Weekly News at 31, Warwick Road, Kenilworth, CV8 1HN, call 01926 855061, or email editorial@kenilworthweeklynews.co.uk.
