This is an addition to a series of books that each cover the military legacy of British towns and cities. This book looks at the rich military legacy of the City of Norwich. – Highly Recommended
NAME: Military Legacy, Norwich's Military Legacy FILE: R2872 AUTHOR: Michael Chandler PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 127 PRICE: £14.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Norwich, Anglia, East Anglia, City of Norwich, aviation, aircraft factory, naval equipment, electric motors, Norfolk Regiment, Norwich Castle, Medieval Town
ISBN: 1-52670-774-8
IMAGE: B2872.jpg BUYNOW: tinyurl.com/y4pds4he LINKS: DESCRIPTION: This is an addition to a series of books that each cover the military legacy of British towns and cities. This book looks at the rich military legacy of the City of Norwich. – Highly Recommended Norwich was the second city of England during the Middle Ages and has a fine Norman Castle, currently used as a museum and undergoing a restoration to reintroduce missing floors. Much of the City's original defensive walls have survived, together with a fine Gothic cathedral and some Medieval Streets. To a visitor coming to the City today, much of the more recent military legacy is hidden. The Earlham Cemetery contains the mass graves of those civilians killed during the German bombing of Norwich. There are a number of war memorials for those killed in a series of wars and Nurse Edith Cavell was buried at Norwich Cathedral, having been shot in WWI by the Germans. The Royal Norfolk Regiment, now part of the Royal Anglians, dates back to 1685, was headquartered at Britannia Barracks and the Regiment was award a large number of VCs. The Yeomanry formed in 1901, expanding rapidly during WWI, The Cavalry barracks had been demolished for a block of flats but part of a wall remains. Horsham St Faiths Airfield was a fighter base and Douglas Bader took over command of 242 Squadron there in WWII. Today this airfield is Norwich Airport. The Boulton Paul aircraft factory is no more but produced Sopwith fighters during WWI, a number of biplane bombers in the interwar years and the Defiant fighter which was designed to a flawed Air Ministry requirement as a two seat aircraft with four machine guns in a power operated turret aft of the pilot. It had initial success in the Battle of Britain when German pilots attacked from behind thinking it was a Hurricane. Once they understood the Defiant it was hastily withdrawn from front line service. The author has done a fine job of recounting this rich military legacy with a good selection of photographs illustrating his text.