大象传媒

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Recently, whilst researching church history in the local library and going through old newspapers, I came across an article headed 鈥楻.A.F. 鈥淔IDO鈥� Secret鈥� with the sub-heading 鈥楥arnaby鈥檚 鈥淲atchdog鈥� of Distressed Aircraft鈥�. The article was based on facts issued by the Minister of Information and the Air Ministry in 1945, stating that;

鈥淔IDO was one of the greatest inventions and best kept secret of the war.

The aerodrome was three miles long and constructed early in the war. The workmen would have no idea what a great part the airfield was to play in the defeat of Germany. 鈥淥n either side of the emergency runway, for 1800 yards in double lines ran the pipelines of FIDO filled with petrol, they were to operate in 3seconds and be fully operational in less than 5 minutes. It was first used in April 1944鈥�.

The official description of the system was;

鈥楢 great glow in the sky accompanied by dense volumes of thick black oily smoke; when the smoke disappeared the fog was tinged red, growing brighter and brighter until the people in Bridlington could read newspapers by it.鈥�

The blaze could be seen for over fifty miles. Some fire brigades from many miles away actually clanged themselves to Bridlington to find that there was no fire. What they were witnessing for the first time was the faithful watchdog of distressed aircraft, the Carnaby FIDO.

From April 1944 to the end of hostilities 1600 aircraft made emergency landings at Carnaby alone, this figure did not include normal or routine landings.

Once, 75 four-engined aircraft, returning from an attack on Germany, landed in just under an hour and 37 were once landed in 25 minutes.

A low-flying German bomber dropped a bomb on the runway which landed 25 yards from the control tower. Fortunately, it failed to explode and several aircraft were landed safely and their crews saved.

Another incident concerned a Halifax, one night on its way back from Norway it was attacked and a hole blown in its side. There was no sign of the air gunner. The crew knew they鈥檇 lost him; imagine their surprise when, on landing safely at Carneby, they found the air-gunner suspended only by his parachute straps, alive, in spite of the nightmare journey.鈥�

I was so delighted with the find that my first response was 鈥業 must show Olive鈥�. Alas, it was not to be. Olive had died two weeks earlier at the age of eight.
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Added by: Alan Brigham - www.hullwebs.co.uk

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