大象传媒

My name is Derek Hogg, I was 14 Years of age and a member of Mitcham Sea Cadet Corps (a pre-service unit of the Royal Navy) and on a week's visit to the Royal Navy Air Station at Worthy Down, situated 3 miles north west of Winchester.
We were there to experience various aspects of flying in the Royal Navy.
On Monday, 5th June 1944, in the afternoon, I was taken flying in a Percival Proctor, a very light low-wing monoplane, by a pilot and navigator (that was all the plane could carry).
We flew around for about 2 hours, so that during our trip we were able to observe lots of military vehicles and equipment filling the roads around in Portsmouth and Southampton. The fields were littered with a large number of gliders and aircraft, nearly all of them painted with black and white stripes on the wings and fuselage (I didn't know until quite recent that they were only painted a day or so before D-Day).
We slept in Bell-tents and that night we were awakened by the noise of aircraft flying overhead. When we looked up outside the tent we could see troop-gliders being towed by large bombers, practically filling the sky.
In the morning of 6th June, whilst we were in the dining mess-hall having breakfast an announcement came over the Tanoy (loud speakers) telling us that the invasion (second front) had begun, and that the troops had landed on the beaches, that paratroops and glider troops had landed a few miles inland, with Naval bombardment and air support.
There were cheers from everyone in the mess. All day long, aircraft were landing, refuelling and taking off again but in the meantime telling us what they could see of the landing and what progress was being made. It was all very exciting and a memory that stays clearly in my mind.
I did go flying again later in the week, and troop movement on the roads was still very apparent, but now we know what it was all about.

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