Thought I’d share this because it’s such a fantastic photo. Will explain more below. But basically it’s from an album found in a chazza. Look at these fellas.

The album is mostly family photos, all inter-war period, then a few from the war years. A few are annotated which means I might be able to work out who they belonged to. I hate puzzles, except this sort, which I love. Here’s the whole photo, first was just a crop.

The album is mostly taken around Norwich. In the second pic you can see they’re posed between two Nissen Huts. They’re Airmen on one of the local USAAF bases. There were loads of 8th AF around here. If I were to guess, I’d say this is Station 123, or RAF Horsham St Faith, now Norwich Airport.

This is based on other photos which seem to indicate the Catton and Hellesdon areas of the city. What is nice is there’s writing on the back, a lost art these days. It says:

‘Lloyd A Kimes(?) Coatesville, Penna Near my favorite English girl? And no offense, all the best in the world’ I’ll try and find him, see where he was stationed.

If it is Station 123, then they are likely to be fighter boys. The station converted to heavy bomber use in 1944 once they’d built longer runways.

There’s another, different fellas, but airmen. The glamour of these boys between the carrot pickers and home guard must have been a bit of an excitement for the (so far unnamed) woman who put this album together.

The road sign reads Alderford 2, Reepham 10, Norwich 2, Catton 2, Hellesdon 1. This places this photo about a mile and half straight up the road from where I’m sitting now. Very very near the airbase (now airport). Triangulating it in my head. I think I might even know the pub.