Bombing of Lyon by the Allied air forces, 26 May 1944: damaged sites recorded by the City Property Service — Nouveau cimetière de la Guillotière: graves bombed / photograph by Sylvestre Municipal Archives of Lyon; 3PH/126 Date 26/05/1944

Buried under the Bombs

Posted on January 2, 2026 • No Comments

One of a series of stories and place-based sketches exploring locations that sit at the edges of the narrative told in The Écrivélo Book. Bombing of Lyon by the Allied air forces, 26 May 1944: damaged sites recorded by the City Property Service — Nouveau cimetière de la Guillotière: graves[...]

The Pilot of The Admiral Prune

Posted on July 24, 2025 • No Comments

Context Thursday, February 4, 1943. It was 22:30 hrs, and Lancaster W4118 was four hours and twenty minutes into a mission to bomb the Industrial Italian city of Turin. Six Lancasters from 106 Squadron had left RAF Syerston as part of a bombing mission consisting of 188 aircraft. The last[...]

Day 16 – Knipton to Woodhall Spa

Posted on July 25, 2018 • No Comments

...and finally to Woodhall Spa. The site of the old RAF Woodhall Spa, where on 26 July 1944 9 Mosquito Pathfinders took off. Cycling wise - today was an easy run up from Knipton to Woodhall Spa. I had intended to travel via RAF Syerston, which had been the base[...]