The Barrow Hill and The Lost Crown games do seem to be popular with Gameboomers members. Set in real locations that lends a touch of reality to the storyline got me thinking about where I finished the last two months of my army service.
The camp itself was for new recruits, what I think Americans call a Boot Camp, I and three others, returning from overseas were certainly not welcome, new recruits and old soldiers should never be mixed.
So we were housed in an old building outside the camps parameters on the edge of an old disused Second World War airfield, one of many scattered across the Suffolk countryside. It had the basic facilities, of water and electricity and little else. The old airfield buildings, a couple of hangers and admin block, were on the far side of the airfield three quarters of a mile away, the control tower stood by itself further to the north.
Which brings me to the purpose of this post because these old deserted airfields are a perfect background for an adventure game; let me explain. The graphics are all in place, the accounts of paranormal experiences on these old airfields are so many.
One such account concerns two police officers in 1998 who pulled over at 3am beside an old deserted airfield for their break. It was open countryside and farmland, no habitation for miles.
One officer turned to his mate and said
“Is the radio on, I can hear music
“No the radio is off, hold on I can hear it too?”
They got out of the police car and crossed the road.
“Its coming from those old building’s said the younger one “We better take a look”
“No, I recognise the song now, its Glen Millers Moonlight Serenade”, said the other “Get back in the car”
They never reported the incident until after they had retired.
The flat farm lands of the counties in East Anglia were commandeered in1940 for the building of airfields for the bombing of occupied Europe by Bombing Command (British) and later in 1943 by the American 8th Air Force. The loss of life for both British and Americans was horrendous. The British tour of duty was 30 missions which there was a 1in 6 chance of completing. The American loses were so bad that operations had to be suspended until the development of long range fighter cover was made available.
In a little village church in the county of Suffolk there is a small corner in remembrance for an American crew killed in trying to land their crippled B17. It has their photographs together with the American flag and always a vase of fresh flowers. A small tribute and not made by any official organization but by the village people themselves. Touching don't you think?