Melksham Probus Club held their monthly lunch meeting at the Kings Arms Hotel on Tuesday 2nd January.
The after-lunch speaker was Mr Barry Cooper who gave a most interesting and informative talk on the history of Lyneham airfield.
The site of the airfield was originally three farms but was bought by the government in 1937 following the threats of Nazi Germany. An airfield was built and during the Second World War was used for the purpose of storing new fighter planes and modifying aircraft for specific purposes.
After the war, Lyneham became the focus of transport command and was extremely busy during the time of the Berlin Airlift. As well as transporting equipment to war zones, including the Falklands, there were many humanitarian relief missions following natural disasters all over the world.
In 2012 a decision was taken to transfer existing operations to Brize Norton.
Currently Lyneham is used by The Defence School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.
After the talk there were many questions asked by the members and a vote of thanks was given by Richard Buckland.
Probus lunches are held on the first Tuesday of the month at the Kings Arms Hotel and the speaker for February will be Mr Alan Nix MBE who will be talking about the Motor Trade.
New members are always welcome. Please contact the secretary, Keith Gibbons on 01225 708114.
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