THE new book God Bless the Prince of Wales, by Scarborough man David Fowler, stems from a period when the town was full of Royal Air Force aircrew trainees.
There were no fewer than three Initial Training Wings in the town during the earlier part of the 1939-45 War.
Scarborough's empty holiday hotels were a ready source of billets for the trainees. One ITW was based on the Esplanade's Prince of Wales Hotel, another on the Grand and other hotels in the St Nicholas Cliff area, while the third was centred on Scarborough College and hotels in its vicinity.
The book has reminded me that the big contingents of RAF personnel left their mark on the town in more ways than one.
Years later, when redecorating work was being done at the St Nicholas Hotel, some cartoons were found drawn on walls which obviously dated from the RAF occupation. They had simply been covered up when the hotel had been handed back for civilian use.
The cartoonist was obviously talented, though 65 years later the RAF humour clearly doesn't come across as well as it would have done when the work was done.
Scarborough's empty holiday hotels were a ready source of billets for the trainees. One ITW was based on the Esplanade's Prince of Wales Hotel, another on the Grand and other hotels in the St Nicholas Cliff area, while the third was centred on Scarborough College and hotels in its vicinity.
The book has reminded me that the big contingents of RAF personnel left their mark on the town in more ways than one.
Years later, when redecorating work was being done at the St Nicholas Hotel, some cartoons were found drawn on walls which obviously dated from the RAF occupation. They had simply been covered up when the hotel had been handed back for civilian use.
The cartoonist was obviously talented, though 65 years later the RAF humour clearly doesn't come across as well as it would have done when the work was done.
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