Speaker Neil Werninck - Montrose Air Heritage Centre

President Ewen Allan chaired the Club's weekly meeting in the Best Western Scores Hotel. The members thoroughly enjoyed the evening's speaker Neil Werninck, from The Montrose Air Heritage Centre. The air station was first opened in 1913 by No 2 Squadron RFC and was the first operational station in the UK after the original at Farnborough. Neil had a fund of stories about personnel who had trained at the station. The squadron left Montrose for France and became the first aircraft to land there in 1914. During that war workshops developed in Montrose and many women were involved in both engineering and fabric making. To commemorate the centenary of the Squadron move to France the Heritage Centre built a replica of the first aircraft to land, a BE2 in 2012. The facility at Montrose reopened in 1936 as a pilot training centre. This training was not without drama and Neil showed a picture of a crash where a plane hit a railway signal box on the adjacent railway line as it came in to land. Fortunately on this occasion nobody was killed as the signalman had gone down to the cellar to get some coal for his fire. At its height during the second world war around 1500 personnel were at the station. In 1942 the pilot training ceased and subsequently it became a school for instructors. This was disbanded in 1945 and thereafter aircraft were dismantled until the complete facility was closed in 1952. The Heritage Centre was formed in 1983 and is now a registered charity. It contains exhibitions about the history of the Air Station and stories are told through the experiences of personnel who served there. Within the buildings are exhibits of some of the aircraft based there. As well as having thousands of visitors, the Centre feels children's education is very important and they are encouraged to enjoy hands on active learning, as well as experiencing what it was like to live during the war. Schools and Youth organisations are very welcome. Bruce Clark expressed the Club's thanks for a most informative talk.