Spitfire Training over Talacre 

loved this been going to talacre beach for many years about 50 i think my great grandparents lived in lighthouse cottage sadly over taken many years ago by sand dunes

I first watched this last August(2020).Excellent.Even though I holidayed in Talacre as a child throughout the '50s,as a teenager throughout the '60s and as a parent throughout the '70s,I never realised that the sandhills and beach between Talacre and Gronant were used as a range by the RAF.My maternal granddad owned a small caravan park on Dee Avenue (where the Talacre community centre is now) and it's interesting to note that the RAF red warning flag in the film is right next to Dee Avenue. In all the 25 years I holidayed in Talacre played in the sandhills(and did a circular walk along The Warren with our children's push chair in later years) I never ever found a spent 303 round or cartridge.Incidentally,I was born near RAF Hawarden(mentioned by Ian Hunt) and was an ATC cadet there for 5 years during the late '60s.Having seen most of the other available excellent work done by Dextra Visual,please keep it up.It's to be commended.

Hello Barry! I spent all my hols with the family at the same time. Our bungalow was called Overleigh. It was directly opposite the green corrugated mission hut adjacent to the sandy path to the beach from tyn y Moria lane. What great times we had!

I still have a few of the bullets and spent cartridge cases that we dug out of the sand dune behind the bungalow we spent our summer holidays in in the 1950s and early 60s. Some pill boxes were still standing on the beach then. It was a magic place.

Well that brought something alive. We had a bungalow on the Warren from 1950 till 1972. In the mid fifties there was a huge grass fire which burned down a number of bungalows. It also left the sand bare and at the entrance to Hidden Valley from the Warren I found close to a hundred spent 303 and 50 mm canon cartridges along with belt links. I still have some of them. The links were corroded but still recognisable. It was only when I was much older did I discover the area was a target range and apparently at least one Spitfire crashed killing the pilot. I also remember the stumps of the wooden posts that were visible when the tide went out. Memories. "Calor Gas calling."

Excellent work again. I never knew Talacre was a test place for the RAF.

That Spitfire Mk1a was originally a Presentation Aircraft "Ceylon II" later allocated to No 57 OT Unit Hawarden! Nicely done, perhaps RAF 611 Sqn (West Lancashire) not 610 Sqn!!

Fantastic work. I remember the Warren looking similar but with a few less remaining dwellings back in the 1970's. I used to play as a child behind Lotti's place in the sand dunes. I found many spent rounds and casings.

I was there today with my metal detctor pulling impacted spit rounds out of the sand in front of the lighthouse!

We have had lots of bullets etc, a good few old coins especially three pences! loved the footage you have done there great to see it as it was gives a good understanding of the time

Stunning!

Wow I just love what you do - brilliant.

I went up there yesterday with the metal detector and got some of the 50.cal spitfire bullets 😎

Nicely done.

outstanding

Not sure why I've only just spotted this as I've been following your work for a couple of years!!! Love the attention to detail, such as the slight doppler shift of the sound from the Spitfire as it passes by. I'm curious about the placement of the lighthouse - today it's quite a distance from the dunes. Have the dunes shifted since the 1930/40s?

Very nice! Is this done in HDRP?

The animation is brilliant however, there is one glaring mistake In the whole piece. It the film it depicts the targets for the fighters placed on the sand dunes. Who ever provided the information about the target range obviously did not live on the Talacre Warren during the War. !?. Anyone who lived in The nearby villages could also tell you that the targets for the fighters were run out, hundreds of yards on the sands at low tide .The targets themselves were placed on frames. At the end of practice,these target frames were winched back in by cables which were attached to the frames and operated my military personel who worked the winch mechanism. If you stopped and actually thought about it then it becomes obvious that You could not have aircraft staffing targets on sand dunes which were in very close proximity to people living in chalets within a few hundred yards of these targets. It's great that the war time history of this area has been documented but it is crucial that the information shared is accurate.