The Heritage Buddy

 You may have heard of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and South Park's Mr Hanky, now get ready for... Squiffy the Christmas Spitfire! I bought this spitfire plush decoration from Imperial War Museum for the Christmas tree, whilst decorating it, I flew it around and knew I had to name it. The name Squiffy came from the Monty Python RAF Pilot sketch, as this word is suited well when pronounced by a stereotypical RAF pilot!  Happy Christmas! 🎄  Do you have a special character you associate with Christmas or what is your favourite holiday activity? Please share it with me!  I would love to wish all my friends, family, colleagues and fellow living historians/reenactors/costumed interpreters a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2026! 

 I found out about this advent calendar of different vehicles through a fellow history enthusiast who told me you can buy these advent calendars off Amazon; at first I thought these were toys or miniature models, or even parts for a modelling kit. There was a choice of planes, tanks or ships, which I had chosen planes as it was the first one I saw, and perhaps it will be tanks or ships next year! It turns out that these 'figures' are actually 2D flat resin hanging decorations for the Christmas tree.  In order to ensure this is  NOT  a waste of creativity; I had the idea that I will learn a little about each plane from the advent calendar, and contribute it to this very blog, hence  'BLOGMAS'.  What Have We Got? After waiting a week for this said advent calendar to be delivered, it was delivered on the 5th December, which is why I am introducing you to the first 5 types of international WWII aircraft.  While doing some research on the planes that don't ...

During a gym workout session when taking a brisk walk on the treadmill, I received a WhatApp message from my father saying his colleague is doing a research project on an abandoned RAF and US Army Air Force (USSAF) airfield in Essex, and is inviting me along on the project.   I met with my father's colleague soon after; he explained the history of the airfield on how it was one of the airfield for the Americans during Britain's alliance during the Second World War, then the RAF came in later. Despite being operational for only two years, the airfield also played a part on D-Day with the Glider Pilot Regiment, then onto Operation Market Garden (Battle of Arnhem), followed by the Rhine Crossing (Operation Varsity).  A month later after holidaying and day trips, I booked myself into Imperial War Museum's research facility and requested to look at Bruce Stait's book, Rivenhall: An Essex Airfield and some documents to see what I could learn about the airfield. I then bought ...