This little parish church during the time of World War Two was used as the official Airfield Church and so has a section dedicated to wartime flights and airmen.
"Isolated in a field, is the mediaeval round-towered St Andrew's Church. Inside, total silence, and on one wall, four wallboards, carefully hand-painted : VICTORIES and DECORATIONS & AWARDS. Every claim meticulously painted on as they happened. These historic boards once adorned the Officer's Mess and were saved when the buildings were demolished in the 1950s. Many famous Mosquito Intruder names here, 'Sticky' Murphy, 'Sammy' Hoare, Paul Rabone, even Dambuster Mickey Martin flew Intruder ops from here while 'resting'. I leave the Church and walk up the lane. Very little remains of the old airfield now, but the Control Tower still stands in a sea of wheat. Appropriately, hundreds of poppies are mixed in with the crops. The only sound to be heard is the song of skylarks". (Martin Bull, WW2 forum)
Two large boards have "Victories" with Date, Squadron Number, Crew, Place and Claim; another large board has "Honours and Rewards" with Date, Squadron, Name, and Award (eg DSO, DFM). The Sqaudrons were 515, 23 & 169. Dates range from 1944-1945.
Between the two are several pages behind glass which look like duty rosters or crew lists. They have the names and designations (ie Flight Lt., Flight Sergeant) of some crews with their actual signatures.
These names may seem to be irrelevant now and perhaps long-forgotten but they are very relevant to the families of war heros, the brave men who flew Lancasters and Mosquitos to combat this country's enemies. The story of just one such hero, who happened to be the Little Snoring Base Commander, is found on a separate page. It is dedicated to Group Captain 'Sammy' Hoare.
The full-size photo of each board can be seen when clicking on the thumbnail. A complete listing of all the names, victories and awards can be found by clicking the name under each board (below)