Hi I am looking for some information, any help is much appreciated. I am the archivist at Innes House , Moray . We know the RAF used the nearby airfield of Miltown , for 20 OTU , as a satellite base for RAF Lossiemouth and their Wellingtons in about 1942 - 1944 . The acquisition of Innes House for the officers mess and accommodation happened at this time also . We know there was a crash in 1943 that destroyed the clock tower that John Edward Tennant had built and we also have a sign for their mess bar ‘ called Mcginty’s Bar ‘ with a motif of a cockerel on it but we don’t know why , any information or where to look would be greatly appreciated
Kristy, Welcome aboard. The experts here on the RAF will hopefully be along. Meantime it is Milltown, not Miltown. Google states! There are a few threads here on Milltown, Morayshire - which can be id'd using the simple search function. Notably this one: RAF Lossiemouth OTU and http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/air-vice-marshal-john-downey-rip.21048/#post-256798 Warning: there are many threads amongst what comes back with a search - for Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. The documents you need from an old 2007 post by Peter Clare: There is a Tennant thread: 76226 Iain Mark TENNANT, Scots Guards
Nowt here for McGinty's Bar before your post. One likley hit in an online search: From: https://aberdeenvoice.com/tag/war/ Cullen is in Morayshire, it may not be relevant. The link points to a Alan Stewart’s first book in 2021. Titled ‘North East Scotland at War’., which could be useful and may be in the local library. There many threads with Lossiemouth in, too many to scan quickly. See: http://ww2talk.com/index.php?search/25072786/&q=lossiemouth&o=relevance When did the RAF give up Innes House then? It is not clear on your website: Home - Innes House Nice to glance at, if distant from here!
Thank you that’s great I will look into it , Cullen isn’t far from here . We don’t know much about the RAF being here at Innes , records seem none existent, just that the house was used as an officers mess and accommodation during 1941 - 1944 ish whilst Milltown was being used as a satellite airfield for Lossiemouth, they flew their Wellingtons from here I will look for the book thank you It’s a beautiful old place
From the British Newspaper Archive the CO of RAF Lossiemouth was a dinner guest In July 1939. .. race at the Findhorn. In the evening he was a guest at a dinner party at Innes House, among those present being the Earl of Moray, Group Captain Maitland, officer commanding the R.A.F. Station at Lossiemouth, and Major G. G. Petrie of Inchbroom. Count von ... Aberdeen Press & Journal 10th July 1939 1939-12-31
From another index item on the BNA it seems they were entertaining this chap Gerhard von Schwerin - Wikipedia
Innes House first appears in the unit ORB on 26th Jan 1941 when personnel of the Maintenance Wing were listed as being billeted there. Ross
Thanks to Travers1940 post I'd not heard of this German officer. For the purposes of this thread: From: Gerhard von Schwerin - Wikipedia Schwerin when back in Berlin appears in the Wiki for the British Military Attache, albeit briefly: Noel Mason-MacFarlane - Wikipedia Allowing for processing and possibly being flown to the UK as a known "helper" I expect he was entertained after VE-Day (8th May 1945). So, this would extend the time Innes House was used by the RAF. Had Schwerin visited before the war and knew the owners? Perhaps Innes House was near a POW camp for officers? There is a biography of Schwerin online and there are two references, translated below: Then: Changed the search to Scotland and this appeared, a pre-war reference: From: Search Results for tennant | Brill It appears that Ogilvie-Forbes was Sir George Arthur Ogilvie-Forbes, (1891-1954), Knight, diplomat. Some of his pre-war papers are in Aberdeen University Library: Ogilvie-Forbes, Sir George Arthur, (1891-1954), Knight, diplomat | The National Archives A long Wiki on him and his family home was: From: George Ogilvie-Forbes - Wikipedia He was the Charge de Affairs in Berlin and there are several references to him, including contact(s) with Schwerin. This is all intriguing but the German Resistance pre-war to Hitler and the British diplomatic response is truly a "rabbit hole" which I will not delve further into.
26/5/42 Whitley P5092 near Innes House according to ORB. This aircraft has numerous surrounding locations attributed on web pages - some more accurate with info than others. Ross
It seems he did know the owners , The Tennant family , the current owner says there is a photograph of Schwerin and Tennant family all standing by the back door at Innes , hoping to find this tomorrow and add to the Innes archives
These are the photos of the family at Innes with Count Von Schwerin and his signature in the family visitor book we have in the archives
So we have noted that the Mginty bar sign has a motif of a goat with a shamrock in its mouth not a cockerel
Hi Kirsty, Paddy McGinty's Goat was a popular song dating back to 1917. Paddy McGinty's Goat - Wikipedia Ross
