Howard Took

Civilian
media-34874.jpeg UPL 34874 Howard "Buzz" Took of Halesworth Airfield Museum, as a young boy.

Image courtesy of Buzz Took

Object Number - UPL 34874 - Howard "Buzz" Took of Halesworth Airfield Museum, as a young boy.

Buzz grew up in Halesworth, next to a USAAF base. Buzz’s father was a plumber, and worked on the airfield. Buzz recalled ‘standing against the fence with my brother, watching the Liberators.’ After the war, Buzz and his friends played on the airfield: ‘They were fantastic times. The hangars were our playgrounds.’ Later in life, Buzz helped create a memorial and a museum at the base, which is run by volunteers. ‘Up until just recently, everyone on our committee is over 70,’ he said. ‘And we’ve got one person under 70. It does worry me.’



Buzz picked up souvenirs of the Americans when playing on Halesworth airfield after the war. Among the items he has kept are a cap badge, .50 calibre armour-piercing bullet and bullet tip. Buzz talked about how he and others turned .50 calibre bullets they found into tools: ‘what people would do was: take the head off, hacksaw down the side, peel the outer casing off and inside you would have the actual tungsten armour-piercing bullet. And I mean that’s been used as a dot punch for the last 50-odd years and that’s never been sharpened and it’s still got a point on it like a pin.’

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American Air Museum text from displays.

Howard Took: Gallery (1 items)