Pints, Plaques and Post-War Reunions: Tracing 92 Squadron's Pub Heritage from Lincolnshire to Kent

Every airfield had its orbit of watering holes — the taverns where off-duty pilots sank pints, settled betting debts and, on occasion, learned that a friend would not be coming back. For 92 Squadron, that geography stretched from the flat farmland around RAF Digby in Lincolnshire to the hop-fields of Kent and the Wiltshire downs. Today, much of it can still be walked, pint in hand.

Digby and the Lincolnshire Circuit

When the squadron formed its identity in 1940, the surrounding villages offered few grand hotels but plenty of low-beamed public houses within a bicycle ride of the perimeter track. Establishments around Digby, Rauceby and Cranwell welcomed aircrew whose accents ranged from Geordie to South African, and several still display photographs of uniformed patrons from those years.

Local historians record that the squadron's famous card school found willing landlords — men prepared to keep a taproom open past closing time when a hand of poker was running long. One hostelry near the station is said to have kept a slate behind the bar for squadron betting debts, a detail recounted in parish reminiscences collected after the war.

Visitor's note: The Digby area is best explored by car or on two wheels. Combine a pub visit with a stop at the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln for wider context on the county's wartime role.

Biggin Hill and the Kentish Village Halls

The squadron's move south during the Battle of Britain placed it amid the orchards and oast houses of the Weald. Here the social scene shifted from the snug to the dance floor: village halls around Westerham, Biggin Hill and Tatsfield hosted regular dances where 92 Squadron's airmen were both welcome guests and, occasionally, the resident band.

These halls mattered. They were where local families met the young men defending their skies, and where romances began that would outlast the war itself. Several halls in the area still hold annual commemorative dances, and a handful retain wartime wall plaques naming the squadrons that drank and danced beneath their beams.

The pubs of Westerham and Brasted, clustered along the old Dover road, saw the squadron's pilots between sorties during the summer of 1940. Landlords' recollections passed down through families speak of tabs quietly written off for men who never returned to settle them — gestures of gratitude that speak volumes about the relationship between station and village.

Colerne and the Wiltshire Farewell

The squadron's later wartime moves brought it to Wiltshire, and the pubs around Colerne and the Box valley became the final chapter of its social geography. Stone-built and thick-walled, these taverns hosted the squadron's last great reunions, and it was here that many veterans returned in the decades after 1945, gathering under framed squadron crests that some landlords still hang with pride.

A number of these reunions moved to village halls as the ranks thinned, and a few continue today in diminished but dignified form — descendants and association members raising a glass where the Gambler Boys once did the same.

Planning Your Own Pilgrimage

For those wishing to follow in the squadron's footsteps, a three-day itinerary works well:

• Day one: Lincolnshire — Digby and its surrounding pubs, with a visit to the former station site.
• Day two: Kent — Westerham, Biggin Hill and the village halls of the Weald; the Kent & East Sussex circuit pairs well with the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne.
• Day three: Wiltshire — Colerne village and the pubs of the Bybrook valley, finishing at the association's memorial garden.

Photograph the surviving pub signs and plaques where you find them; several are undated and undocumented, and the association welcomes contributions to its archive. Call ahead at village halls — many are now community-managed, and custodians are often the best source of stories no book has recorded.

The aerodromes remember the squadron's war. The pubs remember its people. Both are worth the journey.