Spitfire Bridge Traditional Cache
Nubble: This cache has gone AWOL. As we are now living out of the area maintenance is difficult so we have come to a decision to archive it.
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Or should it be called Tomahawk Bridge.
The current structure, built in the 1980s, carries traffic on Alresford Road over the M3 into Winchester. But the original version, which was built in the 1930s, with the opening of the Winchester By-Pass had another claim to fame.
On October 19th 1941 Canadian pilot George Rogers was flying his aircraft, after having exhaust dampers fitted, back from Eastleigh to Odiham when he was struck by a moment of madness. He swooped low out of the sky in order to take his machine under the bridge.
This he managed but only after losing 3 feet off a wing tip. A swift evasive manouvre had to be executed to avoid collision with a lorry, in so doing, he could'nt avoid collision with the bridge! He managed to limp back to Odiham, perform an emergency landing and walk away with only minor injuries.
Until research proved otherwise it was always thought that he was flying R J Mitchells famous fighter. Local witnesses assumed this daring stunt could only be attempted by a "Spit" and the name Spitfire Bridge just stuck. In 1988 a local historian proved, without doubt, that George Rogers was flying a Curtiss Tomahawk. This was proven by finding the aircrafts record book at the Public Record Office.
The old Spitfire Bridge was demolished in 1983, virtually to the day, 42 years after the crash.
THE CACHE
You are looking for a small cliplock box with all the usual goodies. You could treat it as a cache n' dash, but, if you would like to re-live, in your imagination George Rogers stunt, you could park in Quarry Road (waypoint below) and walk to the cache site.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Tebhaq yriry
Treasures
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