Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social opened the WW2 Exhibition at Buckler's Hard yesterday. The exhibition will form one small part of the WW2 Heritage Weekend on Sat 13 - Sun 14 of June. Search FB for Buckler's Hard Wartime Weekend for details.

This morning we were delighted to welcome Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social to officially open a new exhibition we've put together: 'Beaulieu River at War' - it runs at Buckler's Hard until October.

Some information on the WW2 heritage weekend we're putting together in the New Forest, at Buckler's Hard (on the Beaulieu River).

Banana for scale… This cannon shell was fired by an RAF Hawker Typhoon from RAF Needs Oar Point in the New Forest. On 18 April 1944, a lone German Junkers bomber appeared over the Solent and New Forest - an extraordinary sight at a time when the RAF controlled the skies. 🧵

Here’s how AI is rewriting history... I Googl'd Noor Inayat Khan. The left image is a genuine photo. The right AI-generated. The fake is pulled from a clickbait Facebook page. We're in an era where fictional can replace real history, and most casual observers won't even realise.

The Buckler’s Hard Wartime Weekend - 13/14 June, 2026. Step back in time this June as the historic riverside village of Buckler’s Hard hosts a free wartime heritage weekend commemorating the extraordinary role the Beaulieu River and surrounding New Forest played during the Second World War.

I'm organising this history weekend in the New Forest with the Buckler's Hard Shipyard Trust. It's free to attend. Full details of the exhibitors, speakers, vehicles, and things to see including an exhibition and more, will be published in the next couple of weeks.

I made this film yesterday: During WW2, Walhampton School near Lymington, was requestioned by the American Red Cross to become a place for USAAF airmen to read and recuperate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9NL...

This morning we led a family visiting from the USA - to the site where their father / grandfather died in 1959. He was a NASA test pilot flying a jet over England. Having this interest in history occasionally leads to days like this where you can help people.

I was walking this evening in the New Forest and found a brick so I thought I’d talk about bricks. Being a few weeks off 50, this is the kind of thing that many men of my age are interested in.

Can you help? I need recommendations for guest speakers to talk to my group in the New Forest, we seat 80 to 95 people twice a month. Military history speakers, aviation, WW2, WW1, etc. If you've seen anyone to recommend please say, or if this sounds like you.

Thank you for all that came to the New Forest this evening to hear about PLUTO. We had just shy of 100 people. The local interest in WW2 history is quite something.

I heard it's someone's birthday today. #spitfire

As it's Friday afternoon, here's a little bit of fun New Forest WW2 history I recorded which includes naked pensioners, witches casting a spell on Hitler, and the invasion scare of 1940.

I made a short film at the weekend. It took hours to plan, film, edit, publish. Things like this will never make me money, but I love the creativity - it makes happy, so hope you enjoy it too. It's about Noor Inayat Khan, SOE agent trained in Beaulieu. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y27...

William Eagle was a WW2 fighter ace, but later tragically killed in front of his fiancee whilst flying over the New Forest in his Typhoon.

I am giving a talk at Bournemouth University on Feb 26 if anyone is local to the campus.

Here's a batch of metal runway tracking that once held the weight of 200 departures of American P-47 Thunderbolts on D-Day from the New Forest. Unfortunately not enough to build a new Advanced Landing Ground but there is an interesting plan for it. #ww2 #d-day

The grave of Martyn King this evening. He was shot down over Southampton. The youngest Battle of Britain pilot killed in action, aged just 18.

Trained in Beaulieu, Executed in Dachau.

Was on the site of a Canadian D-Day camp in the New Forest this morning, and spotted this picket screw. Would have been used to fence the barbed wire and keep the men in camp... it's been left between two limbs, and 82 years later is now part of the tree.

I made a film this week if anyone cares to watch, or has a spare 5 mins, thank you. It's about WW2 Canadian airmen lost over the Forest and the letters parents would receive. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn1K...

I was at the Montagu Arms hotel in Beaulieu, New Forest, today, so thought a good opportunity to record a 45 seconds of WW2 & D-Day history that happened in the building. #newforest #ww2 #beaulieu #dday

If you attempt to drive under this bridge near Brockenhurst today, it will likely be flooded... due to WW2. The road was lowered in the lead up to D-Day to allow for military vehicles to pass under the bridge. Which is why it floods and traps cars to this day.

Here's a little about the site of the former New Forest D-Day WW2 airfield, RAF Lymington... and news

The former RAF Lymington looking a little soggy this morning. #ww2 #dday #newforest

Spotted on my travels this week were sections of the metal runways from the former RAF Lymington in Hampshire. On D-Day, American P-47 Thunderbolts rattled down this metalwork over 200 times on that day alone, starting at 3am in the morning til 7pm at night. #ww2 #dday #newforest

The talk I am giving on the RAF Lymington WW2 D-Day airfield sold out, so if of interest, a second date has been arranged. Book a seat on www.ticketsource.co.uk/nfhwa

Throughout the New Forest you can find evidence of where 1000s of men were camped up in advance of the D-Day Normandy Invasion. They left some traces... #newforest #ww2 #dday

Buckler's Hard during WW2.... www.youtube.com/shorts/TQATg...

Buckler’s Hard today; they’ve asked me to put an exhibition on here in the summer. Not of myself you’ll be relieved to hear. #newforest

Tonight 100 people turned up to hear me talk about stuff. Well, old WW2 airfields, proving there are others out there just as odd as me. Thank you. #ww2 #brockenhurst #newforest

I made a video a few years ago, with "then vs now" montages of WW2 airfields in the New Forest, here's a short clip.

I worry about the impact of phones on kids. But this has to positive: he went out today & sent me photos from his phone. He'll have the memories as long as he keeps them digital. Wish I'd had this opp when I was 12, as adventures I had, and friends, are now v. foggy in my memory.

Some time ago I advertised a talk I was giving about RAF Beaulieu, a New Forest WW2 airfield. The tickets sold out and some asked if I could organise it again. The hall has kindly let me repeat the room booking... so, if you want to come along, you can book a seat for the second date.

I used to make YouTube videos about WW2 history and air crashes in the New Forest. Not done anything for over a year, but was walking this morning and decided I'd start again... because it's something I love. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBvy...

Sick of the sight of turkey sandwiches (and your own family)? There is a handful of tickets left for this in Dibden Purlieu, New Forest, on Saturday 3rd January - you get biscuits nfhwa.org/events/

The BEAULIEU letters this morning. The letters were originally cut and filled with chalk circa 1910, when this land became the site of just the second flying school to open in England.

On a trek this morning - this concrete ballast is all that remains from a Barnes Wallis 'Highball' bouncing bomb test.

Kids at Sholing Junior School in Southampton are trying to raise enough money to place a memorial in the city to James Nicolson, the only Battle of Britain VC, plus Martyn King, youngest Battle of Britain pilot KIA... both events taking place over the skies of Southampton. 1/2

If you're interested in the history of the New Forest's WW2 airfields, I will be giving talks on Wednesday evenings in the first quarter of 2026 at Brockenhurst Village Hall - Jan is RAF Beaulieu, Feb is RAF Lymington, March is RAF Needs Oar Point. 🧵 1/2

Another packed hall in Dibden Purlieu tonight to hear the story of Battle of Britain VC, James Nicolson. It was a fantastic presentation, nearly 100 people came along, showing the interest in WW2 history in Hampshire.

As it's Halloween, here's an unmarked grave in a New Forest cemetery, which is allegedly where a witch is buried. A cage was once over the grave, possibly to stop her escaping. But the cage has been cut off, poss for metal recycling during WW2. Happy Halloween 👻

Beautiful sunset over Bagshot Moor at East Boldre this evening. This spot opened as the UK’s second ever flying school in 1910. Imagine how it was here with those magnificent men in their flying machines on an evening like this.

Saw this horse in the forest today. Calling her Jen-neigh-fer Aniston

Widened roads in the village of Pilley, New Forest. Widened to support the build-up of D-Day traffic in the area.

On this day in 1943, an Albemarle of 297 Squadron RAF spun into ground near Stoney Cross airfield in the New Forest with the loss of 4 lives. It's still possible to see the scar on the landscape (pic taken 4 years ago).

On this day in 1947, German POW Emil Kasten was killed after stepping on a land mine on the cliff top at Becton Bunny, near Barton on Sea golf course. He has been tasked with clearing land mines that had been placed as part of Britain's anti-invasion defences.

Here are a few photos of young American airmen, most of whom were from Texas, who found themselves on a field in Lymington, New Forest, in June 1944. They took part in the Normandy Invasion on D-Day.