File:St Mildreds Bay Westgate 22805 - 2.jpg

Summary
Uploaded by Simon Moores. Photo taken by Simon Moores and donated to Wikipedia for reference purposes.

Licensing:
Note the Coastguards building to the immediate right of the tennis courts upper left of picture and the 'Boat House' and coastguard crew cottages adjacent. View is of St Mildred's Bay from the north at an altitude of 1000 feet

Where the golf/putting green/car park/beach huts can be seen in the lower left quadrant of the photograph is where the RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service) seaplane base stood in 1916. The last remaining seaplane launch slipway can be seen at the bottom of the picture, its larger brother having been removed in the 1980s

Prominent on the seafront promenade is 'Pav's Cafe', once owned and operated by British film director, Herbert Smith (named after his wife 'Pav') and a popular local landmark

The remain of the famous St Mildred's Hotel can also be seen behind the new high-rise buildings on the seafront. During the Second World War, a Blenheim bomber made a successful forced landing on the green in front of the hotel. Not so lucky, the crew of an American Liberator bomber (see www.thanetlife.com) one of two aircraft, from the 392nd USAAF bombing group (BG), - Based in East Anglia near Wendling, Norfolk, - which crashed off the beach at Westgate on 27th April 1944. The other, from the 446th BG, - Station 125, Flixton - crashed at Foreness Point, both following a raid over Germany.

Simon Moores - Westgate Councillor - Pilot/Photographer & Local Historian DrMoores 08:44, 5 December 2008 (UTC)