The headquarters of the Kingston ATC Squadron is haunted by the suitcase ghost… so it is alleged.

Many people have reported hearing heavy footsteps… very strange, for the floor is carpeted!

So it has to be haunted… If so, by whom?

The answer must come from a certain suitcase, for when ever anyone looks into the suitcase, the ghostly footsteps are heard, as if resenting the intrusion into the suitcase.

So what is inside the suitcase?

Inside the suitcase is a Royal Flying Corps uniform that is said to have belonged to Captain James McCudden who, won the Victoria Cross in the first world war and, was mysteriously killed.

McCudden was one of the greatest airmen of both the first and second world wars. He was in a class of his own. James McCudden was born on March 28, 1895, at Gillingham, Kent. He joined the Royal Flying Corps as a mechanic in May 1913, in January 1916, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and, in September of the same year, the Military Medal. He got his commission in January 1917. The following month McCudden won the Military Cross … with a Bar in October of the same year. The Distinguished Service Order came in December 1917, with a Bar in January 1918. In April 1918, he was awarded the Victoria Cross and, the citation read:

For most conspicuous bravery, exceptional perseverance, keenness and a very high devotion to duty. Captain McCudden has at the present time accounted for 54 enemy aeroplanes…

In July 1918, James McCudden was promoted Temporary Major and killed at Marquiz on leaving to take over his new squadron… the last thing he had told his batman was… 'look after my new uniform in my suitcase.'

McCudden was flying on ahead… but he never made it. His aircraft crashed in mysterious circumstances. It was not an enemy aeroplane that brought him down.

'Look after my new uniform,' he told his batman.

So beware if you touch the RFC uniform in the suitcase at the HQ of the Kingston ATC Squadron.

…If you do, you will incur the wrath of Captain James McCudden, for that RFC uniform is surely his.

The ghostly footsteps are there to warn you to stay away from the suitcase.

Take heed.