I just wanted to drop a line to join the myriad others on your site to
thank you for the pictures from EQD Aquila. My grandfather, Jesse
Supper, was the director of Aquila for eight years until 1975.
I have photographs of him opening Block 4 (the apprentice centre, or
'Sixties monstrosity' -- actually Seventies!) and audio and photos
from his retirement presentation in the dining room (eerily empty in
the photographs you took, but still recognisable) so it's a bit of a
shame you didn't manage to snap the dedication plaque in Block 4 now
it's gone forever.
My grandfather died last November aged 92. I wasn't born until 1977,
so it's only now I've looked through some of his papers and
photographs that I'm aware of the magnitude of his achievements and
the scale of the operation over which he presided.
I considered taking a trip to Chislehurst, just to walk around the
perimeter of the site, but it's abundantly clear that it no longer
exists, and as it seems to have been decommissioned years ago, it
would have only depressed me were it still standing. I'm very pleased
that you've preserved something of the memory of Aquila. We're feeling
the absence of the hard work of the EQD, and the attitude it
represented in training apprentices and promoting the importance of
well-organised QA systems.
It's probably all Thatcher's fault. Most things are.
" - 
