The spirit of a wartime airfield is being conjured up by a South Lakeland man armed with digital technology and a bundle of fading documents.

Peter Jenkins, of Orchard Close, Cartmel, has set about gathering evidence to help him recreate Cartmel Airfield as it was in the 1940s.

The former training centre for RAF pilots once saw hundreds of young recruits put through their paces as part of Britain's war effort.

Today the site is used primarily as a parachuting centre with few of its former features still intact.

But Mr Jenkins is keen to restore the airfield to its former glory in the form of a digital image using old photographs, memories and historical documents.

The former photographer, who has a host of IT experience, has already gathered a wealth of information on the airfield - ranging from flight records to letters and photographs - as part of the VE day celebrations.

Some of the original features such as the hangar and a control tower are still in place but now he is looking for more historical details to help his project get off the ground.

"I have had all this material sitting here for a while now and the thought came to recreate scenes of the airfield as it would have been complete with examples of the type of aircraft that would have been there at the time.

"I would love to hear from anyone who has memories of the airfield as it used to be or old photographs of the site.

We can scan them and put them to best use.

"

It is not the first time Mr Jenkins has recreated scenes from the past.

Earlier this year, with the help Photoshop - a computer software programme for digitally altering images - he recreated a vision of Cartmel Gatehouse as it may have looked in the 14th century.

With advice from local historians and pictures of parts of other ancient buildings such as door frames and roof tops, Mr Jenkins pieced together a digital image

"I had been playing around with the image, wondering how it may have looked in the past.

I added some straw and some figures taken from photographs taken at Kendal's medieval market and it all snowballed from there."

Eventually Mr Jenkins hopes the images could be bound in a book and put on public display.

Mr Jenkins, who is in the process of setting up his own business, which includes digitally enhancing old photographs, said: "I can make a living from this community but I can also put something back."

To submit material, contact Mr Jenkins on 015395-36754.