World War Two: Evidence of damage/stuff left over now.

World War Two: Evidence of damage/stuff left over now.

Author
Discussion

rolando

2,117 posts

154 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
quotequote all
rolando said:
The WWII control tower at Winkleigh Airfield in Devon is currently up for sale. Local folk are trying to raise funds to restore to house a museum.

I'm told it sold for £122k.

Of "stuff left over now", I got chatting to an elderly gent yesterday while I was waiting for an eye test at Specsavers. It transpired that he worked on the construction of Winkleigh airfield, delivering stuff to site. He recalled how unsuitable it was because the ground was very soft and unstable and many tons of stone had to be quarried locally to provide foundations for the runways. I'm sure the conversation could have gone on for quite a long time had I not been called in for my appointment…

Jos Notstoppen

495 posts

140 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
quotequote all
Celtic Dragon said:
The search has now gained some legs and I feel a trip tot he IWM or Nation Archives comming on. With a bit of help from my mother (shes an expert at trawling through archives thanks to familiy archives) on how to search, the below snippet has come to life. I just hope if they were SOE buildings their not covered by the 100 year ruling on offical secrets.

2 prefabricated huts located at Quarry Hills. Hidden from the road in a dip surrounded by woods their use is unknown, although they may have been associated with Tempsford Airfield. The smaller hut was breeze block lined with brick partitions, a dry concrete floor and 3 hatches. The longer hut was constructed in the same manner with no partitions and the ends knocked out. Between the huts is a sump and above the smaller hut is a concrete block with anchor bolts of unknown use. Internally evidence of paint suggests that the huts were either used as living quarters or were permanently manned.
Not sure if this link is of interest, people on this site may be able to help
http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/communi...

princealbert23

2,574 posts

160 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
quotequote all
The pox doctors where GIs were treated before the invasion of Europe. They scribed their names on the wall https://goo.gl/maps/ape6MqiaNor



Edited by princealbert23 on Wednesday 30th September 21:54

blueg33

35,589 posts

223 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
quotequote all
At Bishops Cleevd near Bristol (ex ww2 airfield) there are a couple of underground bunkers my son has explored. Some years ago I built houses on part of the site. When doing ground works we found some leather boxes with these tubes in. We informed MOD and they sent a team from Porton Down who did a finger tip search of the site and ground radar search. The boxes were nerve gas test kits used by ARP's , apparently they may have contained samples of toxic substances.

HTP99

22,443 posts

139 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
A regular dog walk on the North Downs:






Easy_Targa

463 posts

193 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
How about this one?
Mrs ET needed a visit to Erith Hospital in NW Kent. I think that this
x Ray department once had a different use

Easy_Targa

463 posts

193 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
Another view.
I think this might need saving

AstonZagato

12,652 posts

209 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
You could buy this former torpedo test tank:

http://search.knightfrank.co.uk/rch130059

Quhet

2,409 posts

145 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
AstonZagato said:
You could buy this former torpedo test tank:

http://search.knightfrank.co.uk/rch130059
My gosh, that place is fantastic!

DJFish

5,917 posts

262 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
Quhet said:
My gosh, that place is fantastic!
Marvellous!
Some more pics here to save you googling:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3261768/Lu...

The Don of Croy

5,976 posts

158 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
DJFish said:
Quhet said:
My gosh, that place is fantastic!
Marvellous!
Some more pics here to save you googling:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3261768/Lu...
Some good quotes in the comments (might be a first for the Mail) from people that worked there, too.

On BBC2 last night Julia Bradbury was talking to a historian about the pillboxes along the Kennet and Avon canal. He said in total more than 18,000 were created in just a few months! Only 6000 survive. Sometimes I think half of those are in the fields around our village...

Morningside

24,110 posts

228 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
I know where there is a hidden pill box but for some odd reason it is all bricked up. Any ideas? Old chemicals?

ApOrbital

9,942 posts

117 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
To keep out the smackheads.

Composite Guru

2,205 posts

202 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
Morningside said:
I know where there is a hidden pill box but for some odd reason it is all bricked up. Any ideas? Old chemicals?
Heath and safety issues too I suspect.

DannyScene

6,596 posts

154 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
Morningside said:
I know where there is a hidden pill box but for some odd reason it is all bricked up. Any ideas? Old chemicals?
I'd be tempted to go down and knock a few bricks out, see what you can see inside if it looks OK remove the rest or enough to squeeze through

The desire to see what no one had seen since it was bricked up would be too great for me to ignore

BuzzBravado

2,944 posts

170 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all



Crammond Causeway to force enemy boats around the north of the island, where the gun embankments were waiting.

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
DannyScene said:
Morningside said:
I know where there is a hidden pill box but for some odd reason it is all bricked up. Any ideas? Old chemicals?
I'd be tempted to go down and knock a few bricks out, see what you can see inside if it looks OK remove the rest or enough to squeeze through

The desire to see what no one had seen since it was bricked up would be too great for me to ignore
Many reasons for doing this. As others have said, to deter 'smackheads' and rough-sleepers, to keep kids from playing in them, because they are unsafe (quite unlikely, but used as an excuse), to preserve them (especially if intact fittings remain), and some of them are home to colonies of bats (just like the Victorian era 'fort' at the top of Box Hill in Surrey).

Some were accessed by tunnels/trenches, which in many cases were collapsed or filled in to prevent access. There are several on the former RAF Debden airfield in Essex which cannot be accessed because entrances were deliberately blocked by using heavy plant to doze earth against the walls, or fill in entry trenches. At least one (of the half-dozen or so there) still had it's machine-gun mount and some of the (badly corroded) steel shutters in place. While I was there a half-buried concrete building (not a defensive structure, though) was demolished for (genuine) safety reasons after a youngster fell and broke a leg while mucking about in and around it.

Most of the pillboxes on or near the Basingstoke Canal are still open. I had a nose around a particularly unique one a few weeks ago. Because it was built on a slope at the back, it had an access 'tunnel' leading to a flight of stairs UP into the body of the structure. The size and shape of the 'operating' area was pretty much taken from a set of drawings for the 'Type' of pillbox being built, but on complex or difficult sites, problems were very much solved on a local basis, so there are a good few truly unique structures dotted around the country.

danllama

5,728 posts

141 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
Well it seems many of us have found our spiritual home on Pistonheads in this thread. What a fantastic collection and thanks to everybody for contributing so far smile

I'm a huge ww2 enthusiast and always have been, so I can hopefully properly contribute at some point.

For now I will mention just a couple of things. Havering country park used to be Hornchurch airfield. There's really not much left visually except for some pillboxes. Great atmosphere about the place though.

Also I grew up.in Hackney, in the 80's/90's and remember vividly, areas of ruin that had just been left since the war. And my childhood was full of aunties and uncles (not real family but you know) who had lived through the war and had amazing stories. I strongly believe the proximity of the war and the East End is one of the reasons for my interest in the period.


don'tbesilly

13,900 posts

162 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
yellowjack said:
DannyScene said:
Morningside said:
I know where there is a hidden pill box but for some odd reason it is all bricked up. Any ideas? Old chemicals?
I'd be tempted to go down and knock a few bricks out, see what you can see inside if it looks OK remove the rest or enough to squeeze through

The desire to see what no one had seen since it was bricked up would be too great for me to ignore
(just like the Victorian era 'fort' at the top of Box Hill in Surrey).
Do you mean the fort at the top of Reigate Hill?

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article-1356395283...

http://www.surreylife.co.uk/out-about/places/a_mil...

The Surreylife article references Montgomery's command post which was built in the foothills of Reigate Hill and the crash of a US B17 in 1945 at the top of the hill.
I ventured into Montgomery's command post back in the 70's way before it was sealed off, and it was a fascinating insight into war time Britain.

There is a memorial bench marking the site of the air crash at the top of the hill, and at least two old pill boxes on the walk up to the top of Reigate Hill from the car park at the top of Wray Lane/Reigate Hill (A217)

The Fort itself is well worth the visit when it's open to the public:

Opening Times & Information
Reigate Fort is open from dawn until dusk every day of the week,
although access to the interior of the buildings is restricted. The
buildings can be viewed on scheduled guided walks, or by chartering
your own guided tour for groups of fifteen or more. Contact the North
Downs East Estate office for further details.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/document-135576691...

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/reigate-hill-and-g...


fatboy18

18,930 posts

210 months

Thursday 8th October 2015
quotequote all
My Uncle lived at the base of the quarry on Reigate hill in the 1960s when he bought the house it came with the quarry too! There were tunnels in the quarry (which may have been used by the military for ammo storage) but sadly due to many trespassers onto the property grounds and fear of the tunnels being unsafe, he had the entrances blown up! He sold the house in the late 1970s
There is a private road between the Esso garage and the pub half way down reigate hill, Montgomery had a house there, friend of mine did some plastering work there, he told me they still have a map room in the house preserved as his office?