Any evidence of WW2 still exist in your town/village

[pokethepope]

Have an air raid shelter in my back garden.

[Sciroccology]

My Grandad once told me he still had his old greatcoat from the war. I asked where it was and he said:

"In the loft, wrapped round the tank."

"Wow! You've got a tank as well!?!"



Sorry

[Puff Puff]

One of the most fascinating places to visit is Bletchley Park, home of Station X.

[mybrainhurts]

richw_82 said:

mybrainhurts said:

richw_82 said:

mybrainhurts said:

B17 crashed in a park near me in Sheffield, quite a way off course.

All the crew perished and the USAF attend a memorial service in the park every year.

It's a tiny grassed park surrounded by trees and houses. Conflicting reports say it tried to land / nosedived in.

That would be the B17 "Mi Amigo" that crashed in Endcliffe Park. It did try to land but there were kids playing there. No where else to go and no power (two engines out) the pilot pulled up and hit the hillside.

Conflicting reports of that and I would be surprised if they were trying to put down in such a small area. I would suggest they were aining for the moors at Burbage, but fell short and went into the park to avoid houses on all sides.

Difficult to really say, as most of the witnesses were kids. He did have two engines out, had just come out of cloud, and will have been on the last dregs of fuel. Chances are if he was that far off track he wasn't aiming for anywhere other than down, at the first opportunity.


Ric

I sorted the formatting for you, Ric...it's a good job you don't fly B17s...

[mybrainhurts]

mickken said:

We've got this brown mess in our attic.....

....apparently it's the diarrhoea of Anne Frank

...you daft twaat

[anonymous-user]

williamp said:

Interesting evidence here:

http://uboat.net/history/hamburg_elbe2.htm

3 U-boats in Hamburg.

I've seen this before. I'd love to know the reason for filling it in. Surely trying to recover the U-Boats would have been worthwhile?

[funk odyssey]

williamp said:

funk odyssey said:

there's a scrapyard in Norfolk (now shut but still full) which has a huge fleet of lorries from WW2.

They were parked up in the immediate post-war years and have sat there ever since -

That sounds interesting. can you find it on google earth?

will be hard to see - there's lots of trees - can't get Google Earth to work at the moment - I'll try later from home


they are totally mullered though--

[FEZZA_RS]

gmk666 said:

FEZZA_RS said:

sorry to drag an old thread back to life but ive just read through all of this and im absolutly facinated! I live in a town in North Yorkshire called Selby 15 miles south of York and there is old air bases everwhere Elvington,Church fenton,Burn,Pollington etc I love nothing better than to spend an afternoon walking round a ww2 museum!

We used to go play on what was left of the army camp on Brayton Barff and I remember DIY mechanics would use the old ramps to work under their cars there.
Haven't lived in Selby now for 20 years, but parents still live nearby.

Brayton Barff? Sure you dont mean Barlow Village? Barlow was a huge army base with ramps,pitts etc it was used to hold the royal train when staying overnight up north also as a base during the war. The barff has nothing on it other than a few brick huts but 300yds away on Selby Golf course land is the remains of the old army/pow camp.

Edited by FEZZA_RS on Tuesday 10th February 17:05

[Oldred_V8S]

There's a parachutist still hanging from a tree, does that count?

[gmk666]

FEZZA_RS said:

Brayton Barff? Sure you dont mean Barlow Village? Barlow was a huge army base with ramps,pitts etc it was used to hold the royal train when staying overnight up north also as a base during the war. The barff has nothing on it other than a few brick huts but 300yds away on Selby Golf course land is the remains of the old army/pow camp.

No, definitely the Barff (my memory isn't that bad, even though I'm going back 30 years).
You're right, the old huts were out of the trees on the golf course side, so we're talking about the same place - the POW camp (Sandbeds?).
Never knew about Barlow though - more famous for the BMX track in my day...

Edited because I forgot to mention Riccall Aerodrome. I spent many a Saturday afternoon there as a 17-year-old doing 0-60 tests in my dad's 1.6HL Montego...

Edited by gmk666 on Tuesday 10th February 17:40

[andy400]

I live on top of Box Tunnel, so there's a fair bit round 'ere!

[Jonny671]

I've also just read the thread, very interesting!

My auntie has an anderson shelter in her garden.. There are also quite alot of pilboxes around here in Surrey.

I've not seen the big concrete stones in Guildford by the London Road Train Station though.

[mybrainhurts]

funk odyssey said:

williamp said:

funk odyssey said:

there's a scrapyard in Norfolk (now shut but still full) which has a huge fleet of lorries from WW2.

They were parked up in the immediate post-war years and have sat there ever since -

That sounds interesting. can you find it on google earth?

will be hard to see - there's lots of trees - can't get Google Earth to work at the moment - I'll try later from home


they are totally mullered though--

Bugger...thought we'd found Adolf's houseboat

[Cara Van Man]

Guam said:

Remains of North Witham (sure its north rather than south) still in the woods near Colsterworth roundabout next to the A1

This was where the American Airborne Forces Pathfinders (Brothers in Arms dudes) flew from on DDAY, mind you Lincs has shedloads of old WW11 airfields still kicking about to some extent


Cheers

We are spoilt for choice.....

[uk_vette]

Jimbeaux said:

Eric Mc said:

There are some pillboxes along the main London-Portsmouth/Southampton line here in Farnborough and Fleet. On of the pillboxes is in our local council allotment. Maybe we were worried about the Germans nicking our cabbages.

I found a number of overgrown pillboxes while exploring around Essex (sp?)Logical I suppose, seeing the airbases still there.

.
.
.
More on the main road between Rochdale and Heywood.

[Jonny671]

Does anyone have anymore about Area51 kind of places?

I read about Machrihanish in Scotland, that kind of thing interests me alot

Or about anything hidden, I read about hidden motorway exits sometime which was quite interesting

[...Mole...]

I live near an Longside Airfield which was built in 1941 and disbanded in 1945, now used for helicopters and a local flying club,

RNAS Longside(lenabo) is also nearby which was a WW1 Airship station, not much remains of it at all but its interesting to have a look anyway.

Alot of pillboxes on the surrounding beaches as well especialy Scotston and Rattray

[Sciroccology]

I've just tracked down the Google Earth overlay for all the wartime anti-invasion defences (pill-boxes, tank traps etc):

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/specColl/dob/downl...

[anonymous-user]

Snoggledog said:

About 10 miles away is a field on the south side of the Thames in Bourne End where prior to WW2 German planes used to land. To avoid the Germans from using this field as a landing point, it was covered with wrecked cars during the war. The other side of the river was home to an American General for a time. Can't remember which one though.

how do you know that? i know high wycombe and surrounding areas very well

[Famous Graham]

As mentioned, most Thameside villages will have a few pillboxes dotted around. I grew up in Pangbourne just west of Reading and can think of at least 3 within minutes walking distance from the village centre (one is right next to the recreation ground, so was always handy for playing around as kids).

As for items still in possession, my great grandmother was the first woman to work in one of the Ipswich munition factories and was presented with a shell with a plaque on it. That's still knocking around at my mum's (obviously not live, although its exterior is certainly intact). Just a bit rusty these days

Edited by Famous Graham on Tuesday 10th February 18:06