# Retractable Pill box



## historyman09 (Oct 20, 2010)

Hope this is posted in the right place if not can some one move it for me thanks  

I went to the coast (portsmouth / south sea) the other day with my girlfriend and we stumbbled up on this lovely looking pillbox i do believe there are not many of these left now its a retractable pill box!!

here is a bit of info i found on the internet about them

In the summer of 1940 many engineering companies approached government departments with plans for defence structures designed to their own specifications. The New Kent Construction Company of Ashford, submitted plans for a "disappearing pillbox" for airfield defence to the designs of Donald Hamilton FSI, LRIBA.

The design consisted of two precast concrete pipes, one sliding within the other, one end of each being closed. These were to be installed on end in the ground at suitable locations on the landing areas of airfields. When not in use, the concrete lid of the smaller pipe (rising head) lay flush with the ground surface, but when brought into action during an emergency, it rose some 2ft 6in above the surface to permit fire from either of its three loopholes. In the closed position the pillbox was concealed, it therefore allowed for an element of surprise particularly in the event of a landing of enemy parachute or airborne troops.

if any one wants to read more on these this is the link
 http://www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk/phfortpage.htm


anyways on with the two pictures i managed to get before my camera run out of battery






i tried to get a view of the inside of this pillbox but it didnt come out very well 





a view ofthe outside of the pillbox only a little bit retracted but still nice to see


if you want to see more pictures of these types of pill box follow the linki i found that posted above the website is very informative 

hope you like what you see


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## UrbanX (Oct 20, 2010)

Wow! Never seen one of those....I want one though! 

Cheers for the history too, I'm off to find out more


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## historyman09 (Oct 20, 2010)

ive never seen one until the other day ive also got some other pictures of two tanks that were there as well ill upload them soon !


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## night crawler (Oct 20, 2010)

Nice to see on of those, I thought they tended to be on Airfields.


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## AndyC (Oct 20, 2010)

UrbanX said:


> Wow! Never seen one of those....I want one though!



This chap has beaten you to it: http://tinyurl.com/33noabf


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## Captain-Slow (Oct 20, 2010)

night crawler said:


> Nice to see on of those, I thought they tended to be on Airfields.



I thought that two, Nevermind its great to see one. Wouldnt it be fab if the Mechanism to lift and lower it still works????


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## nij4829 (Oct 20, 2010)

A great find, well done


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## historyman09 (Oct 20, 2010)

AndyC said:


> This chap has beaten you to it: http://tinyurl.com/33noabf



this is where i got most of the info from


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## historyman09 (Oct 20, 2010)

night crawler said:


> Nice to see on of those, I thought they tended to be on Airfields.



normally but this had been removed and placed here for people to see and to preserve it as its outside a museum


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## hydealfred (Oct 20, 2010)

Interesting as these were usually found on airfields typically in three's. Is there an airfield near by 

Link maybe of interest - http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-505040-world-war-ii-pickett-hamilton-fort-su-46


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## Black Shuck (Oct 20, 2010)

I've only seen these very seldomely. They are as rare as Hens Teeth, nice find.


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## Zotez (Oct 20, 2010)

Well cool i wish we had those here rather than the boring concrete boxes!


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## swanseamale47 (Oct 20, 2010)

So what was use to lift it up quickly? it must be a good weigth.


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## hydealfred (Oct 20, 2010)

swanseamale47 said:


> So what was use to lift it up quickly? it must be a good weigth.



Usually a hand operated hydraulic ram pump was used to raise the centre section. There were also a small number of counterbalance type but I'm not sure how these worked.


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## cptpies (Oct 21, 2010)

This is one of the ones emplaced to defend Portsmouth City airfield. The DoB lists two but I suspect they are duplicate entries for this one. The plan was to emplace three PHFs where required but it seems in some cases only one or two got put in.


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## hydealfred (Oct 21, 2010)

Thanks CPT - I did wonder whether it was something to do with the former Portsmouth Airfield.


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## skeleton key (Oct 22, 2010)

*Thank you*

*Great to see it in such good shape.
Now wouldnt it just be just so sweet to get inside 

SK*


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## jonney (Oct 23, 2010)

http://www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk/phfortpage.htm

this link shows the inside workings of the forts


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## echo. (Oct 24, 2010)

AndyC said:


> This chap has beaten you to it: http://tinyurl.com/33noabf



lol! see, thats what you get when you ask... I WANT ONE!


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## Munchh (Oct 25, 2010)

Yeah definitely got the 'I want one' factor. Check out alf's report on the one he found if you haven't already. Thanks for posting.

[ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=15958[/ame] 



Zotez said:


> Well cool i wish we had those here rather than the boring concrete boxes!



boring concrete boxes? never heard of one mate


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## Caveman (Oct 26, 2010)

Anybody visiting the museum at Hawkinge can see a working model of an early version of a Picket-Hamilton fort, which was donated from the inventor's wife.


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## hydealfred (Oct 26, 2010)

Caveman said:


> Anybody visiting the museum at Hawkinge can see a working model of an early version of a Picket-Hamilton fort, which was donated from the inventor's wife.



Excellent museum at Hawkinge - used to volunteer there in the late 80's. Well worth a visit.


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## Caveman (Nov 25, 2010)

Anybody wanting to read a good article about one of these forts might want to read this...
http://www.afterthebattle.com/osCommerce/product_info.php?products_id=257


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## harryamb2 (Dec 6, 2010)

hawkinge has 2 of them,1 buried & 1 exposed.they are both from the airfield.they worked on gas bottles.


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## ® Andy (Jan 13, 2011)

Fascinating! Where in Pompey exactly is that one?


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## qd535 (Jan 16, 2011)

Used to live on kenley airfield in the eighties and remember the gliding club up there going down one and actually getting it to rise. The thing that stuck in my mind was that they could not lower it which presented a problem for the club so they drove a lorry over it quite a few times to lower it back (something to do with a valve had stuck).


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## Caveman (Jan 19, 2011)

® Andy said:


> Fascinating! Where in Pompey exactly is that one?



I saw this one at the D-Day museum close to Henry V111's Southsea Castle. There is also a Sherman, a Churchill Crocodlie Tank and a 3.7" AA gun within the same vicintiy.


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