# Raf manby officers mess oct 2011 part 1



## urban phantom (Oct 23, 2011)

Hi all i did one with my wife (queenie) and are exploring dog mac . For me this is the best offiers mess ive been in just a shame its been pebble dashed with air soft pellets ive got some history for you 
HISTORY: An impressive example, on a key aviation site, of a large-scale neo-Georgian officers' mess and quarters, typical of those erected on training airfields during the 1930s. For such a large building it is handled with simple dignity, embodying to an exceptional degree the improved architectural quality associated with the post-1934 Expansion Period of the RAF that resulted from public fears over rearmament and the environmental impact of air bases on the landscape. Detailing is restrained throughout, but massing, spacing and proportions are carefully considered, in the neo-Georgian style favoured at this period, and influenced by the impact of the Royal Fine Arts Commission, especially though the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. As is common on RAF bases, the Mess is set somewhat apart from the remainder of the buildings, and also has its own private entrance gates from the minor road to the S.

Manby was one the first generation (Scheme A) of those RAF stations built as a result of the great expansion of the RAF prompted by the rise of Hitler's Germany, although construction did not commence until 1936 and it was not opened until July 1938. It was built as an Armament Training School, and comprised the RAF's principal armament training section at the beginning of the Second World War, training armament officers, bomb aimers, air gunners and armourers with a variety of aircraft ranging from Hawker Hinds to Wellingtons. At the outset of the war it was providedwith a decoy airfield at Mablethorpe and used the bombing and gunnery range at Thaddlethorpe. It was later equipped with two paved runways (1,448 and 1,232 yards). The RAF Flying College was formed here in 1949, and the base was closed in 1974.

It ranks with Hullavington in Wiltshire - another Scheme A station - as the most complete and architecturally unified of the stations of the so-called Expansion Period, under way from June 1934. The buildings at Manby reflect a distinct change in the aesthetic quality and design of RAF stations. Against the background of public resistance to rearmament and concerns about the impact of airfields on the countryside, the recently-formed Royal Fine Art Commission advised the Air Ministry on the design of new sites. This consultation resulted in the appointment of a specialist architectural advisor (Mr Archibald Bulloch MRIBA) to its Directorate of Works and Buildings. The buildings erected for much of the Expansion Period were based upon a range of type designs, characterised by a homogeneity of materials and careful control of proportions: a clear distinction was made between the neo-Georgian domestic buildings and the more stridently modern style used for technical buildings. The buildings on the base were designed for the purposes of training, a purpose which allowed a greater formality of planning than purely operational stations, here achieved by the grouping of the principal buildings around a large parade ground. The domestic and administrative buildings - Bulloch designs of 1934-5 - are designed in a broadly neo-Georgian style, and comprise a group of special importance where the recommendations for listing are concentrated. These use timber double-hung sashes, and elevations presented in carefully-considered areas of wall and window, with regularity of layout and the comfortable proportions characteristic of the period: many of these designs, from the barracks blocks to the sergeants mess and the fine instructional block, have not been noted on any other RAF sites of the period. The Officers' Mess, the largest of the domestic buildings, is set apart to the south, with its own driveway, and the married officers' and NCO's quarters to the south-east form a well-preserved group. The technical buildings, grouped around the C-type hangars which front onto the flying field, use standard steel casements, with horizontal bars

now for some pictures




manby by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 172 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 139 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 124 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 128 by urban phantom, on Flickr
any one for bog roll nice 



urbex raf manby officers mess 118 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 113 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 107 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 096 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 082 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 088 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 073 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 066 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 060 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 058 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 049 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 039 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 028 by urban phantom, on Flickr




urbex raf manby officers mess 006 by urban phantom, on Flickr

thanks for looking all comments welcome


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## peanuts (Oct 23, 2011)

wow not seen this place since it was used as the location for the prizegiving for the 1989 panaround stages 

are the runways and taxiways still being used for stage rallys ?

was hairy to red line our mini down the runway only to see an SD1 scream past us !

have to dig my video out of that one 

fantastic memorys


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## urban phantom (Oct 24, 2011)

peanuts said:


> wow not seen this place since it was used as the location for the prizegiving for the 1989 panaround stages
> 
> are the runways and taxiways still being used for stage rallys ?
> 
> ...


Thanks mate
Yes thay still use perry track for rallys the run ways have been removed


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## John_D (Oct 24, 2011)

My father was stationed there early in the war, prior to being shipped out to Egypt where he was in charge of ground crew looking after Spitfires and Hurricanes. His first wife's family were from nearby Louth, where his brother in law owned a bakery (Laines). I took my father back to Manby to have a look around in the early 1990's, about a year before he died, and he pointed out where he was billeted in the main building Looking very sad there now, compared to 20 years ago


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## urban phantom (Oct 24, 2011)

Verry sad to see it in state its in but i wouldnt think anyone has the money to fix it up thanks mate


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## Black Shuck (Oct 24, 2011)

Hello Urban... thsi was on my to do list... I thought it had planning permission for redevelopment into a block of flats. If this is the Charterhouse??


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## urban phantom (Oct 24, 2011)

Black Shuck said:


> Hello Urban... thsi was on my to do list... I thought it had planning permission for redevelopment into a block of flats. If this is the Charterhouse??



No mate wrong building the charterhouse is the sargants mess


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