# Raf Tranwell better known as RAF Morpeth



## jonney (Jan 15, 2012)

After doing the pillboxes at Mitford I thought I would have a look a short distance South to Raf Morpeth to see what was still there. The DoB has a few goodies for the place marked up although it turns out there is quite a bit more. A second visit is due shortly as my camera batteries died on me and I had forgot to pack spares like the plonker I am lol. 

A bit of history on the place taken from Wiki

Tranwell Airfield, real name RAF Morpeth, is a former World War II Airfield in the English county of Northumberland, is situated about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Morpeth and was an air gunners school. The site was home to No.80 (French) Operational Training Unit. Today the site has reverted to agriculture; several of the buildings remain and are used for storage. Parts of the hard standing remain and are used for a weekly car boot sale every Sunday.

The official title of this airfield during WW2 was Royal Air Force Station Morpeth, or more commonly known as RAF Morpeth, and initially housed No 4 Air Gunnery School (4 AGS). Accommodation was in 10 dispersal sites to the north and east of the airfield near Tranwell village and The Whitehouse Centre (following the war this area became a children's hospital). The main aircraft used during its early existence for teaching air gunners was the unpopular Blackburn Botha, which was very heavy and under powered, often taking the whole of the runway to get airborne. Following several crashes and collisions, it was eventually replaced with the Avro Anson. Most of the air gunnery practice occurred off shore at Druridge Bay where several of the original wartime structures still exist at the National Trust site, and flew between Newbiggin By The Sea and Coquet Island near Amble. Many of the airmen who flew here were Polish and several settled in the Morpeth area following the war. A large number of Polish casualties including airmen from this base are buried in St Mary's Church, Morpeth

A more indepth history can be found here (makes a good read) http://tranwell.wordpress.com/home/heritage/raf-morpeth-60-years-on-article/

Anyway on with the photos I did manage to get

Blast Shelter with the last remaining Miskin Blister hangers in the distance 







The DoB says there are 3 of these blast shelters well I found 5 so far all built to the same design






Number2






number3






number4






number5






Firing range butts again the DoB says there is one well there is in fact 2 of them again both to the same size and design

number1 (not on the DoB)





















this one still has its earth bank at the front of it where the other hasn't






The other one (couldn't get near it because the farmer was moving livestock into the field and didn't want me frightening them)






The remains of what I believe was a Stent prefabricated pillbox
















some of the taxi ways are still in pretty good condition (although covered in black ice)











Water storage











and lastly one of the surviving buildings


























Like I say I'm going to head back there and find the rest very soon because I know there are some fire control tanks in front of the other firing range, another couple of buildings, the remains of some anderson shelters, some aircraft tie down points and supposedly an ROC post on the site oh and I want to get nearer to that hanger. God knows what else I will find

Thanks for looking
Jon


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## RichCooper (Jan 15, 2012)

Nice finds there mate looks bloody cold up your way


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## jonney (Jan 15, 2012)

yeah it was mate it warmed up a bit by the time I took these photos it had been -4degrees and it was about -1degrees the whole of the taxi way was sheet ice it was leathal


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## highcannons (Jan 15, 2012)

Nice on Mate, I enjoyed reading the history. Looked flipping cold!


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## fluffy5518 (Jan 16, 2012)

Nice one Johnnies !! Never seen a blast shelter as free from undergrowth !! Thanx !!


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## night crawler (Jan 16, 2012)

Excillent work there johnny least the Farmer was ok with you looking round.


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## jonney (Jan 16, 2012)

night crawler said:


> Excillent work there johnny least the Farmer was ok with you looking round.



He seemed very stressed to be honest and I'm going to have to see him again because the anderson shelter remains and some other bits and bobs are on the land he keeps his sheep on. The first firing range butt has a footpath next to it and the taxi way end of the airfield has a public right of way through it. The other two remaining buildings are supposed to be hidden in the trees but where is something I'm going to have to investigate. The shelter remains are at the southern end of the site


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## cptpies (Jan 16, 2012)

Good stuf Jonney. Blast shelters etc have been added by me from spotting on GE. I know I'm superhuman but even I can't see through tree cover  I'll add the ones you've placemarked and good work spotting the extra Butt, I think that's pretty unusual unless the one you didn't get to was used as a shooting in Butt.


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## tigger2 (Jan 16, 2012)

Thanks Jon. Another great report on our vanishing defence heritage.

Do you really mean "Anderson shelters"? Looking at aerial view of the airfield there look to be the remains of a couple of Stanton shelters.

Minor point - it's _hangar_ not hanger


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## the|td4 (Jan 16, 2012)

Hey mate as usual excellent stuff, I know this site well I have sent you a PM with some links in it, perhaps you can confirm if some of what I've found belongs to the former site as well.


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## jonney (Jan 16, 2012)

tigger2 said:


> Thanks Jon. Another great report on our vanishing defence heritage.
> 
> Do you really mean "Anderson shelters"? Looking at aerial view of the airfield there look to be the remains of a couple of Stanton shelters.
> 
> Minor point - it's _hangar_ not hanger



spelling never was my strong point lol and yeah you got me on that one I did mean Straton shelters I always get the two mixed up


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## jonney (Feb 6, 2012)

*The next installment*

...And now for the next installment (there are going to be a few more updates in the next few weeks because this place just keeps giving and giving). First off can I just say the building in the previous post is actually the "Towed Target Storage shed" and how many blast shelters does an airfield need because I've found another 3 of them making a running total of 8 so far (I'll post pics at the end of this).

A major thanks goes out to the|td4 without whose help I would never have found these, cheers mate your a star. I still need to identify the use of the two buildings so if anyone can help shed some light on them then please feel free.

Building 1 marked on the OS map as a pump house which is spot on but what was it pumping. There were bulk oil stores and bulk petrol installations for the airfield site and is far enough away from the airfield to be of little danger if it was to come under attack but it could always just be a water pumping station. The building certainly has a military feel about it and is well constructed if you have any ideas please let me know



















































inside the room at the back











roof detail






Moving on I came across a couple of Stanton shelters

Shelter 1




































Shelter 2 has been mostly dismantled 































Then we have this building which I have no idea what it's purpose was (answers on a postcard lol). I have a feeling that it was classified as a temporary brick (TB) building as it's walls are only single brick thick





















I won't post too many internals 














































oh nearly forgot the other 3 blast shelters from the north end of the airfield taxiway 

Number 6
















Number 7
















Number 8
















Base of a picket post with blast shelter 6 in the background 











Thanks for making it to the end without falling asleep. I will be going back soon to do the next few buildings and try and find some of the others that I know still exist. If any one can help me identify these buildings it would be gratefully appreciated 

Cheers for looking 

Jon


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## highcannons (Feb 6, 2012)

Re pump house, probably water if it didn't smell? Great pictures but has made me feel cold looking at them....like the way the big trees are growing out of the blast shelters. Thanks mate


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## RichCooper (Feb 6, 2012)

Fair bit of brickwork there Jon  Keep up the good work mate


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## jonney (Feb 7, 2012)

highcannons said:


> Re pump house, probably water if it didn't smell? Great pictures but has made me feel cold looking at them....like the way the big trees are growing out of the blast shelters. Thanks mate



cheers mate it was bloody cold and snowing. The pump house didn't smell of anything realy so I'm guessing it was for water. Trees have totally taken over the North end of the airfield don't know if this was done on purpose or if the trees have just spawned from the nearby woods



RichCooper said:


> Fair bit of brickwork there Jon  Keep up the good work mate



cheers rich there are still a few buildings left to find and a few that I know the location of, strange thing is there are (so far) no intact pillboxes guarding the airfield I think they must have thought the blast shelters would double up as defensive positions


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## flyboys90 (Feb 7, 2012)

Great report,loads of goodies to see.


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## jonney (Feb 7, 2012)

flyboys90 said:


> Great report,loads of goodies to see.




Plenty more to come as well when I get back and do the rest


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## RichCooper (Feb 7, 2012)

best take a packed lunch mate those woods look pretty big


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## the|td4 (Feb 15, 2012)

Ah excellent pics mate gives me shivers looking at them as it's all stuff I've been to many times but it's all from someone else's perspective! 

More please!


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## Foz77 (Feb 19, 2012)

jonney said:


> cheers mate it was bloody cold and snowing. The pump house didn't smell of anything realy so I'm guessing it was for water. Trees have totally taken over the North end of the airfield don't know if this was done on purpose or if the trees have just spawned from the nearby woods
> 
> 
> 
> cheers rich there are still a few buildings left to find and a few that I know the location of, strange thing is there are (so far) no intact pillboxes guarding the airfield I think they must have thought the blast shelters would double up as defensive positions



Good shots mate,

There's a standby set house in the same woods (Maintenance Site I think it is) as that fire pool you took - it's right _at the back_ right next to the housing on the other side of the fence.

Might be worth adding 

Mick


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## jonney (Feb 19, 2012)

cheers for that mate, the woods are hiding most of the remains by the looks of things. Another one on the todo list lol


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