Not much left to see these days, save for a load of random concrete blocks and countless air raid shelters. For some reason, all the main buildings have been demolished, but the raid shelters left behind on what's now a nature reserve. There's also a barrack building and canteen still standing, with some really cool WW2 murals, but I'd not done my research well enough in advance and didn't get to see these as I didn't want to drive straight down a lane marked private right outside an estate worker's house. The place was also pretty heavily overgrown, so I'm going to have to go back at some point during winter to see more of the stuff that's currently hidden in the trees.
Considering how little there is to see, I found it strangely emotive. I'd watched this video a few hours earlier of the bombers thundering their way up the runway, and arrived on the site just as the Battle of Britain Lancaster flew overhead - unfortunately just too far away to get a decent picture.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LUkfkWM-Ro"]youtube[/ame]
Apologies to anyone who thinks I've posted too many pics but, for the reasons mentioned above and below, I think it's one of those places which needs to be recorded and commemorated.
Battle HQ
Why is it that the only thing ever growing around these is stinging nettles?
I knew it was going to be flooded, so brought wellies with me.
Unfortunately, I'd failed to realise that the water was about 3 foot deep. For some reason, the dark and the depth of the water scared the living **** out of me. I'd love to see inside, but waders and a couple of mates for company are a definite must!
Strange glass bottle. Anyone know what it is?
Airfield
J Type Hangar
Old raid shelters are everywhere.
All completely bare, or full of old farm junk, except for this one, which had odd little walls. Air raid khazi?
Thor Missile Sites
I went to primary school in rural Norfolk, slap bang between RAF Coltishall and RAF Neatishead, two of the biggest potential targets if we'd ever gone to war with Russia, and we actually had "duck and cover" messages drummed into us as kids in the mid 70s. Growing up in the 80s, some of my overwhelming memories are of the cold war nuclear threat, two tribes and CND campaigners. As a result, seeing an IRBM launch site (albeit one which pre-dates all of the above) was quite a chilling experience. I'd really love to visit Molesworth or Greenham to see some of the 80s launch sites.
Thor launch base blast walls.
Liquid oxygen storage structure.
Huge round tank in the ground. I presume this was probably for Kerosene storage, although I've not found any reference to these sites using ground fuel storage. It was filled with water and covered in green slime. I dropped a stone in and it resonated in a way which suggested it was probably 20ft+ deep.
Standing on top of a blast wall, the regular sized brick on the end gives some idea of scale.
Pillbox
I'd wanted to find these, as they have rare (unique) double embrasures, but only one was accessible and covered in undergrowth. Will have to go back in winter for some better pics!
God knows how these were supposed to work in practice. To use both, you'd have to sit on the lower gunners shoulders. If you used the upper placement solo, you'd risk a nasty, erm, lower body, injury
At the end of one runway, a USAAF memorial has been built, with a large main memorial and a pair of marble benches. Beside the memorial, there's a cabinet containing a guestbook. It was an absolutely fantastic sunny evening, and I sat for a while on one of the benches reading the book. People from all over the world had left comments, including ex servicemen and their families. I don't mind admitting that it brought a tear to my eye reading some of it.
