RAF Grafton Underwood - July 2010 (Part 1) ** Pic Heavy *

sYnc_below · Jul 28, 2010

Explored with Winch It In

Site: RAF Grafton Underwood

Some background history, clipped from here and there...

The airfield was opened in 1941 and was first used by the RAF Bomber Command 1653 Heavy Conversion Unit with Liberators. The original runways were too short and not suitable for the operation of heavy, four-engined bombers so the airfield was upgraded to Class A, including the lengthening of the runways to the required 2,000 yards for the main and 1,400 yards for each of the others, started in late 1942.

As a result of this Grafton Underwood was assigned United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force in 1942. Its designation was USAAF Station 106. The airfield became a major base for the USAF and many squadrons were based there during WW2 - 15th Bombardment Squadron (Light), 97th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 96th Bombardment Group (Heavy) and 384th Bombardment Group (Heavy).

The 384th Heavy Bombardment Group stayed at Grafton Underwood the longest (May 1943 until June 1945) and they flew in many campaigns in France and Germany with B-17 Flying Fortress' attacking industrial and airfield sites.

After the war, Grafton Underwood was used for vehicle storage with No. 236 Maintenance Unit. They repaired and stored thousands of Air Ministry vehicles which were sold at monthly public auctions. The airfield was finally declared surplus to requirements and closed on 1 February 1959.

Although the Control Tower and other buildings were demolished during the 1980's many original buildings are still standing including numerous Blast Shelters, Boiler Houses, Bomb Storage, Shooting Butts, numerous Stanton Shelters and the Station Headquarters which although internally covered in graffiti, full of broken bottles, hundreds of beer cans and the remains of a number of small fires is still a large and interesting building to explore.

This explore was at the wrong time of the year with Mother Nature keeping most of the 'jewels' hidden from sight by dense undergrowth but we did manage to explore a few neat locations.

A return visit in winter for Part 2 of the report is on the cards when stuff will be more visible - Hope you enjoy the pix - Thanks for looking

Mushroom Pillbox - No.1 Runway

Battle Headquarters

Station Headquarters - Technical Site

Flagpole base - Technical Site

Boiler House for Officers baths & showers - Site 3

Static Water Tank - Officers Quarters - Site 4

Stand By Set House - Diesel Generators - Site 2

Blast Shelter

'Keep The Show On The Road - 384th Heavy Bombardment Group'

Foxylady · Jul 28, 2010

Nice one, Hal. Haven't seen this airfield for some time and it's interesting to see how it's fared. Great to see the cantilevered pillboxes...shame about the damage, though.
Cheers.

klempner69 · Jul 28, 2010

Nice one Hal,am impressed by the Fox`s pillbox knowledge too..didnt know they were called that.cheers one n all.

sYnc_below · Jul 29, 2010

Foxylady said:
Nice one, Hal. Haven't seen this airfield for some time and it's interesting to see how it's fared. Great to see the cantilevered pillboxes...shame about the damage, though.
Cheers.

Thanks, there's another 50 good pix from this site, might post a few more on here, failing that I'll put most on my Blog over the coming week. We missed most of the good stuff as it was so hard to find things amongst the undergrowth.....there's also another two Cantilever/Mushroom pillboxes here, one has collapsed but the other is still extant.

hydealfred · Jul 29, 2010

Very impressive site. Some really nice remains thanks for a great report and shots.

Mills25 · Jul 29, 2010

Thanks for that Hal. It bought back happy memories for me when I used to live just down the road from Grafton (Brigstock) in the early 1990's. I frequently used to mooch around the site and picked up various bits and pieces, ammo, badges, buttons etc. Never did find the dump from the engine pool where all the used spark plugs were dumped (platinum tips). I think the person who owns or runs the post office in Grafton is the historian of the airfield.

Thanks again.