RAF Rudloe Manor WW2 10 Group Operations Block. Box. Jan 2011

[vwdirtboy]

RAF Rudloe Manor No 1 Site - WW2 10 Group Operations Block & ROC/UKWMO Southern Sector Control

Fighter Command was established on 14 July 1936 under the leadership of Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding. In 1940 it divided fighter coverage over Britain into four groups: 10 Group, 11 Group, 12 Group, and 13 Group, each being responsible for the defence of a geographical area. 10 Group protected Western England and was led by Air Vice Marshal Sir Christopher Quentin Brand. The four groups were sub-divided into sectors, where various squadrons were based. 10 Group was based at RAF Rudloe Manor (No 1 site) at Box in Wiltshire. It controlled four Sector stations, RAF Filton, RAF Middle Wallop, RAF St. Eval & RAF Pembrey.

As well as utilising the old Manor House itself, a new Operations Block was built alongside based around a standard design operations room consisting of a balcony overlooking the map table in the 'well' below. The 'ops' room remained operational until 15th January 1951 when its function was transferred to the underground operations room in Browns Quarry, nearby.

Rudloe Manor had also acted as Royal Observer Corps Western Area HQ from 1937 and was renamed Southern Area in 1953. The UKWMO continued to occupy the Operations Block until 1990 when their Sector HQ were co-located with the ROC 12 Group Headquarters at Lansdown, near Bath.

During this period, the two story operations room was given two false ceilings at different periods, one a foot lower than the other and the building has been further added to and altered over the years and is now an absolute rabbit warren of corridors and stairways.

In its last years it was the peacetime Ops Room for the whole of Rudloe Manor (the wartime standby was in the Quarry Operations Centre underground) and it also contained, amongst other things, the RAF Provost & Security unit's photo studios and dark rooms. No 1 site was closed in late 2000 or early 2001 and is to be redeveloped as industrial units. In early 2002 most of the site remained derelict and unused with only a couple of huts taken over by the ASTAC College in September 2001 for training air traffic controllers.

Nick McCamley

The Grade 2 listed Manor House has recently been bought and is currently undergoing Asbestos identification by Sheffield Insulations and will soon be refurbished. The rest of the site will be left as is as only the house and its immediate grounds have been purchased.


Herr Spungle and Myself had a good ferret around all afternoon looking for UFO's Aliens and secret bunkers.. More research needed!

Continued...

 

[vwdirtboy]

Thanks for looking!

 

[klempner69]

Nice one harve,looks like you did the same route as we did..any idea as to what the big barn was used for?We thought maybe Officers Mess but we didnt see a bar anywhere.

 

[King Al]

Great pics as usual VW, looks like a good one

 

[vwdirtboy]

Nice one harve,looks like you did the same route as we did..any idea as to what the big barn was used for?We thought maybe Officers Mess but we didnt see a bar anywhere.

Thanks stu, I think it was the radar training station.. just looks massive now all the kits gone.

stick some of yours up.

thanks al.

 

[UrbanX]

I don't normally have the patience to look through reports as long as this, but that is a cracking set of pics mate. Looks a massive explore. I love the corner armchair outside

Is the talc advice dispenced by Dic Squash?

 

[klempner69]

Ok,some of mine ...

Officers Mess

Same

Bar

Near the compound

Basket case

Outside stores

Map room

Lush barn

The pond

And finally a pill box.


For the tour,see below
http://news.webshots.com/album/579754521NCFWlH

 

[KooK.]

nice one guys, that roof in the officers mess is awesome.

 

[tommo]

come on then pill box fans, is this purpuse built or a modified pill box, its got no windows in and it had a secure door on it at some point, also has gas proof lighting inside so i would say may explosives or ammo storage at some point but just wondered its origin

 

[jjandellis]

thats where I left my yellow speedboat ...........
really enjoyed this .... was there a while ago but didnt go in the canteen area .... good pics ...thanks !!!

 

[night crawler]

Nice report guys and even got a few pillboxes in as well. Think that last pillbox would have been blocked up after the war for some other use.

 

[krela]

It's a Vickers MMG emplacement, reasonably common in the south west.

Edit: Obviously it's been modified post war though... given that there was a big photographic dept. based there for 40 years I would hazard a guess that it may have been converted to a chemical store for photo processing chemicals...?

 

[jjandellis]

processing photos of ufo`s and secret underground bunkers obviously !!!!!!

 

[krela]

processing photos of ufo`s and secret underground bunkers obviously !!!!!!

Shush now, that idea was disproved many years ago.

 

[vwdirtboy]

I remember reading something by Nick McCamley that they were indeed magazines!

 

[Badoosh]

Possibly converted for small arms ammo? Just a stab in the dark.

 

[godzilla73]

I would have thought that black coating on would indicate something chemical - it looks like a sealant, designed to prevent both liquid and gaseous escape I did think originally it might have been a Faraday cage, but it doesn't look like that at all close up (Doh!)
GDZ

 

[stuck247]

Cracking set of pics from all contributors.
Looks like a fun explore, shame about the lack of discovery of any UFO evidence tho

 

[professor frink]

Nice work Harv, we visited here recently. Didn't see any UFO's though.

But did see this ghostly apparition whilst underground accompanied by the smell of cooking sausages.

 

[vwdirtboy]

Nice work Harv, we visited here recently. Didn't see any UFO's though.

But did see this ghostly apparition whilst underground accompanied by the smell of cooking sausages.

ha ha.. thanks steve, that musta bin DHL or Tommo!