I've lost count how many times I've been past the former USAF Burtonwood site near Warrington, and wondered to myself, 'will those hangars EVER open up?'.
Me and SmileySal were in the area and thought we'd pop in for a quick look, we dumped the cars near the two hangars closest to the motorway junction and wandered in, met the security guard (we'll call him 'pooh-fingers', for the sake of this tale)
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Anyway, we got talking, 'you're not allowed on here, if you want to take photos you can do it from the other side of the fence', being the inquisitive types we asked him a few questions and gleaned some useful info before leaving him and his favourite bog-roll at the security lodge.
As it was such a glorious day me and Sal decided to go for a walk in the Cheshire countryside and found ourselves outside Hangar 1E. There was an access point, that wasn't there the last time I was here. So off we went, inside and wow, once our eyes adjusted to the dark the place was huge, if not a little bare (I wanted to see planes, but, hey-ho lol), I was still hugely impressed with the structure.
First opened as an airfield in January 1940 as a servicing and storage centre for the modification of British aircraft. It was operated by the RAF No. 37 Maintenance Unit until June 1942 when it was transferred to the USAAF Service, where it went on to become the largest airfield in Europe during WW2. Over 18000 personnel were based here at its height.
As it turns out what we explored today wasn't a hangar but a storage bunker, one of only three left on the site. English Partnerships own it now, and these impressive structures will most likely be demolished before long.
More info can be found here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Burtonwood
Check out the Mendo rocket legs, these are gonna so useful in the future!!
TnM
Me and SmileySal were in the area and thought we'd pop in for a quick look, we dumped the cars near the two hangars closest to the motorway junction and wandered in, met the security guard (we'll call him 'pooh-fingers', for the sake of this tale)
.Anyway, we got talking, 'you're not allowed on here, if you want to take photos you can do it from the other side of the fence', being the inquisitive types we asked him a few questions and gleaned some useful info before leaving him and his favourite bog-roll at the security lodge.
As it was such a glorious day me and Sal decided to go for a walk in the Cheshire countryside and found ourselves outside Hangar 1E. There was an access point, that wasn't there the last time I was here. So off we went, inside and wow, once our eyes adjusted to the dark the place was huge, if not a little bare (I wanted to see planes, but, hey-ho lol), I was still hugely impressed with the structure.
First opened as an airfield in January 1940 as a servicing and storage centre for the modification of British aircraft. It was operated by the RAF No. 37 Maintenance Unit until June 1942 when it was transferred to the USAAF Service, where it went on to become the largest airfield in Europe during WW2. Over 18000 personnel were based here at its height.
As it turns out what we explored today wasn't a hangar but a storage bunker, one of only three left on the site. English Partnerships own it now, and these impressive structures will most likely be demolished before long.
More info can be found here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Burtonwood
Check out the Mendo rocket legs, these are gonna so useful in the future!!
TnM
