Abandoned air fields in England

[Phantomfixer]

Cool pics great black and white photo.

 

[Smithy]

Great photos Paddy and Kitty.

Liked the Nissen huts at East Kirkby Kitty, they have a real nostalgia for me. In Auckland, NZ where I grew up there were some not far from where I worked. Sadly the bloody council bowled them over around 2001. 60 years of history down the gurgler.

 

[Spitfire]

Thanks for sharing pictures.
I've had this crazy dream to once build a home/office like a control tower - and judging from Kittys picture, somebody did just that! Wow!!!!

 

[Warden]

Here is one near me

http://www.twinwoodevents.com/museums.html

 

[Hereward]

Pompey Airport is disused (that's Portsmouth in Hampshire). Rat Lane that led down to it was renamed Norway Avenue after the author Neville Shute Norway who worked there.

I used to take my dog there and run him around after my British Enfield motorcycle. He was a scottish deerhound and a normal walk is a joke for them.

Incidentally, my girlfriend's ratcatcher grandfather once challenged another ratter's dog. They jumped in a pit full of rats and he killed more by grabbing them and biting them in the neck. Men were tough in those days. Also, and rather strangely, he was on the same ship as my grandfather, HMS Effingham, that went aground. Mine was heavily decorated for rescuing other men at great risk to himself, and he was not a Rupert but a Bandsman (equivalent to Private in the pongos).

 

[byronic]

RAF Cranage

I was lucky enough to grow up near RAF Cranage in Cheshire, England and the old overgrown bomb shelters and buildings were a playground for my friends and I were but knee-high. The place had been abandoned for around 30 years then and some overgrown shelters, pillboxes and a few maintenance buildings are all that remain now. It had originally been the home of No. 96 (Czech) Squadron, flying Bolton Paul Defiants then later Hurricanes as night fighters to defend Liverpool from bombers.
Later in the war an American squadron moved in, General Patton had his personal plane, a Stinson I believe, kept there as for a time as he was based at a stately home a few miles away during the run up to D-Day.
This place remained unchanged for years, reverting to farmland like so many other airfields. It was fascinating to hear the old-timers telling some of the stories, such as the time a low flying Wellington clipped the roof of the village 'smithy nearby. To this day one can still see that one half of the roof has been repaired with different coloured slates.
Of more interest to me (as a fan of vintage motorcycles) was a story told to me by a friend of my fathers: Shortly after WW2 he was working at Burtonwood (east of Liverpool), at the time, the Americans who had been based there were pulling out and disposing of a lot of surplus equipment. If this chap is to be believed (and I have no reason to doubt him) a quantity of brand new Indian Motorcycles in crates were shoved into pits then covered up and forgotten about, maybe this was easier and cheaper than shipping them back Stateside. Just thinking about this makes me want to buy a metal detector and start digging.....

 

[perfectredlips]

My grandfather flew out of Deopham Green...I've been looking at photos all morning. Although it has been demolished I would still like to walk on the grounds. He died before I was born...I would feel close to him there. He was a ball turret gunner on Sack Time Sioux.

 

[byronic]

Stumbled across this article earlier:

http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2009/09/deserted-air-force-bases/

A bit brief, but some good aerial photography.
In fact it's a pretty interesting website for anyone with an interest in old, neglected buildings.

 

[clockwork codge]

I live in Cambridgeshire and work in Huntingdon, No ones mentioned the pathfinder squadrons yet! Raf Mepal is now an agricultural sales site and industrial site, there is a plaque at the entrance in Sutton. Raf Warboys is derelict, but is still there and shown on google maps. And Raf Wyton is still there and in use, the cambridge university air squadron use it to learn to fly, and there are military buildings away from the hangars still used by the military. Pathfinder house in Huntingdon is still there, and has a painting of the RAF Lancaster in the lobby.
I have also been in the hangars and the underground areas of RAF Alconbury, unfortunateley they are all now flooded due to the pumps being turned off! 4 storeys deep for those that are interested.
RAF upwood has a glider club on it, and if you check out the Ramsey 40's weekend, you get to dance in the hangar as well as look around the base.

Dave E