Opened in 1944 with three runways, 50 aircraft spectacle dispersals and two T2 hangars.
PB4Y- Liberator.
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RAF Upottery, built as a standard RAF Class‘A’ bomber airfield very late in the war by George Wimpey and Co. Construction started early in 1943 to be ready for D-Day. Three runways, a perimeter track with 50 Spectacle dispersals. A full bomb store and dispersed accommodation.
The Americans were going to use the airfield for medium bombers but later decided to bring in the 439th Group, IX Troop Carrier Command on 26th April 1944. An endless stream of Dakotas and gliders flew in from their former base at Balderton. Just imagine the ground crews vehicle convoy as well.
The 439th group contained 4 squadrons, the 91st, 92nd, 93rd, and 94th, Each squadron had its own code letter painted on the fuselage behind the cockpit in large yellow lettering so it could be easily identified. The 91st being (L4), the 92nd, being (J8) , the 93rd (3B) and the 94th (D8).
81 Dakotas and 81 gliders.
A 91st Sqn L4 parachuting.
92nd Sqn J8.
93rd Sqn 3B.
94th Sqn D8.
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1943
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Under construction in 1943, a long way to go.
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Laing's building a runway somewhere in England.
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118 gliders, 26 Dakotas in preparation for D-Day.
Dakota.
Waco Glider.
Horsa & Dakota combination.
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Petrol Installation - Aviation
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Starting on the main road running around the perimeter track. The first item is the Petrol Instillation - Aviation.
68. General Purpose Hut T.B. 12790/42.
70. Latrine T.B. 9026/41.
71. Picket Post T.B. 1580/42.
72. Petrol Installation - Aviation 76,000 Galls. 1491/44.
Plan.
Plan.
Plan.
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This photo was taken in July 2015 and you can see in the middle a square building protruding, this is the pump house a cruciform shaped building. The rear will be seen in a later pictures.
Fuel pumps.
Fuel gauge.
Fuel tanks would be underground.
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68. General Purpose Hut T.B. 12790/42. was there as a crew room for members of the fuel detail. It may also have been for sleeping.
70. Latrine T.B. 9026/41. a small toilet block of a standard style used on all airfields.
Plan.
68. General Purpose Hut T.B. 12790/42. This is how the hut may have looked.
T.B. Temporary Brick, a half brick wall with brick piers.
70. Latrine T.B. 9026/41. a small toilet block.
70. Latrine T.B. 9026/41. a small toilet block.
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71. Picket Post T.B. 1580/42.
72. Petrol Installation - Aviation 76,000 Galls. 1491/44.
71 a sort of police post, when you need to enter the camp you sign in and then out when you leave. The public roads were closed.
Fuel tankers arriving would sign in and out and their quantities checked. So anything passing has to be recorded.
71. Picket Post T.B.1580/42.
The same type as this one at RAF Bibury.
71. Picket Post T.B.1580/42. inside.
71. Picket Post T.B.1580/42. entrance door.
RAF Charmey Down's 15425/40 Petrol Installation - Aviation. The one here would have been much bigger..
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The back wall of the barn showing up part of the 15425/40 Petrol Installation - Aviation building. Basically a pump house to transfer fuel from the tanks of 76,000 Galls of aviation fuel into tankers (Bowser´s in the RAF) to refuel the aircraft out on the airfield.
RAF Charmey Down's 15425/40 Petrol Installation - Aviation. The one here would have been much bigger..
Bedford POOL delivery tanker, from the refineries to the airfield. A government company delivered all fuel in WW2.
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An American tanker filling up from an RAF pump house exactly as it would have looked here.
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An M&E plinth is where a cable runs around the airfield and at junction boxes (M&E Plinths) that can convert the power up or down to what is needed in the area, if the mains power fails.
The plinth on the plan is in the wrong place, it was further back under the far hedge. Plans are as accurate as needed and are never absolutely accurate. I could not find this plinth on my visit in 2018, also parts of the hedge have been removed.
73. I am sure was actually here.
Plan of an M&E Plinths
A piece of armoured cable that ran around airfields.
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The new memorial to the airfield.
Red is the road layout today and yellow the memorial.
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The new memorial to the airfield.
Red is the road layout today and yellow the memorial.
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The new memorial to the airfield.
Red is the road layout today and yellow the memorial.
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Perimeter Track
Light fittings set out along the inside of the perimeter track.
Red is the road layout today and yellow the memorial.
Perimeter lighting type C.2. M&E Drg. No. 12043/41 & 728/41.
Perimeter lighting type C.2. M&E Drg. Nod. 12043/41 & 728/41.
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Perimeter Track
Light fittings set out along the inside of the perimeter track.
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Perimeter Track
Flush concrete manhole cover for landing lights, I see some were 6volts.
Landing lights.
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Perimeter Track
Perimeter track running into the north/south runway.
02 runway.
Compass.
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Runway 02, the runways were all 150ft wide and perimeter tracks 50ft wide.
Plan.
The roadway is now the the red lines but the runway is much wider.
plan.
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Continuing on the road follows the perimeter track east and along here were 16 Spectacle dispersals now used to store farm waste. Dispersals have several different designs, the frying pan dispersal was the main type but did cause undercarriage damage when turning so spectacle replaced it. You just drive on and off with much less maneuvering.
Frying Pan type.
Dispersal types.
Dispersals and aircraft.
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Spectacle dispersals along the south side of the airfield for 16 aircraft, there were 50 dispersals laid out altogether.
Plan.
Plan.
The mound of earth is for bomber to test and set their guns.
Spectacle dispersals and 58. Shooting - In - Butts Earth Travers. 4728/43..
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This is the site of the first T2 aircraft hangar.
Plan.
Plan.
Plan.
T2 inside.
T2 at RAF Elvington.
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T2 hangar 1
50. Armoury - Squadron N. 2406/43.
51. Store Block N. 2406/43.
52. Latrines Technical T.B. 9026/41.
53. Hangar (23bay) T2. 3653/42.
N = Nissen Hutting. T.B. Temporary Brick.
Plan.
Plan.
T2 hangar.
How it may have looked..
52. Latrines Technical T.B. 9026/41.
Store Block/Armoury, Nissen 2406/43.
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T2 hangar 1
50. Armoury - Squadron N. 2406/43.
51. Store Block N. 2406/43. This is a triple length Nissen hut.
I have added a Nissen hut to show what it may have been like.
Plan.
50. Armoury - Squadron N. 2406/43.
51. Store Block N. 2406/43.
2406/43 extended Nissen hut.
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53 Hangar - ST - T2 - 3653/42
Hangar T2 (ST) steel clad meaning corrugated iron sheets.
T2 hangar.
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53 - Hangar - ST - T2 - 3653/42
Inside the hangar showing its internal make up and this wonderful image of a 98Sqn Dakota being serviced by engineers.
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M&E Plinth not on the plan.
M&E plinth.
Cable layout.
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M&E Plinth not on the plan. Blast wall covering the entrance.
Inside an M&E plinth.
Ring main cable.
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49 - Petrol Instillation - Aviation 72,000galls - 13022/42 the second.
A circular road allowing tankers to drive in and around and out without reversing.
You can see the circular Petrol Installation..
Plan.
Plan.
Fuel meter.
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Petrol Instillation - Aviation
This is very like it was there.
A B17 being refueled by an RAF Bowser.
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Petrol Instillation - Aviation
Its basically still there. The full circle of the instillation even with a house on it.
Plan.
Th circle on the far left.
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Perimeter Track
Across from the Petrol Instillation is the continuation of the perimeter track.
Plan.
Perimeter track.
Plan.
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Perimeter Track 50ft wide and about 4.5 miles long.
Plan.
Plan.
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Smeatharpe
Main Entrance
Main Entrance.
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Main entrance
This was the main entrance to the airfield the village of Smeatharpe.
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Main entrance
US Navy Liberator sat on the perimeter track. The US Navy used Upottery as a satellite airfield to RAF Dunkeswell for a while.
B-3c VB103.1941.
Liberator over the sea.
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Site 1 Airfield M&E plinth
On the right was the: -
1. Guard House & Fire Party N 1204/41.
2. M&E Plinth.
The Guard House was the Guard Room, you book in and you out everything and every body arriving and leaving the camp. Fire Party was the fire brigade to tackle any local (dispersed camp) fires rather than aircraft fires but may have helped out in real emergencies.
Plan.
Plan.
16ft Nissen hut.
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Site 1 Airfield
M&E Plinth.
M&E plinth plan.
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3. Fire Tender House N 12410/41.
This was a Nissen Hut fire station garage for the camp fire tender & pump with the RAF. The USAAF may have used Jeep type tenders.
Plan.
It would have looked a bit like this.
A US Jeep fire tender.
Trailer pump set..
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4 - Works Service Hut & Yard - T.B. - 5538/42.
Behind the four huts and a toilet was the yard where building materials would be stored behind a wire mesh fence. This area would hold the plans of the airfield, huts, hangars and details of materials to be used. Run by a Clerk of Works a Ministry employee to oversee the civilian workforce.
Plan.
Plan.
Civilian workforce.
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4 - Works Service Hut & Yard - T.B. - 5538/42.
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6 - Radar Workshop - T.B. - 7352/42.
Most types of heavy aircraft could carry a form of Radar and a workshop was needed. It also had to have an area where the radar could be tested and there was to be no humans to get into the way of the radio waves. So the workshop was always placed where it had a clear direction to check the radars.
Plan.
Plan of the Radar Workshop and the clear are to test the radars.
Loran aircraft radar.
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6 - Radar Workshop - T.B. - 7352/42.
A1 radar.
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7 - Sub-Station - P.B. - 11274/2.
A substations a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse.
A.M. Bombing Teacher
'A' class RAF airfields were basically designed for heavy bombers, so bomb aimers needed to be kept well trained. An A. M. (Air Ministry) Bombing Teacher was a tall building with several levels. The first is where the bomb aimer laid, behind him the pilot sat at a set of controls. Above again a film projector that shone down onto the floor. The pilot flew the plane, the aimer instructed him to fly left & right and the film projected on the floor moved as if you were flying over. A WW2 computer game.
A.M. Bombing Teacher.
Vickers Bygrave Bombing Teacher.
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11 - A.M. Bombing Teacher - P.B. - 816/43.
The room needed to be kept warm to work in and an attached room there was a boiler.
A.M. Bombing Teacher plan.
Boiler
details
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11 - A.M. Bombing Teacher - P.B. - 816/43.
Stairs to take you up t the different levels.
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11 - A.M. Bombing Teacher - P.B. - 816/43.
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37. M.T. Sheds (1 No Repair Bay) T.B. 9026/41.
38. Squadron & Flight Offices T.B. 1451/42.
Now removed the M.T. Motor Transport garage of four bays and one of them for servicing with its own vehicle pit.
MT Garage service pit in one bay.
Tyre changing US style.
4 bay M.T.12775/41.
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38 - Squadron & Flight Offices - T.B. - 1451/42.
Each Squadron would be issued a flight office.
Crew driving out to their planes.
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1 x 34. Gas Clothing & Respirator Store T.B. 13730/41.
2 x 16. Main Stores R 827/43.
TB Gas Clothing store and two Main Stores in Romney, corrugated iron.
Plan.
1 x 34. Gas Clothing & Respirator Store T.B.13730/41.
2 x 16. Main Stores R 827/43.
17. Stores & Workshop Office Block N 2981/43.
Romney hut supports.
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2 x 16 - Main Stores - R - 827/43.
Romney huts were a much larger Nissen style hut. Made from hoops of tubing with wooden spars and the corrugated tin/asbestos is screwed to the wooden spars.
Main Stores held everything from aircraft parts to typewriter ribbons.
Tube supports and wooden spars.
Looking inside a Romney hut.
USAAF Main Store.
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2 x 16 - Main Stores - R - 827/43.
Loading/unloading ramp. The original RAF Main Stores had integral loading ramps and the loading bay was made with a higher floor to match, but Romney huts did not have that advantage and needed its own ramp. There was also two Main Workshops of the same style further behind but now removed.
1 x 34. Gas Clothing & Respirator Store T.B.13730/41.
2 x 16. Main Stores R 827/43.
17. Stores & Workshop Office Block N 2981/43.
Nissen hut.
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Main Stores, Stores & Workshop Office Block
Nissen huts came flat pack, first a concrete base was laid and then he hut was assembled.
Nissen huts came flat pack.
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Blast shelter for 32 men 2360/41. As this airfield was built late in the war I am surprised that any were built. There are none on the dispersed accommodation sites.
Plan.
Blast shelter plan 2360/41.
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34 - Gas Clothing & Respirator Store - T.B. - 13730/41.
This building harps back to the early and pre war days when the RAF thought they could be fighting a Mustard type gas war. Later on they were used as medical stores but still had an anti-gas role.
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Perimeter track leads on to the site of the second T2 hangar.
details
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T2 hangar
Perimeter track with a lead in to the hangar. The T2 was the hangar of the time. It was big enough to take any service plane of the time and used for major servicing.
Plan.
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30 - Hangar (23 Bays) - St. - T2 - 3653/42.
I have superimposed a T2 hangar on the picture.
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30 - Hangar (23 Bays) - St. - T2 - 3653/42.
Built from bolted steels and covered in sheets of corrugated iron.
details
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The heart of an airfield the Control Tower.
Wherever you are on the airfield, you can be seen from the tower.
x
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Again the tower see's you.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
A very good picture of the tower at Upottery with ambulances & fire crews.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
The watch office small window and larger windows in the control room.
Plan of the 343/43 ground floor.
Plan of the 343/43 first floor.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Windows were steel frames made by Crittall and the designs are still held at their offices today, so can be replaced even in double glazing.
Steel steps up to the balcony and then another set on the opposite side up to the roof with galvanised railings all around the top.
Steel stairs.
Crittall windows.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Rear.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Rear entrance into a passageway that runs to the watch office at the front.
Plan of the 343/43 ground floor.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Cupboard usually with wooden doors painted a dark green.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Cupboard in the middle.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Toilets.
Plan of the 343/43 ground floor.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Met office, there would be a direct teleprinter line to the RAF's Meteorological office for weather forecasting. Another toilet in the corner.
Met office.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Watch Office with in the corner the flair store that would have been a fully bricked cupboard with a steel door and if the flairs ignited for any reason. The blast would blow outwards through the window.
Plan of the 343/43 ground floor.
Flair cartridges.
Very Light flair gun.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
The windows today have been bricked up. Originally they were large windows as above. But due to night flying the smaller windows were easier to black out. Well thats what the book says.
The windows could be larger or smaller as in this plan of the front face.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Teleprinter room
Plan of the 343/43 ground floor.
Teleprinter room.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Stairs to the first floor.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
First Floor landing.
Plan.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Signals office with the message hole in the wall where messages could be passed to the controllers in the front.
89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Control room. A large space where all airfield movement would be controlled. Access to the balcony and roof through two doors either side of the control room.
Plan.
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What looks like here is the take off or landing of an aircraft, a senior officer watching with another looking through binoculars. Another just looking on. Two Airmen one possibly talking to planes and another looks as though he is writing something down. On the wall a chalk board with details of (I am presuming) if the Beacon was on/off. The Q Site was in operation. Q Site was the decoy of the airfield set out somewhere in the area to attract bombers in to bomb the decoy and not the airfield. If the Flare path is/is not lit and the Weather for the day.
Q Site bunker.
Q Site bunker plan.
A Q Site bulb.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
The view out over the northern dispersals.
Red arrow is the control tower and the dispersals to the left
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Don't tell his mother what he gets up to when out with Granddad.
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89 - Control Tower - T.B. - 343/43
Looking due south at the rear of the control tower.
RAF Upottery
USAAF No. 462
25 October 2017
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USAAF No. 462
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50ft perimeter track in very good condition and beyond eight Spectacle dispersals.
details
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USAAF No. 462
12 September 2010
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USAAF No. 462
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M&E Plinth.
87 - Floodlight Trailer & Tractor - TB - 12411/41.
8 - . Night Flying equipment Store - TB - 12411/41.
Both exactly the same drawing numbers, I have checked up several other airfields and its the same numbers.
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USAAF No. 462
25 October 2017
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USAAF No. 462
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Another M&E plinth covering the Control Tower area.
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USAAF No. 462
12 July 2015
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USAAF No. 462
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M&E Plinth
Fitting on the outer wall.
Gate hinge.
Hinged gate plan.
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USAAF No. 462
12 July 2015
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USAAF No. 462
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87 - Floodlight Trailer & Tractor - TB - 12411/41.
A tractor pulling a floodlight on a trailer could be driven in through the back door and when next needed just drive out of the front door, so no need to turning around.
Chance light, lighting up a runway.
Chance light.
Fordson tractor.
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USAAF No. 462
12 July 2015
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USAAF No. 462
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87 - Floodlight Trailer & Tractor - TB - 12411/41.
The roadway in.
88 - Night Flying Equipment Store - T.B. - 5373/41.
This building held all the night flying landing aids. Goose neck flairs, battery electric lamps, etc.
Night Flying Equipment Store T.B. 5373/41 with doors on.
Goose neck flair.
Goose neck flair.
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USAAF No. 462
12 July 2015
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USAAF No. 462.
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88 - Night Flying Equipment Store - T.B. - 5373/41.
Goose neck flair.
Landing lights
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USAAF No. 462
12 July 2015
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USAAF No. 462
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88 - Night Flying Equipment Store - T.B. - 5373/41.
The stone blocks to park the doors open to stop vehicles from damaging the doors.
Night Flying Equipment Store T.B. 5373/41 with doors on.
Design of the post.
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USAAF No. 462
27 December 2004
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USAAF No. 462
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86 - Crew Room, Locker & Drying Rooms - S - 2862/43
Crew Room, Locker & Drying Rooms made in 'S' Uni-Seco hutting
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Crew Room, Locker & Drying Rooms at RAF Kingston Bagpuize in Uni-Seco hutting and now completely removed.
Boiler for heating.
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USAAF No. 462
27 December 2004
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86 - Crew Room, Locker & Drying Rooms - S - 2862/43
Crew Room, Locker & Drying Rooms very well hidden in woodland, the outline and a chimney for heating the drying room are still there.
Seco hut.
Crew drying room.
Crew Room, Locker & Drying Rooms.
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USAAF No. 462
27 December 2004
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USAAF No. 462
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85 - Squadron & Flight Offices - T.B. - 1451/42
Squadron & Flight Offices, these airfields were designed to hold one RAF squadron and were laid out for that purpose. Each flight would park their planes close to their flight office. But here the Americans came in with four squadrons and must have been very cramped in their office accommodation. I expect the standard American square tents would be used for extra space.
Plan.
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USAAF No. 462
19 January 2000
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85 - Squadron & Flight Offices - T.B. - 1451/42
The time I turned up the Daffodils were starting to grow along the front of the offices, I just wonder who planted them??
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USAAF No. 462
12 September 2010
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85 - Squadron & Flight Offices - T.B. - 1451/42
The centre corridor with offices both sides.
82 - General Purpose Hut - TB - 12790/42
84 - Latrines - TB - 9026/41
Plan
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USAAF No. 462
12 September 2010
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84 - Latrines - TB - 9026/41
Latrine two bay.
The plan is a four bay but the one here is only a two bay type.
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USAAF No. 462
12 September 2010
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82 - General Purpose Hut - TB - 12790/42
General Purpose Hut probably for the aircraft ground crew to keep tools and also use as their crew room.
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USAAF No. 462
12 September 2010
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USAAF No. 462
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80 - Pyro Store - N - 2169/43
Pyro Store is for the storage of any pyrotechnics carried on planes. When a plane lands, all the combustible stores would be removed. In a Dakota it would probably be Very Pistols and their flair cartridges.
Plan.
1941 British No.3Mk1.
Pyro cartridges.
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USAAF No. 462
12 September 2010
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USAAF No. 462
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Eight aircraft scissor dispersals.
Dispersal aircraft.
Plan.
Another view from the air.
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USAAF No. 462
June 1944
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USAAF No. 462
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Paratroops walking out to their planes for D-Day.
Walking out.
Adjustment.
Climbing aboard.
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USAAF No. 462
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Possibly prior to D-Day as I cannot see any markings on the wings and also the planes squadron numbers.
Hooking up.
Loading up.
Towing high.
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USAAF No. 462
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“Nine Airplanes Wide, Five Hours Long” by Ken Wakefield
That was one crew member’s apt description of the stream of American troop carrying aircraft that passed over Portland Bill, Dorset, in the early hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944. The stream consisted of 821 Douglas C-47 Skytrains, 130 of them towing Waco CG-4A gliders, of the IX Troop Carrier Command, 9th US Air Force, and they were bound for Normandy carrying 13,348 men of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.
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USAAF No. 462
06 June 1944
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USAAF No. 462
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This is the plan of all the Troop Carrier Commands routes from aerodromes in England and to the Cotentin peninsular.
Cut away.
Hooking up.
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Gliders landing post D-Day on one of the A airstrips built in Normandy.
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USAAF No. 462
06 June 1944
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USAAF No. 462
101st Glider Landings in Normandy
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The small black dots indicate landing locations of the 52 CG-4A WACO gliders of the 'Chicago Mission', which landed 148 men at 0400 hrs on D-Day. The Red Triangles indicate landing locations of the 'Keokuk mission'. This consisted of 32 Horsa gliders, which delivered 165 men, including 6 A.T. guns of the 327th GIR at 2130 hrs on 6 June, 1944.
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USAAF No. 462
06 June 1944
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USAAF No. 462
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'Keokuk mission'. This consisted of 32 Horsa gliders, which delivered 165 men, including 6 A.T. guns of the 327th GIR at 2130 hrs on 6 June, 1944.
France
Great Britain
