Danny tells of a Strange Coincidence.
On a sunny, but still chilly Spring day in '61, Mrs D. took Mary, in her pram, for a quiet walk away from the Quarters. She decided to venture a little further afield.
Now, at GK all the domestic and technical buildings, and the Apron and the Messes and MQs, were on the South side of the South taxiway. On the North of the runway was the North Taxiway, a narrow grass verge, and then a mile-long stretch of pinewoods.
There was never any reason for aircraft (or anything else) to go on the North taxiway. Indeed (as far as I could see) there was no good reason for there to be a North taxiway at all (but all the Clutch airfields were built to the same pattern, so probably they got one whether they needed one or not).
In fact there was good reason not to go on the North taxiway, for in the woods beside it there was something which made it advisable to keep out.
For in it were the bomb stores bunkers for the Great Deterrants, looked after and carefully guarded by our American friends, who of course had complete control of them. The bombs themselves (unfused, I presume - hope !) were harmless enough, but the same could not be said of the trigger-happy "snowdrops" and even less of their "wooly crocodiles".
The first mystery (for me) was how Mrs D. and the pram managed to get out there in the first place. Obviously she must have crossed the 27 runway (or the extended centreline of the runway) somewhere at the East end. Here I am hampered by the fact that the satellite maps only show the airfield as it is in recent years, when the runway has been extended to 10,000 ft for the GAF Boeing E.3As AWACS (I think we had 7,500 ft in our day, and the North taxiway has since been removed completely). And the extra 2,500 ft would have to go on the 27 end, for the 09 end is hard against the Dutch border.
Mrs D. is adamant that she did not go through any forest of Approach lights, and I'm driven to suspect that she may have got across the end of 27 between marshalling points. A young lady with a brilliant white pram crossing the end of the runway would (you might suppose) arouse some interest in the Local and Runway Controllers, but that seems not to have happened.
Be all that as it may, she ended up with the line of trees on her right, and a "large expanse of field" on her left. That's conclusive enough: she was either on the North Taxiway, or on some small path between it and the trees.
There were no aircraft in the circuit, and all was completely quiet. A Yorkshire country girl, the first thing she noticed was - no birds sang, although it was spring, and there was no rustling of any small creatures in the woods. And then she was assailed by a sense of unease.
There was something uncanny about this place: she did not like it at all. Trusting her instinct, she turned the pram round and walked home by the same route as she had come. She mentioned it when I came in that day, but I did not set any great store by it, except to remark that she was lucky not to have been seized by the "snowdrops"........... End of story ? (not much, really). .....Not quite. ...Listen to this:
bosnich71,..........RAF Wildenrath these days (photos) (page 1, #11):
"RAF Geilenkirchen was reputed to have an ex WW2 bunker in the woods which supposedly still contained bodies from the fighting in the area and had had earth bulldozed over it. By some accounts the Snoops dogs wouldn't go near the area."
Bit of a coincidence ? Makes you think ! (We never heard a whisper of that story in our 2½ years in GK or anywhere else until today).
Warmtoast, (your # 4794): A case for your exorcist ?
Goodnight, everybody,
Danny42C
Sleep well !