Buried aircraft, spares etc
Yes, Him
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Buried aircraft, spares etc, it's true.
It would appear that the stories are true, at least as far as the 8th AF was concerned. Amazing pics at this site of ongoing excavations. Caution site contains slightly barmy enthusiasts. 
Aces, Contrails & Unsung Heroes • View topic - Airfield Dig & BBC TV Collaboration.
Aces, Contrails & Unsung Heroes • View topic - Airfield Dig & BBC TV Collaboration.
Last edited by Gainesy; 23rd Oct 2009 at 10:31.
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Not only the 8th Air Force.
Leeming (RCAF) 1945, bulldozed Halifax remains (subsequently uncovered around the Northern HAS Site during construction) into a pit dug for the purpose.
The Ground Radio guys, in the late '70's, poking about, uncovered a complete .303 machine gun. Having lovingly restored it on the night shifts, presented it to the Armoury. The Duty Armourer was stunned to say the least.
Chatting to Canadian ex-aircrew, revisiting Leeming in the '70's,they told stories of bombs 'cooking' whilst being loaded and being dumped into Bedale Beck. This went on for 3 years.
I stopped fishing Bedale Beck as soon as I was told.
It must be the most explosive stretch of water in Yorkshire.
Leeming (RCAF) 1945, bulldozed Halifax remains (subsequently uncovered around the Northern HAS Site during construction) into a pit dug for the purpose.
The Ground Radio guys, in the late '70's, poking about, uncovered a complete .303 machine gun. Having lovingly restored it on the night shifts, presented it to the Armoury. The Duty Armourer was stunned to say the least.
Chatting to Canadian ex-aircrew, revisiting Leeming in the '70's,they told stories of bombs 'cooking' whilst being loaded and being dumped into Bedale Beck. This went on for 3 years.
I stopped fishing Bedale Beck as soon as I was told.
It must be the most explosive stretch of water in Yorkshire.
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make mine a spitfire
:)As you can tell from my age this is from local hearsay and not from being there.Just after WW2 the south side of Manchester airport was used to dismantle many surplus aircraft(there are pictures of these aircraft parked awaiting their fete in a couple of books relating to the airports history). As the story goes a lot of these aircraft got bulldozed into a ravine in a wood called Arthurs wood. Dont know if its true but the outline of this wood has changed on aerial photos with a large ravine jutting out ito farm land gone by about 1947 Maybe i hope so.
Yes, Him
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Some of the stuff these chaps are unearthing were obviously scrap when dumped but some of the stuff ie Merlin exhaust stubs is still in Cosmolene and waxed paper in boxes eg brand new. Fascinating.
The south side of Coventry Airport is rumoured to be rife with all manner of buried, crated, "brand new" Merlin engines, machine guns, spares etc. Almost everything you would need to build a "brand new" bomber...
Story I heard is that when building some of the units on the south side, they dug up a load of machine guns. Rather than inform the police, with all the hassle that that would entail, said machine guns were quietly concreted over...
TTR
Story I heard is that when building some of the units on the south side, they dug up a load of machine guns. Rather than inform the police, with all the hassle that that would entail, said machine guns were quietly concreted over...
TTR
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The same story is told of Exeter. In the 1980s I had a long conversation with a man who said that as a boy he watched the pit being dug, with whole Jeeps being buried among a whole lot of stuff. A local historian has written about it also, with some good sources.
Compass base surveys (Flt Lt Snowball, anyone remember him?) confirmed some huge anomalies in the area described very precisely by my informant.
I know exactly where it is. But my lips are sealed.
Compass base surveys (Flt Lt Snowball, anyone remember him?) confirmed some huge anomalies in the area described very precisely by my informant.
I know exactly where it is. But my lips are sealed.
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3 things;
1, As Dunsfold was a repatriation base at the end of the war, seeing thousands of liberated POW's etc go through, it's thought some with ' loot ', rumours persist of such stuff buried around the airfield.
As our later photographic section faced the woods to the W of the 'field, we quite often saw some hopeful characters with metal detectors.
2, Before joining up in Jan' 42, my Father & his younger brothers would watch the B of B etc, and when any aircraft came down, would jump on their pushbikes and usually be there before the authorities.
When his family moved, the boys buried their cache of machine guns, ammo & bits in the garden near Billingshurst West Sussex.
Many years later we were driving past when dad was horrified to see their old house being knocked down, and wondered whether to tell someone - he decided ( wrongly in my view but ... ) not to.
Nothing has been built on the site, it's just grass now; I have no idea if anything was discovered.
3, I have also been told by our gardener, who has lived and worked on the area all his life, including ploughing, that large portions of Lancaster, esp. the wings apparently, are shallow underground in a spot not far from Midhurst - it has been left alone as probably the landowners don't want the hassle, and because it seems the crew did not get out; both pretty lame excuses, a proper burial should be arranged for a start if the story is true ( the site is within view of our garden ) but this area is full of rich landowners who couldn't give a hoot about anything like that.
1, As Dunsfold was a repatriation base at the end of the war, seeing thousands of liberated POW's etc go through, it's thought some with ' loot ', rumours persist of such stuff buried around the airfield.
As our later photographic section faced the woods to the W of the 'field, we quite often saw some hopeful characters with metal detectors.
2, Before joining up in Jan' 42, my Father & his younger brothers would watch the B of B etc, and when any aircraft came down, would jump on their pushbikes and usually be there before the authorities.
When his family moved, the boys buried their cache of machine guns, ammo & bits in the garden near Billingshurst West Sussex.
Many years later we were driving past when dad was horrified to see their old house being knocked down, and wondered whether to tell someone - he decided ( wrongly in my view but ... ) not to.
Nothing has been built on the site, it's just grass now; I have no idea if anything was discovered.
3, I have also been told by our gardener, who has lived and worked on the area all his life, including ploughing, that large portions of Lancaster, esp. the wings apparently, are shallow underground in a spot not far from Midhurst - it has been left alone as probably the landowners don't want the hassle, and because it seems the crew did not get out; both pretty lame excuses, a proper burial should be arranged for a start if the story is true ( the site is within view of our garden ) but this area is full of rich landowners who couldn't give a hoot about anything like that.
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A humerous story is told in Santa Ana, California, home of the former Tustin MCAS.
The story goes that in early 1942, when the huge airship hangars were being built there, the deep concrete foundation for one of the structures was being poured. A USAAF P-38 pilot with an aircraft malfunction mistook the freshly poured 1000 foot long strip of concrete for a runway and promptly plopped into it. Not being able to immediately recover the aircraft and in the spirit of the times to "get on with it", they continued pouring concrete and that aircraft is forever entombed in the floor of that hangar.
The pilot apparently 'swam ashore' and was washed off as there is no statue of a P-38 driver at Tustin.
The story goes that in early 1942, when the huge airship hangars were being built there, the deep concrete foundation for one of the structures was being poured. A USAAF P-38 pilot with an aircraft malfunction mistook the freshly poured 1000 foot long strip of concrete for a runway and promptly plopped into it. Not being able to immediately recover the aircraft and in the spirit of the times to "get on with it", they continued pouring concrete and that aircraft is forever entombed in the floor of that hangar.
The pilot apparently 'swam ashore' and was washed off as there is no statue of a P-38 driver at Tustin.
Slightly off thread. When the Kariba Dam was built in the early fifties one of the terms of the labour contract that if somebody fell in then they would just be left. This was because it was a continually poured structure and the concrete supply could not be stopped under any circumstances.
There are eighteen people entombed therein.
There are eighteen people entombed therein.
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buried treasure
When Dunkeswell packed in operational flying the Americans buried a stack of P&W radials, still in their crates, on the land to the north west of the airfield boundary. Well, that was the rumour anways ...
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Ah urban myths, doncha luv em! I wonder how long before someone mentions the pit rumoured to contain the remains of Elvis Presley, Lord Lucan and Shergar. Oh and maybe Glenn Miller, Amelia Earhart and the Duchess of Bedford, with their respective aeroplanes, will also be found in it! However I have to concede that sometimes someone digs up what appears to have been the aerodrome rubbish dump. But crated Merlins, whole Halifaxes - I shan't hold my breath whilst waiting.
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I spent a couple of hours earlier this year with a geiger counter on the appropriate section of Dalgety Bay foreshore. Found a couple of interesting lumps of rusty metal by eye, but nothing radioactive above background levels. Looking at what reports are available online, there's not very much there. The occasional radioactive particles are quite hot - you wouldn't want one trapped under your fingernail - but they're very uncommon.
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The best (apochryphal) tale in this genre, at least in my opinion, concerns Benbecula. After the stranding of the SS Politician, upon which the film "Whisky Galore" was based. Bottles of the amber nectar were reputedly stashed in various places. One such cache was buried in the machair not long before the airfield constructors came along and built one of Bennie's runways over the top of it. And as they say in northern parts,"If it were a lie, it were lied tae me."
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I was at Leeming in the early 80's.
We found a Mosquito tool kit that was sent to the RAF Museum and while rummaging at the edge of the airfield, not far from the MR HQ. we found Merlin engine parts, a bomb rack and numerous non aircraft stuff like plates KFS etc.
After we came across piles of live ammo we invited a few members of the armoury to come with us and offer advice. It was decided to bury the ammo where it lay. While there I picked up what appeared to be a peice of cast iron drain pipe, underneath it was a grey mush that looked like wet plastercine. From a distance our friends from the armoury pointed out that the cast iron I was holding was really bomb casing and the grey plastercine was high explosive.
Quick exit performed and I never went back. Don't know if anything was done other than to re bury everything.
We found a Mosquito tool kit that was sent to the RAF Museum and while rummaging at the edge of the airfield, not far from the MR HQ. we found Merlin engine parts, a bomb rack and numerous non aircraft stuff like plates KFS etc.
After we came across piles of live ammo we invited a few members of the armoury to come with us and offer advice. It was decided to bury the ammo where it lay. While there I picked up what appeared to be a peice of cast iron drain pipe, underneath it was a grey mush that looked like wet plastercine. From a distance our friends from the armoury pointed out that the cast iron I was holding was really bomb casing and the grey plastercine was high explosive.
Quick exit performed and I never went back. Don't know if anything was done other than to re bury everything.
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OK, I'm slightly barmy and an enthusiast, but my quest is genuine. According to my father, who was not a liar by any stretch but hangar chief at Victorville air base in CA in WWII, was a witness to the burial of much military hardware at the end of the war, including, in his words, weapons packed in cosmoline, entire vehicles, aircraft engines... and more things I can't remember. His description included watching bulldozers dig pits in the desert and equipment being dumped in and covered up. The desert around Victorville was the Mojave. I am just captivated by the existence of this "graveyard" and what is still there, likely perfectly preserved by the desert climate and/or the cosmoline.
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
