Critical Foundations - WWII Airfields
 

Good day! Just discovered this forum and I hope you enjoy my first post:
Inspired by airfield history and the "haunting" appearance of abandoned airfields I researched this little bit of history with facts that you may not be aware of:

Excellent !

That was some achievement that I for one had not stopped to think about.

Emeritus.

Everyone Should see This!
 

Brilliant and thought provoking. A very neglected ignored story which really HAS to be told. Many thanks for posting this.

A lot of the construction sequences are of Heathrow 1945/6.

Thanks for watching and thanks for the encouragement!
@ DeepestSouth - you are the second person I know from the Isle of Man. My Grandfather was born there (last name Caley).

in the 1930's the RAF had a mere 52 airfields


how many do they have now?

@scr1 According to my sources, active RAF airfields number in the mid 30's.

That must be about one per aircraft then...:)

Just been doing a little searching!
This article lays it out pretty good!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ne-levels.html

Excellent video - thanks for posting. I know many of the airfields you mentioned and took lots of pictures of them in the 80's. Alas, the photos like the airfields are just memories.......

Doering,

excellent, thanks are due to you at many levels.

I grew up and later worked at Dunsfold, a 1942 'field.

In about 2001, long after I then BAe left, the new owners ( property developers, sadly ) held an open meeting for local residents to hear their views, I and my father who had worked there for 35 years went along.

A lot of the locals had moved into this wealthy area since the airfield had closed, and many comments on the lines of " You're not going to have any nasty noisy aeroplanes are you ? " were trotted out...

In the end I couldn't stand it, beckoned the girl with the roving mic over, and said " This place was built in 1942 for quite a big event, you may have heard of it, it was called World War Two; since then many of Britains' great export achievments have been born here - and without places like this I'd be speaking in German; a lot of the NIMBY's here today would do well to think of that ! "

This did not go down well with the property developers or the 'new locals' ! Still it got a thin cheer from the few of my old colleagues present, and more to the point I'm happy to say the repeated planning requests submitted are steadfastly refused by the local council.

In 2001 I had a job photographing from Cessna's, the pilot would drool over Dunsfold as we went over the strangely still place, " What a Warbird restoration base that would be !".

Well, one can still hope.

Thanks again for an excellent video, something tells me that was not knocked up in an afternoon.

Critical Foundations
 

Hi Doering

This is a wonderful video and I am going to send the link on to my father (now 91yrs and ex RAAF 466 Squadron based in England during WW11). He will be most interested in having a look.

Since my son bought him an ipad at the beginning of this year he now has a new lease of life and loves to look at anything on the web re old aircraft etc. He flew Wellingtons and Lancasters.

Best wishes

Dienaj:

It is posts like yours that makes this hobby so much more rewarding!
Be sure also to have your Father watch my other video specifically made to honor the crews of the Lancaster Bomber! If he is able to send me a personal note via you and the private message system in this forum that would be terrific.
Thanks so much!
Here is the video:

Double Zero:

Sorry I missed your post here! Great story and I certainly get a good sense of your appreciation. Yes, we can only try and continue to educate in the pursuit of history significance. And yes, the video was not knocked up in an afternoon. This was been in works since last November (2010).
Cheers!