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- Apr 10, 2015
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History
Thurleigh was built for RAF Bomber Command in 1941 by W & C French Ltd in 1941.
On 7th September 1942 the 306th Group started to arrive; with some of their B17s flying in the following week. From October 1942, the 306th Group mounted a long and arduous offensive suffering many losses.
The Group finally completed their long war on 19th April 1945 which was their 342nd mission; the second highest for any B17 Group.
During its time at Thurleigh over 9,600 sorties had been flown with the loss of 171 aircraft in action and over 22,500 tons of bombs were dropped.
In 1946 construction work began on the airfield to turn the site into what became known as the Royal Aeronautical Establishment, Bedford.
The airfield was finally closed in 1997.
(History borrowed from Nelly)
The Explore
Explored with Session9 and Hamtagger, this was the second site of the day. A long walk into the middle of nowhere - A load of sheep, a farmer cutting grass or crops and a large car graveyard was ahead of us before approaching the control tower area. I recently acquired a pair of mint condition WW2 binoculars and was dying to use them. This was their first explore, and funny enough they came in very handy for checking out the tower for entry points from miles away as well as potential onlookers, security patrols, etc. Upon arrival, it was sealed pretty tight and entry seemed unlikely at first. After a bit of rummaging around amongst a load of unrelated rubbish outside, we used something makeshift along with a leap of faith to shoehorn ourselves inside. Looks like this place has been kept relatively free from youth vandalism, many windows and doors were still intact and the place lacked usual tagging normally found more inner city. Most of the rooms have weathered well over the past 18 years, with algae and moss growing on various parts of the walls. The contrast of green growth, yellow backdrop and a browning rusty texture make well for a point and shoot let alone a crisp DSLR set. Top floor contained all the telecommunications equipment along with remnants of signal flares. 2nd floor from top contained the wall board with all the flight information and included various documents and information, other floors contained geological information and weather reports. Overall, a great and interesting explore. It is very rare to see somewhere that has deteriorated largely through weather and time rather than some little shit throwing bricks through the windows and wrecking the place.
Pictures
Thanks for viewing
The Lone Shadow
Thurleigh was built for RAF Bomber Command in 1941 by W & C French Ltd in 1941.
On 7th September 1942 the 306th Group started to arrive; with some of their B17s flying in the following week. From October 1942, the 306th Group mounted a long and arduous offensive suffering many losses.
The Group finally completed their long war on 19th April 1945 which was their 342nd mission; the second highest for any B17 Group.
During its time at Thurleigh over 9,600 sorties had been flown with the loss of 171 aircraft in action and over 22,500 tons of bombs were dropped.
In 1946 construction work began on the airfield to turn the site into what became known as the Royal Aeronautical Establishment, Bedford.
The airfield was finally closed in 1997.
(History borrowed from Nelly)
The Explore
Explored with Session9 and Hamtagger, this was the second site of the day. A long walk into the middle of nowhere - A load of sheep, a farmer cutting grass or crops and a large car graveyard was ahead of us before approaching the control tower area. I recently acquired a pair of mint condition WW2 binoculars and was dying to use them. This was their first explore, and funny enough they came in very handy for checking out the tower for entry points from miles away as well as potential onlookers, security patrols, etc. Upon arrival, it was sealed pretty tight and entry seemed unlikely at first. After a bit of rummaging around amongst a load of unrelated rubbish outside, we used something makeshift along with a leap of faith to shoehorn ourselves inside. Looks like this place has been kept relatively free from youth vandalism, many windows and doors were still intact and the place lacked usual tagging normally found more inner city. Most of the rooms have weathered well over the past 18 years, with algae and moss growing on various parts of the walls. The contrast of green growth, yellow backdrop and a browning rusty texture make well for a point and shoot let alone a crisp DSLR set. Top floor contained all the telecommunications equipment along with remnants of signal flares. 2nd floor from top contained the wall board with all the flight information and included various documents and information, other floors contained geological information and weather reports. Overall, a great and interesting explore. It is very rare to see somewhere that has deteriorated largely through weather and time rather than some little shit throwing bricks through the windows and wrecking the place.
Pictures
Thanks for viewing
The Lone Shadow
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