Colin1
Senior Master Sergeant
I wasn't sure where to put this
I've been working on one of our other sites for the last ten days or so, a place called Pershore in Worcs. It's an old, disused (but still commissioned) airfield. Funnily enough, it seems it wasn't called RAF Pershore but RAF Throckmorton. It had one of the longest runways in the country but that's been cut up now by roads.
It was home during WWII to the Canadians of 23 OTU who flew Wellingtons, then 1 Ferry Unit, followed (a little confusingly) by the RAF Pershore Advanced Flying School. Its final role was as a dispersal airfield for Vulcan bombers if NATO went to high alert and the RAF needed to get all of her nuclear delivery platform eggs out of the same basket and away from each other.
We have a grand total of nine staff up there doing all the EMC stuff, which must be fun because as you can imagine, the place is huge. They occupy the HQ hangar and the EMC chamber is inside an adjacent hangar. There are still plenty of tell-tale signs of the war around the place, the earthing points around the perimeter of the apron for refuelling, the perimeter light locations (lights long gone) and an interesting point gleaned from inside the EMC hangar; there are two light bulbs per light installation on the aircraft hangar ceiling, at different frequencies to each other. This is because with only one light (and one frequency), it is possible for a prop under power to appear stationary, with the obvious potential for disaster that that entailed - some WWII Health Safety in action.
Alot of little concrete pillboxes full of electrics dotted around the runways too, painted black and yellow checkers but long ago faded.
Didn't take any pics, so it's not mine but here's the disused tower which is a stone's throw from the HQ hangar.
I've been working on one of our other sites for the last ten days or so, a place called Pershore in Worcs. It's an old, disused (but still commissioned) airfield. Funnily enough, it seems it wasn't called RAF Pershore but RAF Throckmorton. It had one of the longest runways in the country but that's been cut up now by roads.
It was home during WWII to the Canadians of 23 OTU who flew Wellingtons, then 1 Ferry Unit, followed (a little confusingly) by the RAF Pershore Advanced Flying School. Its final role was as a dispersal airfield for Vulcan bombers if NATO went to high alert and the RAF needed to get all of her nuclear delivery platform eggs out of the same basket and away from each other.
We have a grand total of nine staff up there doing all the EMC stuff, which must be fun because as you can imagine, the place is huge. They occupy the HQ hangar and the EMC chamber is inside an adjacent hangar. There are still plenty of tell-tale signs of the war around the place, the earthing points around the perimeter of the apron for refuelling, the perimeter light locations (lights long gone) and an interesting point gleaned from inside the EMC hangar; there are two light bulbs per light installation on the aircraft hangar ceiling, at different frequencies to each other. This is because with only one light (and one frequency), it is possible for a prop under power to appear stationary, with the obvious potential for disaster that that entailed - some WWII Health Safety in action.
Alot of little concrete pillboxes full of electrics dotted around the runways too, painted black and yellow checkers but long ago faded.
Didn't take any pics, so it's not mine but here's the disused tower which is a stone's throw from the HQ hangar.
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