vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Awesome, thanks for posting!
The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent.
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fubar57
General
Lovely photos
Vic Balshaw
Major General
It's great that all these placees are around, not only nostalgic for the likes of me, but an education to successive generations. Grea t stuff T, keep them coming. 
- Thread starter
- #764
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Thanks chaps.
I should have the next batch of pics up later today.
I should have the next batch of pics up later today.
- Thread starter
- #765
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
As promised, more pics from Framlingham.
The first four pics show the wonderful diorama of how the airfield looked in 1944, with Pic 5 being a "Google" view of the site today.
This was gifted to the Museum only this year, and is beautifully made, with incredible detail for the scale, even down to taxi track and runway lighting, which can just be seen in some of the photos!!
Apologies for the reflections in the glass case covering the diorama - not a lot I could do about that, even if I'd used a pola filter.
The final pic in this post shows one of the display cases in the passageway from the cafe to the control tower, with genuine uniforms and a M1 carbine, donated to the Museum by veterans.
More to come in the next post .............
The first four pics show the wonderful diorama of how the airfield looked in 1944, with Pic 5 being a "Google" view of the site today.
This was gifted to the Museum only this year, and is beautifully made, with incredible detail for the scale, even down to taxi track and runway lighting, which can just be seen in some of the photos!!
Apologies for the reflections in the glass case covering the diorama - not a lot I could do about that, even if I'd used a pola filter.
The final pic in this post shows one of the display cases in the passageway from the cafe to the control tower, with genuine uniforms and a M1 carbine, donated to the Museum by veterans.
More to come in the next post .............
- Thread starter
- #766
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Moving through the corridor, into a restored Nissen hut, where a recreation of an aircrew billet can be seen. One can only imagine what it must have been like in this type of living quarters, in winter, with just a small stove for heating, and cold water to wash in, although I have memories from the early 1970's, in similar buildings in October, and that was enough for me !
Passing through the Nissen hut, and the chapel is seen, with the wall autographed by former personnel who were stationed at the airfield during WW2.
The final two shots in this batch were taken in the entrance vestibule to the preserved control tower and show the board describing the history of the 390th Bomb Group whilst at Framlingham, and the very large memorial listing of all the crews killed or M.I.A., a very sobering and moving tribute to all those young men who never made it home.
I've got a very busy day tomorrow, sorting out and catching up on things after my five-week absence from home, but I'll try to get some more pics posted, otherwise it'll be done on Wednesday.
Passing through the Nissen hut, and the chapel is seen, with the wall autographed by former personnel who were stationed at the airfield during WW2.
The final two shots in this batch were taken in the entrance vestibule to the preserved control tower and show the board describing the history of the 390th Bomb Group whilst at Framlingham, and the very large memorial listing of all the crews killed or M.I.A., a very sobering and moving tribute to all those young men who never made it home.
I've got a very busy day tomorrow, sorting out and catching up on things after my five-week absence from home, but I'll try to get some more pics posted, otherwise it'll be done on Wednesday.
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fubar57
General
Love the dio
- Thread starter
- #769
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Thanks all.
Yes George, the diorama is fantastic, and really shows how much land was requisitioned to build these airfields, and not just the flying field itself, but also the many dispersed sites. For example, what I'm fairly sure is the bomb dump, to the east of the main field, can be seen in the wooded area in the second and third photos, with other dispersed sites visible here and there, deep in the surrounding countryside of this remote part of Suffolk, a few miles from the town of Framlingham.
Yes George, the diorama is fantastic, and really shows how much land was requisitioned to build these airfields, and not just the flying field itself, but also the many dispersed sites. For example, what I'm fairly sure is the bomb dump, to the east of the main field, can be seen in the wooded area in the second and third photos, with other dispersed sites visible here and there, deep in the surrounding countryside of this remote part of Suffolk, a few miles from the town of Framlingham.
Crimea_River
Marshal
I always like your posts Terry and once again you didn't disappoint. Looking forward to more.
- Thread starter
- #771
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Thanks very much Andy. Next time you get over here, with a bit of luck I can probably take you to some of these places.
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 42,927
- Mar 26, 2007
Nicely done.
- Thread starter
- #773
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Moving into the ground floor rooms of the control tower, and an interesting selection of relics recovered from crash sites in the region, and the North Sea.. These include engine and parts from the B-24 flown by Joe Kennedy, on a U.S. Navy "Anvil" operation, when it exploded over Suffolk in 1944, killing Kennedy and his co-pilot. The aircraft had taken off from Fersfield ( same place where the Shell House attack was launched from ), which is only about a ten-minute drive from the "Tin Tent" base.
Further into the tower are some gun turrets, the conical-shaped one on the right in the pics being a rare Short Stirling upper turret. Apologies for the unsharp pic of this - I had the camera on the wrong setting !
Also shown is some P-51 Mustang wreckage. Note the armour seat back plates against the wall.
I'll be back soon with more pics from inside the tower, and views of the airfield itself, taken from the control tower balcony.
Still to come are some pics from the Museum of the Resistance .................
Further into the tower are some gun turrets, the conical-shaped one on the right in the pics being a rare Short Stirling upper turret. Apologies for the unsharp pic of this - I had the camera on the wrong setting !
Also shown is some P-51 Mustang wreckage. Note the armour seat back plates against the wall.
I'll be back soon with more pics from inside the tower, and views of the airfield itself, taken from the control tower balcony.
Still to come are some pics from the Museum of the Resistance .................
- Thread starter
- #775
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
The next room was packed with radio equipment, bomb sight computers, and two examples of gyro-stabilized bomb sights.
These were the huge Sperry gyro bomb sight, and the British Mk.XIV gyro sight.
Contrary to popular belief, not all USAAF bombers were equipped with the famous Norden sight, with the Sperry sight being just as common in use, particularly in the B-24. (as well as an American licence-produced version of the Mk.XIV).
Note the size of the Sperry compared to the fairly compact Mk.XIV.
Also on display here was a nice example of the British T/R 1154/1155 radio transmitter / receiver, as used in the majority of RAF multi-engine aircraft.
The B-17 model, scratch-built including the "dispersal pan" and background, is huge - the Browning.50 cal machine gun gives some idea of its size!
A nice display of A1 jackets and flight clothing is in a large glass cabinet, these items being donated by USAAF veterans.
The display panel describing Mission 30 of the 390th BG to Rjukan, Norway, covers the story of the attack on the Norsk Hydro plant at Rjukan, which was producing "Heavy Water" for the German atomic bomb programme. The story is covered in the 1965 movie "The Heros of Telemark", when Norwegian commandos blew up the production facility, only to have it repaired by the Germans in record time. This led to the attack by the B-17s, which failed to destroy the plant. The shipment of "Heavy Water" was finally destroyed, when the Norwegian unit sank the "Hydra" ferry carrying the barrels, in the deepest part of the fjord.
The final two pics from inside the control tower show a 1/72nd scale diorama of the B-17 "Memphis Belle", and some various scale B-24 models.
I'll be back some time tomorrow, with further coverage of the airfield site, and The Museum of the British Resistance. Thanks for all your kind responses so far .......................
These were the huge Sperry gyro bomb sight, and the British Mk.XIV gyro sight.
Contrary to popular belief, not all USAAF bombers were equipped with the famous Norden sight, with the Sperry sight being just as common in use, particularly in the B-24. (as well as an American licence-produced version of the Mk.XIV).
Note the size of the Sperry compared to the fairly compact Mk.XIV.
Also on display here was a nice example of the British T/R 1154/1155 radio transmitter / receiver, as used in the majority of RAF multi-engine aircraft.
The B-17 model, scratch-built including the "dispersal pan" and background, is huge - the Browning.50 cal machine gun gives some idea of its size!
A nice display of A1 jackets and flight clothing is in a large glass cabinet, these items being donated by USAAF veterans.
The display panel describing Mission 30 of the 390th BG to Rjukan, Norway, covers the story of the attack on the Norsk Hydro plant at Rjukan, which was producing "Heavy Water" for the German atomic bomb programme. The story is covered in the 1965 movie "The Heros of Telemark", when Norwegian commandos blew up the production facility, only to have it repaired by the Germans in record time. This led to the attack by the B-17s, which failed to destroy the plant. The shipment of "Heavy Water" was finally destroyed, when the Norwegian unit sank the "Hydra" ferry carrying the barrels, in the deepest part of the fjord.
The final two pics from inside the control tower show a 1/72nd scale diorama of the B-17 "Memphis Belle", and some various scale B-24 models.
I'll be back some time tomorrow, with further coverage of the airfield site, and The Museum of the British Resistance. Thanks for all your kind responses so far .......................
- Thread starter
- #777
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Thanks again chaps.
As I've realised that I'll be rather busy tomorrow (doing shopping and admin, sorting out my central heating, and possibly having a new washing machine installed), I'll post the airfield coverage now. All being well, I should find some time tomorrow to post the final instalment, covering The Museum of the British Resistance.
As mentioned earlier, much of the airfield layout can still be seen, although the former perimeter track, taxi ways and runways are reduced to the width of a narrow road in most places. Karl and I passed a number of Nissen huts, "Maycrete" buildings and other structures, dotted around the site, when we drove in, and many of these are still in use today for farm storage etc, 80 years after the Station was built.
It was fairly easy to imagine the conditions that the personnel had to live and work in, particularly the ground crews, in this wide-open, "off the beaten track" part of deepest Suffolk.
A couple of framed aerial photos of the field in 1945 were hanging in the tower, along with a view of the control tower in 1944. Compare this with a similar view, taken on a previous visit in 2019.
Looking west from the first-floor balcony of the tower, the original "T2" hangar is still in use as warehousing, with other WW2 buildings being used for various purposes. There was a second "T2" hangar on the eastern side of the field during the war, now long gone.
Looking northwest from the balcony, the perimeter track and the outline of some former dispersals can be seen, one of which, in the distance, has an agricultural building on its concrete base.
Looking east, the emergency vehicle access track can be seen at left, with the car in the middle distance on one of the former runways. The second "T2" hangar would have been at the far right, the area out of view in this shot.
The final pic is a view to the south-southeast.
.
As I've realised that I'll be rather busy tomorrow (doing shopping and admin, sorting out my central heating, and possibly having a new washing machine installed), I'll post the airfield coverage now. All being well, I should find some time tomorrow to post the final instalment, covering The Museum of the British Resistance.
As mentioned earlier, much of the airfield layout can still be seen, although the former perimeter track, taxi ways and runways are reduced to the width of a narrow road in most places. Karl and I passed a number of Nissen huts, "Maycrete" buildings and other structures, dotted around the site, when we drove in, and many of these are still in use today for farm storage etc, 80 years after the Station was built.
It was fairly easy to imagine the conditions that the personnel had to live and work in, particularly the ground crews, in this wide-open, "off the beaten track" part of deepest Suffolk.
A couple of framed aerial photos of the field in 1945 were hanging in the tower, along with a view of the control tower in 1944. Compare this with a similar view, taken on a previous visit in 2019.
Looking west from the first-floor balcony of the tower, the original "T2" hangar is still in use as warehousing, with other WW2 buildings being used for various purposes. There was a second "T2" hangar on the eastern side of the field during the war, now long gone.
Looking northwest from the balcony, the perimeter track and the outline of some former dispersals can be seen, one of which, in the distance, has an agricultural building on its concrete base.
Looking east, the emergency vehicle access track can be seen at left, with the car in the middle distance on one of the former runways. The second "T2" hangar would have been at the far right, the area out of view in this shot.
The final pic is a view to the south-southeast.
.
Jeff Hunt
1st Lieutenant
Great stuff. I need to get here more often and keep up with your travels.
Cheers
Jeff
Cheers
Jeff
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Just brilliant!
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Great set of pics Terry, love every one. Keep them coming.
