Putting this trio of modest military sites located in the north-east corner of Leicestershire/south-west of Lincolnshire together as in their own right, two of them at least, don't really merit a report in their own right.
1. RAF Saltby
This is an ex-World War II airfield in Leicestershire, located in-between Melton Mowbray and Grantham. Its eastern end pushes it across the border into Lincolnshire by a few hundred metres. It opened in 1941 as a grass strip and surrounding support buildings until a year later when it was up-graded to Class A airfield standards with three converging concrete runways. It was used by both the RAF and the US Army Air Forces with RAF Vickers Wellingtons first to fly out of it. It was used primarily as a transport airfield and closed after the war and kept in reserve until 1955. The ground support station was constructed largely of Nissen huts and included mess facilities, a chapel, hospital and armoury and bombsite storage amongst other buildings. An ammunition dump was located outside of the perimeter track and surrounded by large dirt mounds and concrete storage pens. At its peak it accommodated up to 2100 staff members and boasted five hangars which were used to store 32 Horse gliders in 1943.
O/S Map (1950):
A – Sewage Works
B – Stanton shelters and associated buildings
C – Stanton shelters and water tower
D – Main airfield due south
On its release from military use in 1955, much of the airfield was returned to agriculture. Today, a large amount of the airfield is intact, including almost the entirety of its main runway, now utilised by the Buckminster Gliding Club for gliding, motor gliding and glider aerobatics.
The Explore: I’ve been here a few times, but was passing so thought I’d do a revisit as this place doesn’t get much attention, due to there not being too much left. What is scattered around a fairly large area but worth the effort given it is part of our World War II history and there are some nice clean Stanton shelters.
The Pictures:
Let’s start with the water purification works/sewage works:
Not too much left but still quite photogenic:
There were two circular spreading beds. The arms have long gone but the central anchoring point remains:
On to the main part of the site. Plenty of the old blast trenches still here:
But it’s mainly about the Stanton shelters here:
And other bits of knocked down buildings:
And this old water tower:
And finally, on to the main airdrome which is still used by gliders and light aircraft. Not too much left here apart from this long and very good condition Stanton shelter:
1. RAF Saltby
This is an ex-World War II airfield in Leicestershire, located in-between Melton Mowbray and Grantham. Its eastern end pushes it across the border into Lincolnshire by a few hundred metres. It opened in 1941 as a grass strip and surrounding support buildings until a year later when it was up-graded to Class A airfield standards with three converging concrete runways. It was used by both the RAF and the US Army Air Forces with RAF Vickers Wellingtons first to fly out of it. It was used primarily as a transport airfield and closed after the war and kept in reserve until 1955. The ground support station was constructed largely of Nissen huts and included mess facilities, a chapel, hospital and armoury and bombsite storage amongst other buildings. An ammunition dump was located outside of the perimeter track and surrounded by large dirt mounds and concrete storage pens. At its peak it accommodated up to 2100 staff members and boasted five hangars which were used to store 32 Horse gliders in 1943.
O/S Map (1950):
A – Sewage Works
B – Stanton shelters and associated buildings
C – Stanton shelters and water tower
D – Main airfield due south
On its release from military use in 1955, much of the airfield was returned to agriculture. Today, a large amount of the airfield is intact, including almost the entirety of its main runway, now utilised by the Buckminster Gliding Club for gliding, motor gliding and glider aerobatics.
The Explore: I’ve been here a few times, but was passing so thought I’d do a revisit as this place doesn’t get much attention, due to there not being too much left. What is scattered around a fairly large area but worth the effort given it is part of our World War II history and there are some nice clean Stanton shelters.
The Pictures:
Let’s start with the water purification works/sewage works:
Not too much left but still quite photogenic:
There were two circular spreading beds. The arms have long gone but the central anchoring point remains:
On to the main part of the site. Plenty of the old blast trenches still here:
But it’s mainly about the Stanton shelters here:
And other bits of knocked down buildings:
And this old water tower:
And finally, on to the main airdrome which is still used by gliders and light aircraft. Not too much left here apart from this long and very good condition Stanton shelter:
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