RAF Strubby History
Strubby was a mid-war airfield which opened in 1943 under RAF Bomber Command. It has an A-frame hard-surfaced runway and was constructed from 1942. Like many of the airfields situated away from the south-east of England more vulnerable to attack, it hosted a range of bomber squadrons, including No. 144 Squadron (Bristol Beaufighter X), No. 227 Squadron (Avro Lancaster I and III), No. 619 Squadron (more Lancasters) No. 280 Squadron (Vickers Warwick I for sea rescue) and the Canadian air force No. 404 Squadron (more Beaufighters for long range patrol and training). It also housed some maintenance units. After WW2, Strubby fell under control of RAF Manby and became a Flying College until closure in 1972. After this RAF period, part of Strubby became used as a helicopter port to send workers to North Sea oil rigs. Later, Lincolnshire gliding club moved in and remain at the airfield to this day. Now, the control tower is used as a residential property, whilst numerous businesses have set up inside the arifield's various technical buildings and hangars.
The airfield memorial
The control tower, refurbished into a residence in 2008.
The Explore
A rare one-page report from me this. Whilst on a Lincolnshire roadtrip with @dansgas1000 we came across this little gem. It's tucked away behind the entrance to a loose business park on the airfield site which does go kart racing amongst other things. The entrance to the airfield contains several original technical buildings and an airfield memorial, as well as some information boards. Quite nice what they've done with it really, allowing people to visit and learn something about the airfield rather than just turning it into a business park without mention.
Peering into the Nissen huts near the entrance.
Presumably the old gatehouse.
Some of the various huts surviving near the memorial. The one on the left has information boards about the airfield on which is nice, whilst the one on the right is disused. We had a look inside this largely disused building as shown below.
An old latrine affront some of the more modern business sheds on the airfield.
Anyway, we went beyond the memorial area and located the substation we had our eyes on. I was curious about it after seeing a standardly low quality youtube video which showed some old electrical equipment inside. We had a bit of a battle through some undergrowth which resulted in us getting spiked a few times as is standard. It turned out to be rather nice, still containing its original electrical kit and some furniture. At least I assume they were wartime, but could've also been from the 50s potentially although less likely. Not something you see very often and thought I'd share it. I love a little tucked away substation and this one was quite nice being military. Haven’t come across one like this before disused but also with its original kit surviving.
The substation exterior.
Inside.
The main switch panel with breakers below. The switch panel was made by Ferguson Palin Ltd of Manchester (shown on the plaque ontop).
In bays beneath the switch panel were several GEC BVP17 oil circuit breakers or similar. Essentially massive circuit breakers filled with oil, possibly some nasty PCB type stuff, that could be wheeled in/out of the setup and connected via something resembling the hose of a Henry hoover. If an electrical problem and arcing occurred, the setup could be submerged in oil to break the current. Each one had six lovely ceramic bushing things on top. I’ve probably described that horribly but I’m no electrician. The above pic shows the breakers wheeled out as we found them. We tidied the room up a little and wheeled them mostly back in to give the place less of a sense of chaos.
The oil breaker levers.
Area nearer the door that wreaked havoc with our cameras.
Detail of the smaller panel beside the main switchpanel.
Small electrical battery charger near the door.
The other side of the room, with a nice electrical schematic board - more portable and modular than those usually seen in control rooms.
Close up of the schematic board.
Now for a few last shots of the switch panel setup, because you can never have too many.
Thanks for viewing folks
Strubby was a mid-war airfield which opened in 1943 under RAF Bomber Command. It has an A-frame hard-surfaced runway and was constructed from 1942. Like many of the airfields situated away from the south-east of England more vulnerable to attack, it hosted a range of bomber squadrons, including No. 144 Squadron (Bristol Beaufighter X), No. 227 Squadron (Avro Lancaster I and III), No. 619 Squadron (more Lancasters) No. 280 Squadron (Vickers Warwick I for sea rescue) and the Canadian air force No. 404 Squadron (more Beaufighters for long range patrol and training). It also housed some maintenance units. After WW2, Strubby fell under control of RAF Manby and became a Flying College until closure in 1972. After this RAF period, part of Strubby became used as a helicopter port to send workers to North Sea oil rigs. Later, Lincolnshire gliding club moved in and remain at the airfield to this day. Now, the control tower is used as a residential property, whilst numerous businesses have set up inside the arifield's various technical buildings and hangars.
The airfield memorial
The control tower, refurbished into a residence in 2008.
The Explore
A rare one-page report from me this. Whilst on a Lincolnshire roadtrip with @dansgas1000 we came across this little gem. It's tucked away behind the entrance to a loose business park on the airfield site which does go kart racing amongst other things. The entrance to the airfield contains several original technical buildings and an airfield memorial, as well as some information boards. Quite nice what they've done with it really, allowing people to visit and learn something about the airfield rather than just turning it into a business park without mention.
Peering into the Nissen huts near the entrance.
Presumably the old gatehouse.
Some of the various huts surviving near the memorial. The one on the left has information boards about the airfield on which is nice, whilst the one on the right is disused. We had a look inside this largely disused building as shown below.
An old latrine affront some of the more modern business sheds on the airfield.
Anyway, we went beyond the memorial area and located the substation we had our eyes on. I was curious about it after seeing a standardly low quality youtube video which showed some old electrical equipment inside. We had a bit of a battle through some undergrowth which resulted in us getting spiked a few times as is standard. It turned out to be rather nice, still containing its original electrical kit and some furniture. At least I assume they were wartime, but could've also been from the 50s potentially although less likely. Not something you see very often and thought I'd share it. I love a little tucked away substation and this one was quite nice being military. Haven’t come across one like this before disused but also with its original kit surviving.
The substation exterior.
Inside.
The main switch panel with breakers below. The switch panel was made by Ferguson Palin Ltd of Manchester (shown on the plaque ontop).
In bays beneath the switch panel were several GEC BVP17 oil circuit breakers or similar. Essentially massive circuit breakers filled with oil, possibly some nasty PCB type stuff, that could be wheeled in/out of the setup and connected via something resembling the hose of a Henry hoover. If an electrical problem and arcing occurred, the setup could be submerged in oil to break the current. Each one had six lovely ceramic bushing things on top. I’ve probably described that horribly but I’m no electrician. The above pic shows the breakers wheeled out as we found them. We tidied the room up a little and wheeled them mostly back in to give the place less of a sense of chaos.
The oil breaker levers.
Area nearer the door that wreaked havoc with our cameras.
Detail of the smaller panel beside the main switchpanel.
Small electrical battery charger near the door.
The other side of the room, with a nice electrical schematic board - more portable and modular than those usually seen in control rooms.
Close up of the schematic board.
Now for a few last shots of the switch panel setup, because you can never have too many.
Thanks for viewing folks
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