Report - RAF Upwood, Cambs August 2019

[tigger]

Yeah I heard there was an entrance in the guard house but I couldn't see anything! Like you said more than likely blocked off now.... I wish I could find the blueprints

1939 and 1947 airfield plans are available from Hendon. These show the building drawing numbers...using those with references such as the drawings and standard texts such as British Airfield Architecture, British Airfield Buildings (volume 2 covers Expansion era) and Works will give you a lot of information about designs
Haven't been to Upwood for around 20 years but there are no tunnels under the Guard House & Fire Party building.
As mentioned above, some of the Barracks blocks had standard air-raid shelters

 

[Bigrobbyault]

I've heard there are four bomb shelters at Upwood but have only found two.

They're in the 'H' barrack blocks on the eastern side of the parade ground (behind two smaller blocks and next to the former medical center site).

The entrances are in the central corridor. Unfortunately both are flooded and blocked up with rubbish. I suspect they have emergency exits beyond the barrack blocks which are the 'tunnels and hatches' a previous poster mentioned.

All the best,
Simon

Yeah I found the ones in the H blocks 2 where flooded the 1 was dry and could walk around down there I did see in a video from the 80s some American guy showing around the site showed bomb shelters outside one was by the water fountain I tried looking when I was there but it was to over grown the other was by a car park

 

[mookster]

The guard house is currently sat in the middle of where the new houses are going up, it may already have been flattened.

 

[tigger]

....... I did see in a video from the 80s some American guy showing around the site showed bomb shelters outside one was by the water fountain I tried looking when I was there but it was to over grown the other was by a car park

There were Stanton shelters and open blast shelters. I'd guess your 'bomb' shelters were Stanton section air raid shelters.

 

[The_Mole]

OK, I have been there now and had a look. Its in the Squadron Head Quarters by the main gate, not the Guardroom (which looks like its been torched to f*ck! Surprised its still standing tbh!). The doorway is blocked up but you can get to the other side. Its just a doorway. The room it leads into has bars on the windows and only the one entrance. It looks like it had a lot of computer networking and servers and stuff in its day: likely the IT system and control for the whole camp. I imagine the reason it was bricked up was for security. Ie, to give the room only the one entrance and exit point.
We did however find a tunnel leading into a cellar in one of the other buildings. May have found a second but it was absolutely flooded, at least 5 foot deep by looks of it! Photos are still on my camera and will post in due course.

 

[tigger]

In RAF parlance you mean Station Headquarters (squadrons had offices).
Originally it would have housed the accounts staff, pay office, clerks, senior admin ranks, the Sation Commanders office and a classroom and library on the second floor. Upwood has a standard layout SHQ with Operations Block at the back...the Operations block contained the PBX, signals room etc.
The fact that it's bricked up means it's for a purpose different to it's original one and most likely from it's period as the Administrartion building during USAFE occupancy. Their server room would be double-lined with a single re-enforced steel door (basically it was a giant safe!).

Combination lock with eight hardened steel dead bolts about 1.5" diameter

 

[tigger]

...you can tell I'm not a graphic designer.....using a mouse to draw is a bit harder than I thought....

Typical SHQ/Ops block ground floor layout

RAF usage
1 - Accounts office
2 - Pay windows
3 - Accounts Assistant
4 - Chief accountant
5 - Sergeant major
6 - calorifier
7 - storeroom
8 - waiting room?
9 - general office 3 desks
10 - general office 5 desks
11 - Adjutants office
12 - COs office
13 - Engineers clerk
14 - Chief Engineer
15 - Officers latrines
16 - Airmen's lattrines
17 - stair well to upper lecture room and library
18 - storeroom?
Ops block
19 - PBX frame
20 - battery room
21 - wireless office
22 - ?
23 - Met office
24 - COs office (buggered up this bit...should be a bit bigger and room to left is Signals officer
25 - Ops room

grey splodge is meant to be the light well ;-)

* - I was going to draw the barracks block refuges but am retiring from trying to draw on this PC

I'd suggest Airfield Research Group bulletin board as a possible source for specific Upwood detail but you have to pay to view anything useful these days as their internet access and web provision is far more expensive than any smaller or bigger membership group.

 

[Honeybadger]

The tanks (Soviet PT-76's if anyone's interested) were owned by and removed by the company that runs airsoft games there. They're now at another woodland site they run

 

[Kally]

The tanks (Soviet PT-76's if anyone's interested) were owned by and removed by the company that runs airsoft games there. They're now at another woodland site they run

I'm glad they were spared the scrapheap, those are one of my favorite memories about playing airsoft there. Do you know which site they've moved to?

Also, have they actually started bulldozing it yet? I know it's been under threat for years. The airsoft games here have now shut down for good so I presumed that was the end of it. They still haven't done anything with the USAF hospital site they bulldozed a few years back, despite all the plans. I wouldn't be surprised if stays in limbo for longer.

 

[Giymo85]

Also, have they actually started bulldozing it yet? I know it's been under threat for years. The airsoft games here have now shut down for good so I presumed that was the end of it. They still haven't done anything with the USAF hospital site they bulldozed a few years back, despite all the plans. I wouldn't be surprised if stays in limbo for longer.

Hospital area is being built on at this stage. Other than a shit load of Heras the rest looks very similar.

 

[Honeybadger]

I'm glad they were spared the scrapheap, those are one of my favorite memories about playing airsoft there. Do you know which site they've moved to?

I think it was the site called freefire zone, although it was donkeys years ago so I don't know if they still have them

 

[The_Mole]

...you can tell I'm not a graphic designer.....using a mouse to draw is a bit harder than I thought....

Typical SHQ/Ops block ground floor layout

RAF usage
1 - Accounts office
2 - Pay windows
3 - Accounts Assistant
4 - Chief accountant
5 - Sergeant major
6 - calorifier
7 - storeroom
8 - waiting room?
9 - general office 3 desks
10 - general office 5 desks
11 - Adjutants office
12 - COs office
13 - Engineers clerk
14 - Chief Engineer
15 - Officers latrines
16 - Airmen's lattrines
17 - stair well to upper lecture room and library
18 - storeroom?
Ops block
19 - PBX frame
20 - battery room
21 - wireless office
22 - ?
23 - Met office
24 - COs office (buggered up this bit...should be a bit bigger and room to left is Signals officer
25 - Ops room

grey splodge is meant to be the light well ;-)

* - I was going to draw the barracks block refuges but am retiring from trying to draw on this PC

I'd suggest Airfield Research Group bulletin board as a possible source for specific Upwood detail but you have to pay to view anything useful these days as their internet access and web provision is far more expensive than any smaller or bigger membership group.

Thats pretty spot on Chap! The room with the door is room 21 and the blocked up door is the one leading into 22 or 23 (I only noticed one bricked up door and there was only one entrance!)
You could get into room 22/23 by walking around the "light well", but I dont recall there being a partition, so it may have been knocked into one room. (Im not 100% on that though as that was last yera and Ive slept since then!)