Has anyone heard anything about time team making a dig at Kenley airfield near Croydon, I live a couple of miles away and have heard nothing but my father in law who works in coulsdon is addament that time team are doing a dig and looking for crated up spitfires and hurricanes that were surplus at the end of the war and burried... I have looked at the time team website and there is nothing mentioned Is it Bull or is it possible?
Haven't heard of that myself, but keep checking the Council for British Archaeology's newsfeed at CBA's British & Irish archaeology newsfeed Or this guy might be able to help you- RAF Kenley airfield
It was normal practise to bury unissued equipment (motorbikes, aircraft, warship engines etc) and then build over them. as to Time team they never ever announce where they will be digging until the series is due to air. gits
Cheers, I live in Coulsdon myself and pick my wife up from Caterham on the hill 3 days a week from work so I will check as much as possible Regards Lee
Has anyone heard anything about time team making a dig at Kenley airfield near Croydon, I live a couple of miles away and have heard nothing but my father in law who works in coulsdon is addament that time team are doing a dig and looking for crated up spitfires and hurricanes that were surplus at the end of the war and burried... I have looked at the time team website and there is nothing mentioned Is it Bull or is it possible? There are stories aplenty about crated up aircraft and engines from many parts of the world where the RAF where stationed. But I have posed a question on the Time Team Forum about it. Someone should have some information RAF Kenley - Topic Powered by eve community
Used to like Time Team but haven't watched for ages. They never really seemed to find anything everytime I did watch. Would be interesting thou.
You never seen the ones where they dug aircraft then? Time Team were meant to be joining in the digging of the Roman town of Middlewich a few years ago. The archaeologists already there were sceptical but willing to give it a go, until they were told they had to pay for all of the accomodation and catering for over 250 people that would descend on them and take control for three days then bugger off. Time Team were desperate to get their hands on the digs but were told to go away with extreme impoliteness.
Enjoy the show when I remember to watch it. It's on the ABC (BBC equivalent) down here once a week (and no doubt on Foxtel/cable more than that). If they're filming a Kenley show, it'll probably show up here in a couple of years!
Found this guys, ROYAL Air Force engineers are set to dig up Kenley Airfield as part of a secret mission to uncover its wartime past. The project has been kept under wraps because bosses fear a swathe of metal detector-wielding plane enthusiasts will move in before them. Archaeologists from the Ministry of Defence Fire Training School, in Manston, Kent, will help excavate a patch of the historic site believed to be an old aircraft dump. Starting on August 7, it is hoped the dig will solve the 50-year-old mystery of what lies beneath the former RAF base. Bomb disposal teams have carried out a subterranean survey of the World War Two site in preparation for the excavation. It is thought that legendary aeroplanes such as Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes, the two fighters that won the Battle of Britain, are buried there. It is also rumoured that an old Avro Lincoln bomber - a high-altitude four-engined plane not used in the war - was left at the site..... .......Chris Baguley,chairman of the Friends of Kenley Airfield, said: "Who knows what's in there. They're going to be digging up old scrap buried a long time ago. "It could be bits of an old tip or it could be something tangible. Maybe even an important piece of military history. "The RAF wants to dispel all the myths about what is down there by finding out about the planes.What happened then we don't know and it will be very interesting to find out." ..... Squadron leader Keith Chandler, of the 615 Volunteer Gliding Squadron, said: "In the 1950s the RAF used a number of out-of-service fighter planes there, including Spitfires and Hurricanes, for fire training. "In the early 80s one of them surfaced and was taken away but the rest have been buried there for years. I think the RAF wants to keep it quiet, though, because the last thing they want is a legion of people with metal detectors digging up the land before they get there." Wing Commander David Lainchbury, the commandant at the fire training school, said ......."The site survey revealed three or four large, unusual shapes which may be aircraft fuselage. Earth-moving equipment will be used initially in the excavation, while air training corps members will then be involved in the hand-dig. "It would then be up to the Corporation of London, which owns the land, to determine what to do with any interesting finds
Well I went up there yesterday to pick the mrs up and if they are doing it they have invisible men!!!!!!
And finally as Ester Rantzen would say, Airfield dig plan grounded Aug 4 2006 By Leon Watson A TEAM of Royal Air Force engineers have pulled out of a historic dig to uncover Kenley Airfield's wartime past. The project has been postponed because members of the Ministry of Defence Fire Training School, in Manston, Kent, have been seconded elsewhere. Councillor Steve O'Connell, of the Friends of Kenley Airfield, said: "It is a shame because we were looking forward to it and it would have been very worthwhile to help find out what is there." Organisers are now hoping to press on with excavating a patch of the airfield, believed to be an old airplane dump, in the autumn or winter.
Personally I find the idea that there are ww2 planes buried in crates rather exciting. I'd love it if this thing takes off. (Excuse the pun).
You never seen the ones where they dug aircraft then? Time Team were meant to be joining in the digging of the Roman town of Middlewich a few years ago. The archaeologists already there were sceptical but willing to give it a go, until they were told they had to pay for all of the accomodation and catering for over 250 people that would descend on them and take control for three days then bugger off. Time Team were desperate to get their hands on the digs but were told to go away with extreme impoliteness. Yeah Kitty I did. And yes they were good but only having three days puts on so much pressure and things get rushed.
Personally I find the idea that there are ww2 planes buried in crates rather exciting. I'd love it if this thing takes off. (Excuse the pun). It is exciting and rumours still abound of aircraft packed in crates being dumped off the eastern coast of Australia. Something still surfaces in a fishing net every now and then. One day, something might be done about it! If the aircraft have been used for fire training, I doubt they'll be in crates.
It is exciting and rumours still abound of aircraft packed in crates being dumped off the eastern coast of Australia. Something still surfaces in a fishing net every now and then. One day, something might be done about it! If the aircraft have been used for fire training, I doubt they'll be in crates. At the end of the war, US aircraft carrier stoppeed off the coast of Scotland and dumped ex-lend-lease aircraft over the side. There is still remains to be seen. There is also a wreck of a ship which was lost I think in 1943, that still has aircraft crated up in her hold. I had the opportunity to dive on her many years ago and could see the cockpits of the opened crates. Sadly, two divers died while on a dive to the wreck and its now forbidden to dive her
Cool, what wreck was the one you dived on, Morse? If only I could win one of those American hundred million dollar lotteries!
Cool, what wreck was the one you dived on, Morse? If only I could win one of those American hundred million dollar lotteries! It was called the clansman and lay about twenty miles off the coast of Oban in deep water, therefore our bottom time was limited in order to avoid decompression. I made a total of four dives on her to examine the wreckage.
Hi Everyone Too bad! I was hoping to learn more. I just found out my mother Barbara Greene was serving with the VAD at Netherne Emergency Hospital near Kenley in June 1940. I'd love to hear from anyone who knows the area and the proximity of the hospital to the base. I'm also trying to learn about the unexploded bomb that hit the Nurses' Home at Netherne. Does anyone know when that occurred, and if the impact could have been loud enough to destroy her hearing in one ear? Thanks for your help. Barbara
Hi Barbara, unfortunate as it is Netherne Hospital was closed down a few years ago to make way for a new private housing estate and only a couple of buildings are still there one of which I believe is the swimming pool which is now a Gym as well for the residents....Netherne is about 4-5 miles as the crow fly's to Kenley Airfield and would have been a prime hospital being based in the middle of 11 Group south of the Croydon and as such would have served RAF stations at Kenley, Croydon, Biggin Hill, Redhill, Gatwick at a push. Also there was Caterham Army Barracks and the Canadian Training grounds on Walton Heath ( Now famous for its Golf ). I am only 10 minutes a way all be it in the other direction I will take some pictures of what is left if I get time Regards Lee F
