Aircraft Hangar Identification

Here is a pic of the inside of an Officers Mess dance hall and bar area, the huge internal size is apparent here.

Have a quick guess as to when that pic was taken?

I think this pic was taken at Christmas time,,,,

Sounds good, the window arrangement good be anything the customer wanted, this also may have changed when the Nissen was relocated.

This particular building came with the house, so it is very much in situ; most of the buildings that I have seen, (including the one in your picture) have windows every other 6ft section, mine has been asssembled with all the windows down one side, continuously.

Access won’t be a problem, as someone has thoughtfully provided a 12ft roller shutter at one end, and the project A/C will have folding wings which are about 11.5ft wide (folded).

Here is a pic of the inside of an Officers Mess dance hall and bar area, the huge internal size is apparent here.

Have a quick guess as to when that pic was taken?

You lucky so and so! I really do like these ‘huts’ and it is amazing to think that these simple structures were sometimes the wartime versions of the ’30s grandios grand red brick messes.
I’ve never actually looked around a large Nissen but there should be plenty of good ones in Suffolk to compare bits. As for window frames, I would have thought they were metal in the same style as most MoD buildings of the era, although wood is used in the window and door ‘relief’ structures.

Are you moving it, or moving to it, and I assume you are opening one end to get the Spit in?

Memories of the Grace Spitfire in the TB hut at St Merryn, and a wall having to be demolished to get it out!

Thanks again; this one is in the depths of Suffolk, not on an airfield, and is the new home for the spitfire project.

Would the window frames have been wood or metal originally? unfortunately these are all shot.

There are different spans, and it follows that there are certain heights (just over half span) associated with these, I think the 30ft (18ft high, like you say) ones were more for messes, dinning halls, Ops, and SHQs etc. The next size down was 26ft (crew rooms etc), and I think there was a 16ft span. All have 6ft sections between the ribs. As built they had internal cladding, usually of length wise running corrugated steel, or a fibre board of sorts, and externaly vertical placed, pre curved, corrugated steel.

Never heard of asbestos used for the external sheeting on Nissens, but may have been replaced with such subsequently.
There were Asbestos hut designs, notably by Turner, but this isn’t one of those.

Can I ask, where is this one?

Thanks for that; would they have needed one as high as this (for a crew room etc), or wasn’t that a consideration.

Looks like 30ft span Nissen, usually all corrugated steel construction with brick gables and steel ‘T’ section truss. Nice usable ‘period’ items if you find them in good nick. Generally used on airfields as offices, crew rooms etc, but on some camps even officers messes and ops buildings were comprised of these.
The Romney is similar, but generally had large opening door at end gables at no windows and used for airframe/engine maintainance and storage.

Anyone have any ideas about this one; width is about 30ft length 100ft, height 18ft, truss spacing 6ft (all dimensions approx) the roof is probably asbestosis, not sure of the originality, lower sides externally are curved tin and very rusty trusses are inverted T section.

I have seen a photo of a WW! a/c shed similar to a bessonneau but with a slightly more ‘pointed’ roof.
Apparently the ultimate canvas Hangar was the ‘Hervieu’
but cannot find a pic yet 🙁

cheers baz

Hervieu tents
‘…It should be remarked that the Hervieu tents, although
manufactured in all sizes up to 55 ft. in width, and suitable
for housing virtually every known type of aeroplane,…’
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1913/1913%20-%200379.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1913/1913%20-%200380.html

Martin

I have seen a photo of a WW! a/c shed similar to a bessonneau but with a slightly more ‘pointed’ roof.
Apparently the ultimate canvas Hangar was the ‘Hervieu’
but cannot find a pic yet 🙁

cheers baz

I’m putting 2 and 2 together here, and possibly getting 5, but could this ‘Hervieu’ be the hangar frame pictured in Hunters post #9?
Roger it looks like you may be right, just opened the link to the Odiham pics and they do look similar to yours – but different to the above mentioned pic.

The reason why there is such good online MoD documentation on WWII (and just pre) hangars is because there is still so many in their ownership/care. I know DE here actually use this resource when work is undertaken on the B, C, & E hangars. Very few of the WWI hangars come under their remit now.

Re the Coventry structure, I gues measurements against the Odiham example is the way forward now to absolutely confirm.

Despite the more modern brickwork – it still looks very similar in size and shape to a Bessonneau type…. I’ve been looking at some old photos online, and wonder if the framework originally used to support the canvas could have been re-used with new more substantial cladding?

Look at the similarities in the photo

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/aircollection/bessonneau2.htm

http://raf-lincolnshire.info/history/hangartypes.htm

Hi Roger I cant open links at mo, but the hangar in Hunters pic is a Bessoneau, but the truss structure is very different to the pics inside the Coventry hangar which seem alot straighter edged both top and bottom. The Bess trusses curve right down into the uprights.

Page – if you go to Kestrel G.C.’s site where the AP.4488A is scanned and look at the various drawings – the roof trusses are different to the drawing in the link that Hunter posted earlier.

http://www.kestrel-gliding.org.uk/bessonneau-hanger.htm

roger Smith.

I still doubt Bessonneau, the roof trusses look very different to the photo of the structure that appears earlier in the thread, and the uprights apear slightly different aswel.
I’m still inclined to think it is the type I posted with the drawing, all be it modified on re-erection, could have even been coupled at one stage.

Having now seen a copy of AP.4488A and more photos of Kestrel Gliding Club’s example (Odiham?) I’m convinced the hangar IS a Bessonneau.

Roger Smith

Rob Langham has recently posted a picture of the frame of a Bessoneau in store with the RAFMuseum
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?p=1393698#post1393698
the vertical A-frames look identical.

Roger Smith.

I have seen a photo of a WW! a/c shed similar to a bessonneau but with a slightly more ‘pointed’ roof.
Apparently the ultimate canvas Hangar was the ‘Hervieu’
but cannot find a pic yet 🙁

cheers baz

If only the MoD had done another document on WW1 hangars.

Roger Smith.

Yes Roger – I said ‘oh bother’ as well when I could not find a WW1 version,but there were a couple of minor hangar types that I had never heard of in there 😀

cheers baz

bazv – not much help in this case (as you say) but is interesting (also as you say) and anyone picking up on the general title of this thread will probably find great value in it. Ausflyboy posted something similar a few posts back. (yep, post 21)

If only the MoD had done another document on WW1 hangars.

Roger Smith.