Unidentified airfield

A go-cart, that were luxury! When I were young I used to sleep in a shoe-box and get up ten hours before I went to bed …

I’ll stop before I start paraphrasing Monty Python too much 😀

Naa – your right – we couldn’t afford them expensive foreign type wheels in them days 😀

Lucky if we could find the wheels off an old pram to make a go-cart! It was years after that before I could afford a pushbike.

Ok – now point out the Nissan hut I stayed in as an Air Cadet on summer camp in, about, 1968!

– Pedantic Mode –
This wouldn’t be possible, because Nissan huts don’t exist. You want a Nissen hut, unless this is some new model of Japanese car that I don’t know about!

Ok – now point out the Nissan hut I stayed in as an Air Cadet on summer camp in, about, 1968! 😀

I was in the Squadron based at Pendeford, or Wednesfield, at the time! Sorry, don’t know the numbers.

I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. I would never have identifed the location myself, but I knew someone here would be able to pin it down. Aynway, thanks everyone for a marvellous piece of research.

Clearly, even three months after the station opened, it wasn’t ready for service occupation, but yet No 38 Squadron moved in at 0930 on 5 May 1937. I suspect they must have been relatively uncomfortable for a while!

Most RAF Airfields were occupied and used before civillians would have thought they were ready. Often using tented accomodation.

I think the photos might have been taken from the Water Tower as they are pointing from that direction and may explain the height.

I was right! (Not a lot of use, but correct.)

Well done folks, very interesting.

Cheers

Damien: Did you email RAF Marham at the same time as me? It seems Joe replied to us simultaneously. You win the fastest-finger-first though!

Joe also said:

“Building C is Supply Sqn HQ now, though the grassed areas have changed and there are also more trees between the Hangars and the buildings now. I think the photos might have been taken from the Water Tower as they are pointing from that direction and may explain the height.”

Marham it is.

Nice work Damien. I was pretty sure it was Marham, but there’s too many knowledgeable people on this forum. Note, on post #26, a few hundred metres west of point A is former 57 Sqn Victor XH673. Officers Mess on the South side of the sports field.

I had a look through my photos but found nothing worth posting.

What I find quite interesting in all this is that the photos were taken on 26 July 1937. However, according to Action Stations Volume 1, Marham re-opened as a two-squadron heavy bomber station on 1 April 1937. Clearly, even three months after the station opened, it wasn’t ready for service occupation, but yet No 38 Squadron moved in at 0930 on 5 May 1937. I suspect they must have been relatively uncomfortable for a while!

Although buildings were designed to standard patterns, the layouts varied due to topography and local factors. The pictures would have been taken from the top of the water tower which is in the right location on Damien’s Getmapping extract.

I haven’t got a clue about which airfield, but I know a bit about photoshop, so here you go (surprised nobody’s done this yet):

From an architectural point of view, this layout of the 5 C-type hangars was pretty much common, with 4 in-an-arc line, with the 5th hangar adjacent to the last hangar in the arc.

The vantage point from where the photographs were taken, in relation to the sweep of the arc and the position of the landing area, would suggest this 5th adjacent hangar to be to the left hand end of the arc. If that makes sense. As per Damien’s aerial photograph.

The following airfields were similar to the photograph above, but with the 5th hangar to the right hand end of the arc (a mirror image in effect, and therefore may be discounted):

Driffield
Finningley
Leconfield

Others which do not fit this pattern are:

Newton
Thorney Island

So, architecturally, it is probably one from this slimmed down list:

Dishforth…………..1936
Feltwell…………….1937
Linton on Ouse…….1937
Marham…………….1937
Stradishall………….1938
Waddington………..1916

Regards,

Paul

Damien,

No problem. I just wasn’t sure how standardised pre-war expansion period aerodromes were but agree that these photos are clearly of Marham. Thanks very much for helping pin down the identity – much appreciated!

Definitely Marham:

Damien,

Thanks very much indeed for this. It looks pretty conclusive. Are you sure that none of the other possibles would be similar, ie is it possible that they were built to a standard layout and the buildings would therefore be in the same relative positions?

Would you be able to scan in larger copies of the photos, so we can see more detail, please?

Sadly, no. I don’t have a scanner. I have a whole pile of interesting photos that I’d like to post, but no way of doing so, for the meantime at least. When I do get a scanner, I’ll start putting some pics up.

Definitely Marham:

I forgot you are an airfield guru. I think you have left yourself open to more challenges.

Or do you simply know the airfield because you wandered over it during a cross-country excercise. 😀

Definitely Marham:

The landscape certainly looks like the Marham locality. I used to live not far from Marham in the 60s and 70s and always loved driving past, seeing the V tails of the Victors lined up….always something Sci-fi about that lovely shape..

Are you sure it is HanMant and Hannants. They could have been receiving a delievery of aircraft models!

RadarA: Would you be able to scan in larger copies of the photos, so we can see more detail, please?

Ah.

So it’s on the Indian subcontinent then!

Shome mistake shurely?

My search shows “Hanmant” as a common Indian first name!