Raf thorpe abbots

raf thorpe abbots was an active airfield during the Second World War.built in 1942/43 as a satellite airfield to raf Horsham.it ended up being designated to us airforce..after the war the airfield remained in military hands till 1956 but was rarely used.most of it returned to agricultural land.but the tower was restored and made into a museum.and a great little museum it is too.i found several bits of remains hidden in and around the site.including a load of old Nissen huts in woodland and the bartle headquarters which are actually built above ground.

The first site I found had several buildings in it.including a very large Nissen hut.























The Nissen huts in the woods..these would have been used for accommodation.











Found this building,just basically stood on its own.just a few blast shelters nearby.







The battle headquarters

Very nice nissen hut and prefab there!

As per, nice photos Lots of history going on there! Thanks for sharing your pics

Great collection with so much to see,thanks for sharing.

Mikeymutt said:

Found this building,just basically stood on its own.just a few blast shelters nearby.

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There used to be a number of these stood here --> https://goo.gl/maps/VBRgP on the old RAF Kirkham site. Kirkham was used as a technical training school for RAF Armourers from 1940 and as a de-mob center too post-WW2 before being 'retired' in the 60's (I think) and half of the site being set up as HMP Kirkham. In the early 70's the west side of the site was quite well populated with derelict ex-RAF buildings mainly being accommodation blocks but with some small technical buildings (in the wooded area with the paths to the north on the link I posted), there was even the old station cinema, all accessible by young lads seeking adventure by crawling through holes in the old perimeter fence Anyway, onto my long-drawn out point... the roof space of those buildings used to be lined with some kind of straw/insulation combination which we, being young and stupid, thought would make a good bonfire: fortunately it would not ignite
I ventured back there about 15 years ago with the hope of reclaiming old memories (and getting some pictures) but sadly there was a new fence, the buildings had all been demolished and the prison is now using much of the area for gardens and veg plots; by god I wish I'd had a camera 40 years ago, hindsight is a wonderful thing eh!?

Fantastic. Great pix (as usual) and my sort of place. Thanks for sharing.

Great shots. I visited the museum a few years ago and had a fantastic time! Ooooh the love of B17's. Shame that you never found a few planes in all that undergrowth hehe ;-)