Pillbox at Tillybrig Cottage near Dyce, Aberdeenshire - Feb 2010

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Seahorse

Grumpy auld mod.
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I was on over doing a course near Dyce airport, so thought I'd finish the day off with a visit to see this little beauty.

As far as I know, it's the last remaining pillbox associated with the airfield, Dyce having been an RAF station during WW2. I'm a little confused at its position, but the powers that be obviously knew what they were doing back then.

This (for the benefit of cptpies) is listed as being DoB record S0015346. I recorded a position of 57°13'19.53"N, 2°12'34.10"W standing directly in front of the NE face, which is not far off the position on the DoB record. Checking with GE seems to confirm my coords.

The pillbox sits on the southern side of a bridge, with a view up the railway track towards Dyce. Entry is from the SE side, almost in the garden of Tillybrig Cottage. Just across the bridge is a quarry, so whilst the structure is on the airport flight path, I can see no obvious necessity for it being there. I'd have thought that if the airfild had been taken, the enemy woukd have headed south rather than north. Perhaps it was to surprise any force heading south towards Dyce along the railway track, as they could have opened up from behind? Who knows. All idle speculation.

Anyway, here we go with the pics. Sorry for blethering. :p

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Looky here! Steel shutter to close off the entrance loophole. And it still moves on its hinges.
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A total of 5 steel shutters remain. These covering the embrasures.
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View along the flight path towards the airfield.
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The railway heading for Dyce, with the river Don in the background.
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Wow that is some pillbox. I love the face that the embrasure shutters are still in place and the unusual entrance
 
Oh bollox. I'm wishing my life away. Could some kind mod amend the title to say Feb 2010 instead of April, please?

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I know of a pillbox that is roughly the same size and shape, and I think it's also attached to a bridge. It's about half the size though, it's missing a roof and the top of it's walls end at the top of the slits.
 
What a cracking pillbox. All original features intact. Anti-ricochet wall is a bit unusual though.

As for the odd location most airfield pillboxes were placed to defend against an airborne coup de main rather than overland attack and therefore are fairly equally spaced around the airfields rather than along a suspected axis of overland advance.
 
What a beauty! Those shutters are wonderful. Very nice find, Seahorse. :)

Looks like you had a less mucky time than I did yesterday...two pillboxes next to a river still in full spate, and one of them partially full of flood mud. I'm surprised the bus driver let me back on the bus!!! :lol: It did happen, btw, but I haven't had the films processed yet! :mrgreen:
 
As for the odd location most airfield pillboxes were placed to defend against an airborne coup de main rather than overland attack and therefore are fairly equally spaced around the airfields rather than along a suspected axis of overland advance.

Exactly. But this one is way out of the way. I did take this pic of a structure on the other side of the bridge. I assume it is quarry related. But maybe not? Perhaps it dates from WW2 and is actually military? Any ideas?

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What a beauty! Those shutters are wonderful. Very nice find, Seahorse. :)

Looks like you had a less mucky time than I did yesterday...two pillboxes next to a river still in full spate, and one of them partially full of flood mud. I'm surprised the bus driver let me back on the bus!!! :lol: It did happen, btw, but I haven't had the films processed yet! :mrgreen:

Less mucky, yes. Somewhat wet though. :p

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Looking forward to your pics. IF it happened, that is. :D
 
Some airfields had an outer defence ring too, maybe one of those or possibly a searchlight site.

Who do you work for Seahorse? I'm in the oil industry myself.
 
Less mucky, yes. Somewhat wet though. :p

:lol::lol: I nearly fell in the river...does that count? Mind, there's nothing new about that! :rolleyes:

Looking forward to your pics. IF it happened, that is. :D

You're not going to believe this...you're really not going to believe this, but I took the films into the printers this afternoon, only to be told that the machine's down!!! :eek::lol: Hopefully have the prints back sometime early next week. :)
 
:lol::lol: I nearly fell in the river...does that count? Mind, there's nothing new about that! :rolleyes:



You're not going to believe this...you're really not going to believe this, but I took the films into the printers this afternoon, only to be told that the machine's down!!! :eek::lol: Hopefully have the prints back sometime early next week. :)


HAHA. At least you haven't tried to convince me that the dog ate the roll. :p
 
I've been to that structure thing before, I was flying back home one day and the plane flew right over it, so took a wander up to see what it was, but there were heaps of gypsies there!!
 
It's all fenced off now, so hopefully no more pikies. :D

Although I guess they'd probably just pull the thing down and sell it for scrap. :mad:

It (and the hole in the ground it sits in) is up for sale though. When I get a chance, I'll track down the estate agent and see if they know anything about it.
 

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