RAF Peterhead (Longside) - Oct 08. Filling in the gaps.

Decided to pop along and get some pics of my own, to supplement Bax's thread. Started off at the often forgotten site on the south side of the road. It would appear to hold more appeal for enthusiasts of scrap farming machinery. But fairly interesting anyhow.

Gaps filled in nicely

Seahorse said:

It would appear to hold more appeal for enthusiasts of scrap farming machinery.

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Ooh, two for the price of one! Great to see the buildings...and love the tractor.

Did the bird cannon get you?

Then across the road to the main site. Apologies if some of these duplicate Bax's pics.

Obviously too new to have been part of the original site, but this intrigued be anyhow.



Concrete filled drum, used as a counterweight on the gate barrier.


Not sure what this was, but note the cable routing down to a sub surface channel.




Original broken glass to prevent climbing over the wall.








Old milk bottle. But still fairly recent.


Shelters





Parachute shed????

Bryag said:

Did the bird cannon get you?

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HAHA. No, I didn't come across that. Sorting out some more to upload though. Did you spot the casualty of war?

You'll see what I mean in a mo.

Not a parachute shed, more like a home for a Green Goddess. That building, my friend, is the fire station- extant on pretty much all of the airfields I have visited.

It was only half full of hay on our visit

Just a few more to go.

I was tempted to crack the hatch and see what the rushing water was. Maybe later.



Looking sheepish.


Ranges. Did someone ask about bullet holes? OK then.


MEDIC!!!!!


Riddled.


Something smells ripe. Is it in here?


Casualty of War. Caught in the crossfire?


Range is still in use. Grass cut, target pully system all working.





Sorry for the amount of pics. Thanks for persevering.

nice one
did you find any old bullets on the floor? used ones!

Pretty much what Bax__ and I did back in May. Still lots to see, but the Stanton shelters were rather soggy and shitey

Here is the half full fire station, note the plaster and paint

Yup, I had hoped to find a bit more, hence quizzing one of the farmers. But this is just about it he says, apart from the shelters over by the memorial, and the shower block.

I anticipated flooded/shitey shelters, so brought my wellies. Heck, I ALWAYS have my wellies, since I'm usually doing this stuff after I've been to see to my horse.

I'm sure there was loads more to see when I was a kid, but maybe that's in the same class of memory as the sun always shining, and my bike never getting a puncture.

Cheers for the update on the fire engine shed. Always learning.

mattdonut said:

nice one
did you find any old bullets on the floor? used ones!

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I'm sure several decades of pikeys and schoolboys will have made sure there's very little left.

Probably quite a few in the sandbank of the range that's still in use though.

Actually, I wonder who uses it? Can't be a civilian gun club I wouldn't have thought, since hand guns are now outlawed. And you can't really bang off full bore on a 30 metre range. That gas canister looked fairly modern, and the holes are of various calibres. Hmm. How to find out.

Seahorse said:

Actually, I wonder who uses it? Can't be a civilian gun club I wouldn't have thought, since hand guns are now outlawed. And you can't really bang off full bore on a 30 metre range. That gas canister looked fairly modern, and the holes are of various calibres. Hmm. How to find out.

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Probably a local gun club

I've shot at my local one often enough,and the longest range usually in use is 25 metres, they use all sorts, .303s, .22s assorted rifles, and more bizarre handguns than you can imagine! I've shot a black-powder Colt .44 revolver, and one fella has a .357 magnum (think Dirty Harry) which is legal as it has a stock attached

I can't see the point of a rifle at that range. You just can't miss! Well, aye, .22. But certainly not full bore.

Loved .303's. I remember the days when we could all just all jump onto the bus up to Black Dog ranges with our Lee Enfields stuffed in our jackets on the luggage racks.

Had a fun day once with an assortment of captured IRA weaponry. Including a home made SMG. The armourer nicknamed it Bob Marley, cos it kept jammin'.

This picture is a closeup of the Aircraft firing butt (which we now know was an enclosed range) the severe damage to the brickwork suggests quite a high calibre and many rounds. In the centre of the picture you will see a slug in the wall. Bax__ and I found spent shells as well as digging a slug out of the firing butt, at RAF Banff earlier the same day (May, 2008)

Just reading the memories of one Bill McRae, who was stationed at Peterhead. (http://members.lycos.co.uk/esar/bmmem1.html)

It seems that Spitfires were equipped at one time with a miniature crowbar in the cockpit. Coincidence? Could the one in this pic have originally come from a Spitfire?????

Fire Tender Shed... not fire station

The building with the glass all around it is a Mech & Eng plinth for electricity distribution.

Looks like a great site and some nice photos

krela said:

The building with the glass all around it is a Mech & Eng plinth for electricity distribution.

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That makes sense. There's another one over by the range, complete with plinths. The one shown has no plinths at all.

Seahorse said:

That makes sense. There's another one over by the range, complete with plinths. The one shown has no plinths at all.

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It may just have been a switching station rather than a transformer plinth. They're not all identical, I guess it depends on needs and requirements.

It's only a few feet away from the building with the cable routing still in place, so I'm guessing that one will have been electrical too.

Oh. While I'm remembering, map linky.

ANd tractor graveyard linky.