RAF Upottery (Smeatharpe)

This is my first airfield and somewhat of a long-held dream of mine. Visited with ricasso and a huge thanks to him for driving and for the excellent company. It wasn't until we arrived that I realised I could never have done this on my own by bus and hoof, as it's a huge site, and as it was we only covered a part of it.

The airfield was opened on 17th February, 1944 and became USAAF Station 462. It has since been made famous by the book and TV series 'Band of Brothers', about the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Easy Company). It eventually closed during November 1948.

For more information please see Krela and Bishop's excellent report, link below.

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/mai...+upottery+(smeatharpe)&highlight=raf+upottery

Some old photos showing members of the 101st Airborne Division preparing to load and ready for take-off during May and June, 1944.







Onto the photos.

Our first sight at the entrance. Welcoming committee. A Bofors AA Gun.



On the airfield site itself we saw a line of buildings a couple of fields away with the unmistakable outline of the Watch Office on the horizon. This then, was our first port of call.

The watch Office.



















More in a mo.

Floodlight Trailer and Tractor Shed.





With accompanying small, roofless building which may have been a blast shelter.



Night Flying Equipment Store.







Four of these were found in front of the store for securing open the doors.



Crew, Rest Locker and Drying Rooms.

Only the H-Block foundations remain along with the chimney.





Squadron and Flight Offices.











The concrete plinths for the stoves are still there, and in one of them are the remains of the tin stove pipe with the outlet above.













And some more.

Latrines.











Banjo Dispersal Runway.



Petrol Stores.



Hedges have been shored up by pieces of runway.







The central track of the runway has been dug up to create a ditch, leaving piles of tarmac at the side. An intersecting runway can be seen on the other side.



The skeletal remains of a general purpose hut.



A blast wall.



Several piles of wrecked nissen hut remains were found, some bits of which have been put to use by the farmer as feeding pens.





The Bomb Stores.

Not one remained intact...just the retaining walls and piles of brick and concrete.





And finally, this piece of upturned runway tarmac that ricasso brought to my attention. As he said, it shows how they used just about anything for hard core.



Just as a taster, and because I think this is wonderful...two photos of the memorial plaque at Dunkeswell Airport. We went there after Upottery but as there wasn't enought time to do justice to the place, we left it for another day. Hope you've enjoyed!

Excellent!!

M

Tastefully done, nice work you two

A great Report Foxy

So much to see!
A good variety of buildings. The Bofor AA Gun must have been one of the highlights

Thanks for sharing matey,

Lb :jimlad:

With accompanying small, roofless building which may have been a blast shelter.

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Mech & Eng plinth

Thanks Foxy for hosting an excellent day, haven't laughed so much for ages, just a few pic to add





Foxys in there somewhere




inside the nissen hut, I could only get this shot by sticking my hand through a crack in the door and hope for the best!

very nice report.
Old WWII airbases are amongst the most evocative places to explore imo.
Not just because of the buildings themselves, but the thought that so many young men will have lived where you're exploring, waiting impatiently for the order to scramble despite not knowing whether they would ever return.
Your photos capture the atmosphere perfectly.

Never realised there was so much of interest still left to see out there. Must get out a bit more !!! Good pics as usual Foxy. Thanks

Just seen the other pics from recasso. Very interesting Thanks

Thankyou for all your comments, everyone.

Ricasso, thanks for adding your photos...great stuff. Love the light switch. Twas a good day.

Krela, as soon as I'd read your reply I knew I recognised it! I think I must have seen it on one of your reports before. Funny thing is, the ones we saw weren't noted down on the original maps that I had from the RAF Museum. Other than that, the maps were very helpful for identifying stuff...not to mention the 'where the f--- are we' factor!

Cheers.

Excellent pics you two, it looks like you had a brilliant day of exploring. Love seeing the watch tower, and all the other bits and pieces of buildings all dotted around the airfield. Love the memorial too.

CHeers mate, we must be on the same wavelength at the mo lol, doing the WW2 airfields.

Sal

You have to go back and check out the technical and accommodation areas.

krela said:

You have to go back and check out the technical and accommodation areas.

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I'm sure that can be arranged!

What a place!

Hi foxylady,my god ,what an amazing place,had the full account from Ricasso this evening,not a bad chap is he,sounds like you had a brilliant day,you must have shares in Boots the chemist getting all those photos developed,keep up the exellant work and remember ,its all out there to be found,so keep searching

krela said:

You have to go back and check out the technical and accommodation areas.

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Definitely! I didn't realise how much we'd missed until I was checking out the map earlier for the correct names to buildings.

ricasso said:

I'm sure that can be arranged!

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Goodo! Oh, and forgot to say it's great that the inside pic of the nissen hut came out okay. That waggon was amazing.

Cheers Sal...I was thinking that earlier. It must be the year of the airfield as well as the year of the boat!

Thanks herts digger. I use an independant printers, which is a bit more expensive than other places, but I get special discount when I take in several films at once. I'm in there so often that they've got the order written out before I'm even through the door!

Borntobemild...you've expressed that feeling exactly. It's amazing, isn't it! The whole windswept desolation of it. Oh, and thanks for the heads up about the RAF Museum maps, btw. That was really useful.

Tony, I can send you photocopies of the maps if you'd like to see what's there. Pm me if you'd like them.

Cheers Lb. Seeing the gun took my breath away...I didn't expect to see that! I'll tell you what else got to me though, was seeing the old kettle and imagining the guys sitting around the stove and having a brew up. Sometimes it's those little items that make you remember the people that were once there all those years ago.

Thanks for your comments, Ashless and TnM.

Cool explore, glad you both had a great time

Thanks, N. I must admit that has got to have been one of the coolest explores I've been on...just seeing the gun first and the windswept airfield stretching into the distance gave me such a buzz, and then finding one thing after another...a real explore in the truest sense. It was cold too!

Foxylady said:

Thanks, N. I must admit that has got to have been one of the coolest explores I've been on...just seeing the gun first and the windswept airfield stretching into the distance gave me such a buzz, and then finding one thing after another...a real explore in the truest sense. It was cold too!

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and wet underfoot !