I first did this place at the beginning of 08 and had been trying to get back in for better pics for ages. What was going to be a nervy explore turned into probably the scariest moment in my exploring life. I'd been in the building about 10 minutes when a panel on the wall started buzzing, this changed to a full on alarm accompanied by a massive flashing orange light on the ceiling, there was a succession of loud slamming noises from the back of the building and then a massive roar as the standby generator started and every single light in the building flickered into life. At this point I think if I'd needed to I would of filled my trousers, I was about to be busted in a secure building on a live Military base with a camera. After a couple of minutes when no one appeared, the image of me kneeling on the floor in an orange jumpsuit at Guantanamo faded and logic kicked in, I guessed there must of been a power cut. These buildings where built to be fully autonomous, and despite the building having been disconnected from the utilities for years it had sensed that the national grid had been knocked out by a Soviet first strike and brought the standby power on-line. Plus side was I didn't need to light all my shots with a torch like the last one. Unfortunately the place had been stripped of all the interesting 80's signage since I was last there
This building was built for use as a shelter for a Squadron's ground crew. The military guessed correctly that in the event of the cold war becoming hot war the Russians instead of destroying key airbases with nukes, would rather keep them intact so they could use them in a planned invasion. The plan was to use waves of Tu-160 Blackjack bombers loaded with nerve gas aerosol sprays to 'crop dust' the airfield killing as many people as possible, then send in paratroopers to mop up survivors and secure it. So this building as well as being nuke proof was pressurised to keep the gas out. People would enter the building into a 'dirty area' where they would be decontaminated with fullers earth, cut out of their chemical suits and then pass through an airlock into the clean part of the shelter. The pilots and ground crew where under no illusion that the aircraft once launched were ever coming back, so once inside the shelter, apart from some doing sentry duty, the rest would just wait 90 days for the world to fall silent before emerging blinking into the sunlight to a totally different world. Providing they hadn't been slaughtered by Russian Spetznaz troops before hand.
This building was built for use as a shelter for a Squadron's ground crew. The military guessed correctly that in the event of the cold war becoming hot war the Russians instead of destroying key airbases with nukes, would rather keep them intact so they could use them in a planned invasion. The plan was to use waves of Tu-160 Blackjack bombers loaded with nerve gas aerosol sprays to 'crop dust' the airfield killing as many people as possible, then send in paratroopers to mop up survivors and secure it. So this building as well as being nuke proof was pressurised to keep the gas out. People would enter the building into a 'dirty area' where they would be decontaminated with fullers earth, cut out of their chemical suits and then pass through an airlock into the clean part of the shelter. The pilots and ground crew where under no illusion that the aircraft once launched were ever coming back, so once inside the shelter, apart from some doing sentry duty, the rest would just wait 90 days for the world to fall silent before emerging blinking into the sunlight to a totally different world. Providing they hadn't been slaughtered by Russian Spetznaz troops before hand.
Main Entrance,
Entrance area with decontamination cubicles on the right,
Comedy mirror,
Corridor from decontam area to the airlocks, the trays are still full of fullers earth and are the powder equivalent of a foot bath.
through the airlocks is the Guard room, the bullet proof windows look out into the entrance way and the decontam area,
Airlock and entry control panel,
Bat Phone,
The main shelter area, 90 days in this room with nothing but a few packs of cards and some dog-eared books, probably with the last page ripped out for a laugh.
Cook hatch,
Hatch down into the ration, ammo & medical store, the area is as large as the rest of the shelter and has an armoury, but the lower floor was flooded
Toilet area, there were two sinks, two toilets & one shower for around 200 people, they were unisex.
Dormitory No 1, these dorms housed roughly 100 people each, there was no segregation, men, women, officers and privates all shared.
Air scrubbers in the aircon room, used for filtering the nerve gas from the air.
This photos a little blurry due to the genny going at full chat, the noise was immense,
Emergency exit,
Entrance area with decontamination cubicles on the right,
Comedy mirror,
Corridor from decontam area to the airlocks, the trays are still full of fullers earth and are the powder equivalent of a foot bath.
through the airlocks is the Guard room, the bullet proof windows look out into the entrance way and the decontam area,
Airlock and entry control panel,
Bat Phone,
The main shelter area, 90 days in this room with nothing but a few packs of cards and some dog-eared books, probably with the last page ripped out for a laugh.
Cook hatch,
Hatch down into the ration, ammo & medical store, the area is as large as the rest of the shelter and has an armoury, but the lower floor was flooded
Toilet area, there were two sinks, two toilets & one shower for around 200 people, they were unisex.
Dormitory No 1, these dorms housed roughly 100 people each, there was no segregation, men, women, officers and privates all shared.
Air scrubbers in the aircon room, used for filtering the nerve gas from the air.
This photos a little blurry due to the genny going at full chat, the noise was immense,
Emergency exit,