Raf Thurleigh march 2024

[The Young One]

The History

RAF Thurleigh is located north of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. Thurleigh was transferred to the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force on 9 December 1942 and designated Station 111, and used for heavy bomber operations and was built for RAF Bomber Command in 1940 by W & C French Ltd. It was eventually modified to Air Ministry Class A airfield specifications, with three converging runways, extended in 1942 to lengths of 6,000 feet (runway 06-24) and 4,200 feet (runways 18-36 and 12-30). Thurleigh was unique among bomber bases in having four T2 type metal hangars where most bases had only two.

The explore

Plenty of cuts n bruises received form this place along with all the pigeon crap dust but otherwise pretty undisturbed as all of mine seem to be. As per usual until I fork out enough money for a camera all photos are phone pics

 

[Priority 7]

Nice set fella, the fence line still has more holes in it than swiss cheese just a small note it's RAE Thurleigh

 

[BikinGlynn]

Only just caught up with this & thats a decent report mate.
Have to say you caught more of it than I did there, I dont remember half of that, but then I didnt remember the tower

 

[The Young One]

Nice set fella, the fence line still has more holes in it than swiss cheese just a small note it's RAE Thurleigh

Oh I thought it was raf thurleigh and just across from it was rae bedford because talking to a local he said it was an active runway for the B-17 super fortress

Only just caught up with this & thats a decent report mate.
Have to say you caught more of it than I did there, I dont remember half of that, but then I didnt remember the tower

I still missed out a few bits so I've got to go back do a couple more buildings and the control tower then probably RAE Bedford

 

[verdigris]

like that sticker for the 379th Bomber group, and its insignia - they flew more sorties than any other Bomb group in the 8th Air Force and dropped a greater tonnage. Is that a picture of a B 17 ?
love the tower, and the strips of faded blue metal

 

[Hayman]

The boiler is a Britannia No 2, made by the National Radiator Company, Hull under the Ideal brand which is still around. Ideal makes gas central heating boilers. It appears to be a water tube boiler - with the heat from the fire going around water-carrying tubes inside the boiler. Orginally coal or coke fired, it has been converted to oil or gas firing, probably oil firing from the fuel oil gauge made by KDG, and presumably in imperial gallons The Britannias were quite common boilers in their day.

The "Altitude" gauge made by Russell & Sons and measuring 0-60 with the word "water" with something else before it may have measured the head of water at a certain point. The boiler would have needed a header tank to keep the system topped up.

Brookhirst was an electrical engineering firm that was established [in Birkenhead] in 1898 by John A. Hirst (d. 1945), a pioneer in electrical invention and development. His partner in the firm was Percy Shelley Brook. [It closed in 1982.]

The firm's original works were in Victoria Road, later moving to George Street and subsequently to Newry Park. Owing to the inspiration of John Hirst, the firm was in the forefront of technical development in the switchgear industry during its early years. By the 1920s, major orders from abroad were being received, especially from foreign mercantile navies.

By 1960, the firm had been renamed Brookhirst Igranic Ltd., with sales headquarters in Bedford. In the late 1960s, the Northgate works in Newry Park were closed, but production continued at Bedford and the name Brookhirst Igranic Ltd. was used until the firm became part of Cutler Hammer Europa."

 

[night crawler]

Kimbloton I remember a friend of mine racing Karts there back in the 1970's, nice report

 

[The Young One]

like that sticker for the 379th Bomber group, and its insignia - they flew more sorties than any other Bomb group in the 8th Air Force and dropped a greater tonnage. Is that a picture of a B 17 ?
love the tower, and the strips of faded blue metal

Yeah it's a picture of a b-17 it's a lovely place isn't it?

The boiler is a Britannia No 2, made by the National Radiator Company, Hull under the Ideal brand which is still around. Ideal makes gas central heating boilers. It appears to be a water tube boiler - with the heat from the fire going around water-carrying tubes inside the boiler. Orginally coal or coke fired, it has been converted to oil or gas firing, probably oil firing from the fuel oil gauge made by KDG, and presumably in imperial gallons The Britannias were quite common boilers in their day.

The "Altitude" gauge made by Russell & Sons and measuring 0-60 with the word "water" with something else before it may have measured the head of water at a certain point. The boiler would have needed a header tank to keep the system topped up.

Brookhirst was an electrical engineering firm that was established [in Birkenhead] in 1898 by John A. Hirst (d. 1945), a pioneer in electrical invention and development. His partner in the firm was Percy Shelley Brook. [It closed in 1982.]

The firm's original works were in Victoria Road, later moving to George Street and subsequently to Newry Park. Owing to the inspiration of John Hirst, the firm was in the forefront of technical development in the switchgear industry during its early years. By the 1920s, major orders from abroad were being received, especially from foreign mercantile navies.

By 1960, the firm had been renamed Brookhirst Igranic Ltd., with sales headquarters in Bedford. In the late 1960s, the Northgate works in Newry Park were closed, but production continued at Bedford and the name Brookhirst Igranic Ltd. was used until the firm became part of Cutler Hammer Europa."

Cheers for the info as per usual HayMan

Kimbloton I remember a friend of mine racing Karts there back in the 1970's, nice report

Isn't Kimbolton abandoned aswell?