Met up with @URBANSKYE to look at two completely different sites. We spent an solid hour or so trying to find an entry point to both these sites before giving up. I then realised that RAF North Pickenham was down the road, well, what was left of it. So, we made our way down there and just seemed to have some good luck. The building we were headed for had two roads leading to it, and workmen were then closing one of the roads. We ended up taking a detour and going around the workmen.
Cheers lads! We wouldn't have found our first location with you!
Driving around to take the second route to get to the building and coming across something else that was abandoned was a good start. We had a mooch but the location was a bit empty and nothing special to be seen, other than the remains of an old pickup truck of some sort. Moving on to the building we came for, we ended up finding a blast shelter but not much else. Looks as if it was still in use so we made sure to tread lightly and to not touch anything. After our mooch and wander back to the car, we still had an itch to scratch. This saw us drive 20 seconds down the road to some woodland to check for any structures and we hit gold. In total, across our whole explore we found 5 blast shelters, and no end of building foundations. In the end we had visited 4 of the airfields dispersed sites.
If you've read my reports before, you know I like to delve into site history, providing it's known of course.
The History
RAF North Pickenham was built in the years 1942 and 1943 as an A class heavy bomber station. Like a lot of our bases of that time period, we handed the base over to the USAAF Eight Air Force in April 1944. The USAAF designated the base as Station 143.
The USAAF left the base in August 1945, and the station became a satellite field for the 258th Maintenance Unit based at RAF Shipdham. The base was then transferred to RAF Bomber Command in March 1948 and deactivated in October of the same year. In August 1949, the base was given back to RAF Maintenance Command and then housed the 281st Maintenance Unit, until when is unkown. The base was then reactivated on the 1st December 1958, housing the 220th Squadron RAF and equipped with Thor nuclear missiles. This lasted for just shy of 5 years, with the squadron being deactivated in October 1963 and the missiles were subsequently removed.
The station was also used for the testing of the Hawker P.1127 (Hawker Kestrel) which went on to become the Hawker Siddely Harrier, which took part in the 1982 Falklands war, and still flies in fighting forces to this day, a notable mention being the US Marines with the AV-8B Harrier.
The site was finally sold off in 1967 and the station officially closed. Turkey sheds were erected on the runways and a go-karting business makes use of the old hardstands and taxiways.
Cheers lads! We wouldn't have found our first location with you!
Driving around to take the second route to get to the building and coming across something else that was abandoned was a good start. We had a mooch but the location was a bit empty and nothing special to be seen, other than the remains of an old pickup truck of some sort. Moving on to the building we came for, we ended up finding a blast shelter but not much else. Looks as if it was still in use so we made sure to tread lightly and to not touch anything. After our mooch and wander back to the car, we still had an itch to scratch. This saw us drive 20 seconds down the road to some woodland to check for any structures and we hit gold. In total, across our whole explore we found 5 blast shelters, and no end of building foundations. In the end we had visited 4 of the airfields dispersed sites.
If you've read my reports before, you know I like to delve into site history, providing it's known of course.
The History
RAF North Pickenham was built in the years 1942 and 1943 as an A class heavy bomber station. Like a lot of our bases of that time period, we handed the base over to the USAAF Eight Air Force in April 1944. The USAAF designated the base as Station 143.
The USAAF left the base in August 1945, and the station became a satellite field for the 258th Maintenance Unit based at RAF Shipdham. The base was then transferred to RAF Bomber Command in March 1948 and deactivated in October of the same year. In August 1949, the base was given back to RAF Maintenance Command and then housed the 281st Maintenance Unit, until when is unkown. The base was then reactivated on the 1st December 1958, housing the 220th Squadron RAF and equipped with Thor nuclear missiles. This lasted for just shy of 5 years, with the squadron being deactivated in October 1963 and the missiles were subsequently removed.
The station was also used for the testing of the Hawker P.1127 (Hawker Kestrel) which went on to become the Hawker Siddely Harrier, which took part in the 1982 Falklands war, and still flies in fighting forces to this day, a notable mention being the US Marines with the AV-8B Harrier.
The site was finally sold off in 1967 and the station officially closed. Turkey sheds were erected on the runways and a go-karting business makes use of the old hardstands and taxiways.
