Useful Books: WW2 Defences & Airfields

Following on from the three articles of the Blackdown Hills airfields explored in 2009, I've decided to write a post about the books I've bought over the years about British WW2 defences. These aren't reviews as such but just books I've read for interest. I've also found them indispensible as reference books to check facts and jog my memory, and would be very useful to anyone wanting to know more.

Airfield Defences by Paul Francis

Published by ARP in association with AiX-ARG Archive Limited. 2010. 

ISBN 978 0 9521847 0 6

As the title says, this book deals specifically with how airfields were defended, including only those buildings and installations built for that purpose. As it happens, one of the case studies is RAF Culmhead, in which I was able to correctly identify the Gun Pit and the Motley Stalk Mount (I knew it as a Lewis Gun Mount, which isn't quite accurate as it's only part of the story) and discovered other interesting info.

And an example of inside the book, showing photos and diagrams of the loopholed defensive wall and a fighter pen.

20th Century Defences in Britain edited by Bernard Lowry

Published 1996 by the Council for British Archaeology. 

ISBN 1 872414 74 5

Again, this book deals specifically with defences - covering early warning systems, anti-aircraft, anti-invasion, civil defence, coastal batteries and airfields - during the period of the two world wars 1900 to 1945, and the cold war 1945 to 1992. 

The example pages also show diagrams and photos. There are pages filled with text in the above books too...it just looks more interesting showing the pictures! ;)

Devon Aerodromes in Old Photographs by Keith A Saunders

Published in 1994 by Alan Sutton Publishing Limited. 

ISBN 0-7509-0808-4

Found in my local second hand book shop, this is a fabulous little book, full of photographs covering their beginnings and action during World Wars I & II. As well as each chapter dealing with a different aerodrome, the final chapter is a countywide one, featuring photos of planes at shows, fairs and elsewhere in Devon, along with some of people working in the local aeroplane industry and the odd crash landing. And of course there are some photos of the 101st Airborne Division at Upottery (from Band of Brothers fame) as they were preparing to fly to Europe.

I've checked online and saw that it's available on ebay, second-hand book shops (including World of Books & AbeBooks), as well as Amazon. I also looked to see if there was a Somerset Aerodromes book too, but sadly not.

All photos with captions, the above example inside includes one of Denbury (Torbay Airport) and Dunkeswell.

I also found both of the following two in my local second-hand book shop. I thought they might be difficult to get hold of, as they were written in 1977 and 1979 respectively, but having checked I see that the first book can be obtained on ebay and several other book sites. The second book is also available on Amazon too.

Aviation Archaeology by Bruce Robertson

Published by Patrick Stephens Ltd. 1977. 

ISBN 0 85059 255 0

Another great book which covers everything from aircraft, airfield buildings, crash areas & wrecks around the world, identifying finds, preservation, medals, official records and much, much more. I find it indispensable for checking out buildings I'm not quite sure of or for dating purposes.

There we go, there's some text in this page example! The Hangar drawings are a great way of identifying the different types from their shapes.

Military Archaeology by Terry Gander

Published by Patrick Stephens Ltd. 1979.

ISBN 0 85059 302 6

Another fab book filled with loads of information encompassing military architecture, defences, motor vehicles, badges & other insignia, weapons, artillery & gun posts, etc.  

A couple of photos and more text on these page examples, showing a chapter about pillboxes, their types and uses.

Fields of Deception by Colin Dobinson

Published by Methuen Publishing Ltd. 2013.

ISBN 978 0 413 77632 7

This is one that I haven't read yet, or needed to use for reference, as I only bought it in the last year...and I still have a lot of new books to get through. I'm looking forward to it though, as it is an interesting subject. A technical and historically accurate book - described by the chap who recommended it to me as 'very nerdy' - as opposed to one I read some years ago about the prestigitator Jasper Maskelyne called The War Magician, which was very entertaining but unfortunately also discovered to have been largely invented.

Very few pictures in this one but there are the odd few photos and some diagrams, as seen above.

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Although not books, I was also going to recommend the WWII airfield maps I bought from the RAF Museum. Having said that, I recently checked with them and unfortunately they no longer hold records that far back. I had a reccee online and discovered that the National Archives have some, although I couldn't discover how to get hold of them. Anyway, that might be the site to go to if anyone's interested in obtaining copies and here's the link to start researching there.

Just a couple of examples taken from the Upottery maps, below...

...and three newspaper cuttings from my local paper showing a visit in 2008 of two of the American 101st Airborne Division 'Band of Brothers' who were stationed at Upottery (aka Smeatharpe) before flying to Normandy in 1944. 

And to finish off, a little anecdote about Exeter Airport (which was RAF Exeter during WW2). The A30 runs past the edge of the airfield and at one section there used to be a wide gate (I'm not sure it's still there as I haven't noticed it in recent years). On the gate was a notice to say that it's the emergency exit for the airport and everytime I saw it I always conjured up visions of an aeroplane gate-crashing through onto the road! I don't know if that's what was meant, but it always made me smile whenever I saw it.

I hope you found those useful. They're by no means the only books available about the subject but they're the ones that I came across either through recommendations on websites I belonged to or accidentally when browsing my local second-hand bookshop. Happy reading! :)

 

WW2 Airfields - Part One: RAF Upottery (Smeatharpe), Blackdown Hills, Devon

Set in the beautiful Blackdown Hills on the border between Devon and Somerset are three WW2 airfields comprising RAF Upottery (also known as Smeatharpe), Dunkeswell - both of which are in Devon - and RAF Culmhead, originally called Church Stanton and also known as Tricky Warren (named after the farm whose land it was on), which is just over the border in Somerset.

Upottery 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), who trained and flew from here. It eventually closed during November 1948.

This was my first airfield explore, and somewhat of a long-held dream of mine. Visited in January 2009 with Ricasso - a friend from the Derelict Places website forum that we both belonged to and who kindly offered to drive and accompany me - this was the first of three airfields that we visited during January & February. 

Our first sight of it at the entrance was this amazing WW2 Bofors Anti Aircraft Gun.

I'm doing something a bit different to my usual articles; as I have a huge amount of photos I've grouped them into sections with subheadings for each specific building or area to make it easier. 

WW2 Watch Office

Our first port of call was the Watch Office, which is an unmistakable sillouette on the hill.

I took a lot of photos of this building, both inside and out. The colours and shapes made from weathering and deterioration was just lovely and fascinated me...not least the funny face made from missing bricks!

Seen close to, the 'funny face' missing bricks were part of an infilled embrasure, similar to the one on the left.

The jutting 'balconies' on the roof and below the upper door once held metal stairways and railings continuing around the right side of the building and down to the ground.

Now once again farmland, as many of the WW2 airfields originally were, the Watch Office has been used for storing cattle feed, some of the interior walls knocked through for the purpose. 

There was access to upstairs too, overlooking part of the perimeter runway. 

Watching a war film recently it occured to me that the jagged doorways and knocked through parts of the brick walls look like the film's buildings that had been ravaged by mortar fire. As it happened, the Blackdown Hills airfields were never attacked during WW2.

Looking down on the runway, crazed and broken through age and partially grown over with grass.

The Floodlight Trailer and Tractor Shed 

Situated nearby the Watch Office. Now used for farm paraphernalia. 

Mechanics & Engineers Plinth

Accompanying the trailer and tractor shed.

Night Flying Equipment Store

Four of these concrete blocks were directly in front, used for securing the doors open.

And the rear with much undergrowth over the large window space...

...with a view of the watch tower on the horizon.

Crew, Rest Locker and Drying Rooms

We found these amongst a small copse of trees.

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

Squadron and Flight Offices

My favourite photo of the day, below. I just love the way the chimney's leaning and the colouration of the grey cement with patches where the red bricks show through.

It was so good to see so many fixtures and fittings still remaining, from the light switches and ceiling braces to metal window frames and even some of the stove remains.

The concrete plinths for the stoves are still in situ, and in the one below are some remains of the stove pipe, the roof outlet seen above.

Latrines

This find, below, was amazing; what looks like an original coffee pot, the kind used on the hut stoves. It really put the hairs up on my neck as I could imagine men belonging to the Easy Company huddled around a stove with a pot like that on top.

Banjo Dispersal Runway 

The hedge banks, below, have been faced with tarmac sections from parts of the erstwhile runway.

Electrical Plinth

Nissen Hut

This was the only nissen hut that we saw, sitting in the middle of a field. A friend on the forum told us later that we'd missed the technical site, where a lot more buildings could be found, so there may have been more.

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

General Purpose Hut

 

 

We later found several piles of wrecked nissen hut remains, which solved some of mystery of what happened to the others.

Some of the parts had been put to use by the farmer as feeding pens or pig sties, seen below.

The horses were lovely. Quite small and rather shy, they trotted up to see us then stood each with one front hoof raised ready for flight, trotting away again when we moved towards them.

Bomb Stores

There was nothing left of the stores apart from a retaining wall, some piles of brick and more pieces of runway tarmac. 

Sewerage & Water Plant

Not a lot to be seen and mostly overgrown, but it was interesting to find it nonetheless.

The final photo is a part of the runway. What I find fascinating is that they used just about anything for the hard core, including broken bricks, grit, small pebbles, larger stones and chunks of cement which must have been the top layer. Much of the aggregate came from Kilmington Quarry, which can be seen in my blog here.

And there we have the first part of the three Blackdown Hills WW2 airfields. Next up is RAF Dunkeswell, coming up as soon as possible. :)