Curiously, Chris, I can confirm that the Polebrook concrete runways (grass
for an 8th AF bomber base??) were being broken up in the mid-70s. I was at
that time working in St Neots, taking in cab and roadside noise
measurements of trucks under test. It was inconvenient using the B1040
immediately SW of Eltisley, though it was sufficiently level and almost
straight enough to allow the constant speed passes that were needed for the
measurements (for the benefit of listens, I should point out that this is
about two miles from Chateau Barker). I reasoned that there ought to be a
few unused runways nearby, and spent a few evenings reviewing the local
maps. Tempsford was nearest but in use as a skid pan for the police, so I
had to look further afield, and we ended up offering the farmer at
Polebrook an inducement to leave a certain runway untouched for a year or
two. The remaining central section of Runway 16/30 served perfectly for the
roadside measurements, while the trek up and down the A1 gave us an ideal
route for the in cab measurements! Good result, but I don't recall the boss
ever noticing my contribution.
The remains visible at Polebrook today are what is left of the 1960s Thor
missile base, three launch pads with a characteristic T plan.
Small world, eh?
Piers
On Friday, 4 December 2015, ChrisB <ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thanks, Charlie. Yes they are – hay or straw. The old airfield is almost
> completely submerged under farmland now. If you look at Google Earth (or
> the Earth view of Google Maps) and find RAF Polebrook it is almost
> invisible. As you might imagine, there were loads and loads of airfields
> in eastern England during the Second World War and many of them remain,
> with the agricultural land around the runways. Either someone has dug up a
> lot of concrete from Polebrook or it was only grass in the first place.
>
> Chris
>
> > On 4 Dec 2015, at 18:27, Charles Geilfuss <charles.geilfuss@xxxxxxxxx
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >
> > Nice images, Chris. Shame you weren't able to take to the air. In the
> > Memorial photo, are those bales of hay stacked in the background?
> >
> > Charlie
> >
> > On Fri, Dec 4, 2015 at 1:18 PM, ChrisB <ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >
> >> Once a week I go flying, normally on a Friday when there is no teaching
> >> for me at the Centre of Aviation Medicine. Today was a gorgeous day,
> >> albeit a little breezy (and strengthening), and I would have gone
> flying.
> >> But the blasted RIV (Rescue Intervention Vehicle – fire engine) was u/s
> so
> >> we had no crash cover, as it’s called. That meant no flying :-(
> >>
> >> So I did some admin at someone else’s desk and headed home through the
> >> rather lovely counties of Rutland and Leicestershire and took a couple
> of
> >> photos. I started with a shot of several aircraft not flying at my
> base,
> >> Wittering, but the found a grounded Caravan at a para club to the
> southeast
> >> (Sibson), before heading down a straight, country road with the
> old-style
> >> signpost. At the almost-disappeared RAF Polebrook I found an old
> memorial
> >> to the 351st Bombardier Squadron, 8th AF and stopped for a moment to
> say a
> >> prayer for the boys . . .
> >>
> >> Only 4 photos, but it made for a more enjoyable journey home than
> driving
> >> helter-skelter down the motorway.
> >>
> >> http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=19312
> >>
> >> Chris
> >> --
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> >>
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>
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