Jessie The Jeep

Several Nissen huts survive in various states on the main road towards Upper Billingford. These formed the Sub-Depot. One was removed and shipped to the "Mighty Eighth Heritage Centre" in Savannah, Georgia. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/vultee35/ta/sub_depot1.jpg[/img] http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/vultee35/ta/sub_depot2.jpg[/img] http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/vultee35/ta/sub_depot3.jpg[/img] http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/vultee35/ta/sub_depot4.jpg[/img]

Almost all the roads still exist around the airbase, but most are now completely overgrown. Clear away the moss, leaves, etc, and the concrete is still there. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/vultee35/ta/tech_road.jpg[/img] This Electrical Sub Station still stands on the edge of the Tech Site http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/vultee35/ta/sub_station.jpg[/img]

Unfortunately, no. I live 300 miles away from TA and have a local event that weekend. Steve

Next to the tower were 5 dispersals. On dispersal 11, a machine gun began to fire as it was removed from the ball turret. Stg H Parish was killed as he ran from the turret. The dispersals have long been removed, but the different top soil causes changes in the crops which still show where they were. An excellent museum is now located in the tower and associated buildings.

Thorpe Abbotts, Station 139, was still incomplete when the 100th BG arrived in June 1943. They were the only Bomb Group to be stationed there. Over 60 years later, the airfield can still be clearly seen from the air, but on the ground, many of the obvious airfield signs, such as runways have gone. They were removed around 1981. The dispersals were removed earlier as they made farming the surrounding land more difficult. Much of what remains at Thorpe Abbotts is on private property, so don't go exploring yourself, I had permission to wander and record what is left. Some of the pictures ( in no particular order ) are shown in the following posts. Steve The water treatment plant and chlorine tank

The 100th BG had several spectacular losses. On the Munster mission, I think 13 set out. On the Berlin mission of March 6th, they lost 15, through being in the wrong place at the wrong time, without escort. The 1st Division took the wrong course to the target, the 100th realised the mistake and continued on the correct course. They had been at the centre of the bomber stream, and semi protected. After the formation split due to the navigation error, the 100th was in the lead without any fighter cover. All 15 from the 100th were lost within a few minutes. Steve

There's much more left of TA than meets the eye. The most interesting areas are on private property, but I had the chance a while back to have a good wander with a camera. Several buildings remain, like the emergency generator house, a shower block, Red Cross nurses Nissen hut, ablution block, several blast shelters, some concrete Orlit huts ( I think that was the correct name for them ), sewage farm, emergency control bunker. Foundations remain for many more. There's also a second dispersal intact on the other side of the field with a small hangar built on it. I'll dig out some pictures of some of these hidden areas and post them here. Clive, I hope your truck survived me blasting it with my P-47 at Debach a couple of years ago? I didn't find any .50 cal strikes on my plane! Steve

But we can all tell who the real Jack is, he's the one beside the red truck!

Do you really need your name on? I'm 37 years old now, and have successfully managed the art of remembering my name, even when drunk! :schocked: You can always introduce youself to people so they know who you are! Novel concept I know, but it does work!!! :-D Steve

What's wrong with writing it on in Biro! It always stayed on the label of your school clothes when your mum did it! Steve

i) B-17 Fortress ii) P-47 Thunderbolt iii) A-35 Vengeance iv) Jeep & flatbed trailer v) All my workshop equipment vi) Two Wheely Bins! Steve

That sounds like there's a story there????????? Do tell

Flexible vinyl clear plastic doesn't tend to polish out well. A hard plastic like 'cast' acrylic will polish to a good clear finish, but 'extruded' acrylic and other flexible clear plastics tend to cloud over if any type of abrasive polishing compound is used on them. Steve

As far as cleaning dirt, I'd stick with soap and water, anything more could attack the plastic. The yellowing as far as I understand it, is a reaction to ultra-violet light attacking the plastic, and I don't think it can be reversed. That's why all the warplanes stored at Davis Monthan AFB in Arizona have a protective coating on the glazed areas. Steve

I can feel a HMVF Calender coming on here. I'm not too bad with a camera, so I'll put my name down for that. We need a dozen groups of vehicles ( WW1, WW2 and Post War!!! ) and then Berni in her new underware draped across the various vehicles. What do you think? Steve

A WHOLE MONTH AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-o

Read the Third post http://www.hmvf.co.uk/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=49&topic=3202.0 Steve

For a few weeks now, I haven't been able to log in to the gallery and add pictures. Is it just me, or has someone broken it? I've tried clearing cookies, temp internet files etc, but when I go to the gallery page, none of the thumbnails appear next to the members names and when I try and click on my gallery, I get the following message..... Forbidden You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apache/1.3.37 Server at http://www.hmvf.co.uk Port 80 I'm fairly sure it wasn't me who broke it! :roll: Steve

You've been away???????? :-D You might have missed Berni in her new underware? Steve

Pray that it's not 'When'

Just think, if things get worse out there, all the privately owned REO's might be recalled back into active service!! Steve

I didn't go this year, but I had my man servant ( whistlinwolf ) pick some odds and ends up for me! Berni, did you break open your piggy bank?

I think you should get a free T shirt after submitting three articles for HMVF. Steve PS Jack, did you get my third article in your email :roll:

All wrong......It has to be the Willys 1/4 Ton Truck!!!!

There was quite a convincing program about the "Triangle" several years ago. The answer is Gas Hydrates, and submarine landslides. This explains many, if not all the odd sightings and occurances in the area of the Triangle, and is a serious threat to under sea oil drilling, causing the loss of many rigs. Methane Gas ( I pretty sure ) at depth and pressure forms Gas Hydrates; gas trapped in frozen water crystals. Billions of cubic metres of gas is trapped around the coastlines of many of the major continents, including through the "Triangle". Submarine landslides can scour away the sand and slit above the gas hydrate layer, releasing the gas. As it bubbles up through the water, the sea appears to boil. Aggitated water creates large ion disturbance which affects compasses and electronic equipment. The bubbling water is also now significantly less bouyant causing ships to sink. The gas is highly explosive. Flying a flight of aircraft with hot exhausts into the gas cloud would cause a massive gas explosion. Anyone who has seen a gas explosion knows how powerful they can be. The shreaded airframes would fall into the gasified ocean and sink. Any traces are then burried under the now settling ocean bed silt. I have forgotten what the program was called, but it went into much more detail than I have here. Steve