woodsmoke7 Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 here in devon there used to be a tank training ground surrounded by woodland. There are alot of american named familys that stayed around and about this area and countless people said that a very large amount of harlys jeeps trucks and stores were burried around here,mostly all crated up. As a kid i rember large steel boxes with millitery markings on them with blast mounds around them sitting in the woods,one day they all dissapeared, ther must of been 8 or 9 of them. So its there somewere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcot1751 Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 These rumours abound but I have never heard of anyone digging anything significant up, I would have thought the locals given the fact of the austerity Britain faced post war, would have been the first with the shovels but who knows These stories have to have started somehow so maybe there is stuff out there yet to be discovered, I for one would love to be proved wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAFMT Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 I got involved with a group looking for American gear supposedly buried outside a village in Hertfordshire. One of the locals, who'd been a young boy during the war, swore they were buried and he'd seen the diggers. Nothing could be found with metal detectors (other than the usual old tins etc) and after some detective work in the local library and council offices the story came to light. The vehicles were all parked up on the land that became the woods we were searching just like the old chap told us. Then they were all purchased by various local dealers to sell on to farmers and the like. A bulldozer or similar was apparently used to crush leftover "junk" which was then sold as scrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 What possible reason would anyone have for burying them? Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 What possible reason would anyone have for burying them? Andy Andy I think the reasoning was that if the Allied invasion failed then these superfluous stocks of vehicles could be of use to an invader. When I was a boy living in Devon in the 1950s the story was that there were dumps of such vehicles buried around Bovey Heath. I can remember in the area Nissen huts with piles of leather items just going mouldy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Johns Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 (edited) Yet more myths and stories of buried vehicles and gear, nothing has yet been found of significance or even the mystery Spitfires "buried" in Burma! Edited May 17, 2014 by Nick Johns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 The only thing I have ever been told was buried and we actually found was on the A14 on the site of the Little Chef. I was told some gas masks had been buried and when we were doing some construction work there, we dug into a heap of gas masks. Actually, we dug into a lump of rotten rubber, glass and tin filters... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.303fan Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 Another one, vehicles from ww2 were used to fill a gap in the sea defence after the flooding of 1953. no pictures of it to be found, but it would be nice to be true like the sega dump in 1983 in a new mexico dessert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 In the mid 1980's two Covenanters were discovered buried near Dorking. One was sent to the Tank Museum and the other is still there now under a vines. So things do get buried and decades later found.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Herbert Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 About twenty five years ago a MVT member moved house and then dug up a Humber Light Reconisance Car (the front engine one, not the Scout) in his new garden. I don't remember the details but it was covered in Windscreen or Wheels and Tracks at the time. It was not exactly new but I believe it was restored. I know that Pete Gray ran his M10 on some new rubber track that someone had dug up. It was in remarkably good condition, includung the steel bits. I know of someone who after the war worked for a company that dismantled Cromwells and sold the wheels for yard cranes. The site was previously a small brick works and there were tank size holes all round the edge. A Cromwell fell into one of these holes and finished up stood on its nose. He said that if you stood on the rear of it, ground level was about waist hight. No one could work out how to get it out so they removed the radiators as scrap and filled in the hole. There is no reasion to think that it has ever been recovered. Please don't all ask for its location, several people have made a serious effort to get permission to recover it and met with a wall of negativity. Someone recovered a large pile of mangled pieces of WW2 American bombers not too long ago from a hole. I think I remember that it was the scrap pile from a US Airforce base or similar. But these examples are very different to the stories of mass burials of whole vehicles (some in crates). David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 Someone recovered a large pile of mangled pieces of WW2 American bombers not too long ago from a hole. I think I remember that it was the scrap pile from a US Airforce base or similar. But these examples are very different to the stories of mass burials of whole vehicles (some in crates). David It was indeed the left over scrap from the post war clearance of many airfields in East Anglia. It was all Inconel and Stainless, mainly exhaust sections, flexible ammo tracking and oxygen cylinders. These were valueless after the war as ss was not being recycled and so was buried to get rid of it. All the valuable aluminium was long gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 Another one, vehicles from ww2 were used to fill a gap in the sea defence after the flooding of 1953.no pictures of it to be found, but it would be nice to be true like the sega dump in 1983 in a new mexico dessert I seem to remember reading that terrapins were used for this purpose (of the Morris not flippered variety!)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utt61 Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 Andy I think the reasoning was that if the Allied invasion failed then these superfluous stocks of vehicles could be of use to an invader. When I was a boy living in Devon in the 1950s the story was that there were dumps of such vehicles buried around Bovey Heath. I can remember in the area Nissen huts with piles of leather items just going mouldy. It is inconceivable to me that in the run-up to the invasion of Europe there would have been any "superfluous" vehicles, and in the event that the invasion failed and the enemy counter-invaded the UK you wouldn't want to waste time exhuming and and recommissioning buried vehicles to oppose. If you want to prevent vehicle assets falling into enemy hands you don't bury them, you destroy them. I suspect that the rumours of masses of buried vehicles just waiting to be discovered is purely wishful thinking, though undoubtedly there will be one or two here and there. Even to this day there are still railway nuts who believe that there is a "strategic reserve" of steam locomotives stashed away somewhere "just in case". This despite the fact that the fate of every BR steam loco has been accounted for, and the destruction of infrastructure would render such a strategic reserve as useful as a candle in a hurricane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeePig Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 My has dad dug a Landrover and a battleship out of different gardens while fixing drains. Both Dinky, though. trevor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.303fan Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 ^^^ still a nice find :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubbatiti Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 Apparently when my father came home after his National Service one of the souveniers he brought back from Korea was a full drum magazine from a Soviet PPSh sub machinegun. Grandfather wasn't too impressed with having it around the house and went and buried it somewhere in a local woods. I wonder if that will cause some head scratching after how it came to be there should someone ever dig it up! On the subject, I did myself get one lovely Great War souvenir from my Grandfather, a round for the German Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr 13mm anti-tank rifle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSHKOSH Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 (edited) It is inconceivable to me that in the run-up to the invasion of Europe there would have been any "superfluous" vehicles, and in the event that the invasion failed and the enemy counter-invaded the UK you wouldn't want to waste time exhuming and and recommissioning buried vehicles to oppose. If you want to prevent vehicle assets falling into enemy hands you don't bury them, you destroy them. I suspect that the rumours of masses of buried vehicles just waiting to be discovered is purely wishful thinking, though undoubtedly there will be one or two here and there. Even to this day there are still railway nuts who believe that there is a "strategic reserve" of steam locomotives stashed away somewhere "just in case". This despite the fact that the fate of every BR steam loco has been accounted for, and the destruction of infrastructure would render such a strategic reserve as useful as a candle in a hurricane. WHITSUNTIDE Sunday,25th May,2014. Happy Whitsuntide I myself have heard some fascinating stories over the years about military equipment being stored in reserve,while other military equipment have been dumped down mine shafts,or put in caves,etc. Radio Amateurs talk from time to time about surplus military equipment,including especially radio communications gear and about the stuff that they have accquired at military equipment surplus sales.Being a Radio Enthusiast and Short Wave Listener,I've heard quite a few of these conversations. So there are also sorts of stories involving Harley-Davidson WLA Motorcycles,crated RCA AR88,National HRO,Hallicrafters SX Communications Receivers and the like,and other surplus equipment being dumped down mine shafts! If these stories are true,its a terriable tragic waste of excellent equipment!.......and surely any military outfit - British,American,Canadian, French,German,whoever - just would not do such a terriable and wasteful thing! I do know that a lot of UK-based radio dealers sold tons and tons of WW2 ex-military radio equipment in the post war years to radio enthusiasts-radio amateurs and the like,and we all know about the WD-MOD Ruddington sales of WW2 and post war military vehicles. So most if not all of the equipment that was supposedly dumped was actually sold in to Civvy Street and to other military outfits;a great deal of this equipment still survives in the hands of radio enthusiasts,military vehicle enthusiasts,dealers,etc. Some of this surviving equipment comes up for sale on EBay UK fairly frequently - There are at least two RCA AR88's that are currently for sale on EBay UK now. I have also heard about the SSR = Strategic Steam Reserve of the United Kingdom.There is something poetic about it: Steam Railway Locomotives are so part of the British culture and folklore thus the British SSR is akin to Saint George to the rescue!:- http://ribblesteam.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/myth-or-mystery-the-strategic-steam-reserve/ Other countries had,or still have,a SSR.......so why not Great Britain.I've just very recently bought the newly published 2nd edition of British Railways Steam Railway Locomotives 1948-1968,by Hugh Longworth,which records in detail every single steam railway locomotive that was operated by British Railways. BUT,although he makes no mention of it,he might actually be keeping hush hush about the United Kingdom Strategic Steam Reserve.......he might have been told to! The British,American,Russian,etc,military outfits still retain valve-tube radio communications equipment as a precaution against EMP. Anyway,it all reminds me about the Belgium military in 1984 selling off some of their reserve military vehicles,which consisted of World War Two Chevrolet CMP and Ford CMP No.13-cabbed 4x4 Lorries! Fascinating stuff! OSHKOSH Edited May 25, 2014 by OSHKOSH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Britain's railway stock was completely knackered by the end of WW2, fit for the scrapheap & little else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Have we considered criminality ? A QM in an ordnance or transport unit has some tyres, engines, spares and hatches a plan with his storemen to bury items of value with a view to digging them up for later resale after the war. Times change and he is posted to say the Far East, upon his return the 'burial plot' is now inaccessible and so they remain to this day...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 My Grandmother and Great Uncle told me how back in the early 30s he stole a box of dynamite from the quarry behind the house, my Grandmother found out and told there Father, once my Great Uncle had recovered from the considerable clip round the ear that he received he buried the box in the garden in case the Police came around asking questions! Both are dead now, but the house still stands in Quarry Bank, West Midlands.....and somewhere under the flowers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryH57 Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 (edited) Just like Rubbatiti, I buried something in Charnwood Forest that some one might find hard to explain. What I buried was a WW2 machete type jungle knife about 2 feet long, which had been used in Burma and was given to me by a friend. I used it on a smallholding to clear bushes and fallen trees. Believe it or not in 1970's I took it to school and said to the metal work teacher that it was now a bit blunt, to which he said no problem son and ground the blade back to such sharpness that I could cut sheets of paper with it! Those were the days everyone trusted each other! When I left school and moved I did not want it anymore but didn't want to throw it away in the rubbish as it was really sharp, that's way I buried it. Edited May 25, 2014 by LarryH57 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSHKOSH Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Britain's railway stock was completely knackered by the end of WW2, fit for the scrapheap & little else. WHITSUNTIDE Sunday,25th May - Monday,26th May,2014. Happy Whitsuntide. Actually,this was just not the case.While it is true that British Steam Railway Locomotives did experience a fall of maintenance standards and had to pull extra-heavy loads during the Second World War of 1939 to 1945,they were so well designed and excellently built that they still had years and years of work left in them - as the post war years were to prove!.......indeed right up to the end of steam on British Railways in 1968. The maintenance of these locomotives was brought back up to pre war high standards in the late 1940s,although,towards the end of steam in the late 1960s,maintenance standards declined again in regard to at least certain steam railway locomotives. The Big Four railway companies -Great Western Railway,Southern Railway,London Midland Scottish Railway and London North Eastern Railway still carried on in producing brand new steam railway locomotives during the war years,and some of these locomotives were newly designed wartime austerity types. Certain steam railway locomotives were still relatively new when the war started in 1939,the magnificent LNER Gresley A4 4-6-2 Pacific Streamliner Streak Steam Railway Locomotives are very good examples of this!*and continued to haul prestige,named-trains on long distance services throughout the 1940s,1950s up until the mid 1960s. In fact,one of their number,60007,SIR NIGEL GRESLEY,set a post war speed record for steam traction on British Railways in 1959 of 112 MPH! All this proves that these locomotives,and other locomotive types,were designed for hard work and long lives! And although electric,diesel and diesel-electric railway locomotives gradually took over steam traction,steam railway locomotives sometimes had to come to the rescue of one of these non-steam locomotives,because it had broken down...... After the GWR,SR,LMSR and LNER became British Railways in 1948,production of steam locomotives continued and new BR Standard Steam Railway Locomotives were introduced.The last steam railway locomotive to be built for British Railways was built in 1960:British Railways Standard Class 9F Heavy Freight 2-10-0 Decapod Steam Railway Locomotive,No.92220.EVENING STAR. To get back to the Strategic Steam Reserve of the United Kingdom.It has been said that these SSR Steam Railway Locomotives could not operate,either properly or at all,since there is no longer a supporting infrastructure on Britian's railway network. Really? Well steam special trains,hauled by the likes of SIR NIGEL GRESLEY,TORNADO,BITTERN and other steam railway locomotives make long distance journies on the United Kingdom's railways....... And these steam special trains,consisting of around nine railway coaches,with hundreds of people in them,frequently happen all over the country....... So a Strategic Steam Reserve Steam Railway Locomotive Fleet,United Kingdom,could be a secret reality and could work properly on Britian's railway network. *A4 Pacific Streamliner Streaks were built 1935-1938 And yes:I also like diesel electric,etc,non-steam railway locomotives. OSHKOSH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeferret Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 What possible reason would anyone have for burying them? Andy Ever watch the end of the Vietnam war for us Americans...It was in 1975..I served in the U.S.Army in VN for 2 tours 70,71,72....I watched on tv as perfectly good helicopters were pushed into the ocean off of aircraft carriers..Still get tears in my eyes when i think about it....They said they didn't have room for them....You should see the aircraft junk yards where many expensive pieces of equipment sit and rot....We leave a lot behind in Countries where we have been... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeePig Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 While I would love to uncover some mysterious store of forgotten equipment, I must admit that I find long, elaborate descriptions unconvincing - and yet a part of me still wants to be convinced. It must be the engineer struggling with the artist in me... trevor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 This whole issue is one of those that as every 'new' generation gets to hear the old legends of buried goodies?.... they get all excited and fired up and start re-telling the tales to their mates etc that they've heard ... ........ and as always happens ........the tales get taller and taller down the line with every re-telling...... 'Battlefield' dumping is something different altogether that we know actually happened...million dollar point for example after WW2.....and we've all heard of vast dumps across Europe and yes we've probably all seen a video of a tank being dragged out of a swamp etc in the East.....and most of us have seen the massive dumps after the US pulled out of Vietnam ...and also the dumps we and the US left behind in Iraq and Kuwait only recently etc.... ..Deliberate dumping of kit in the UK is different thing though and........ in my opinion although it did happen ?.. .I certainly don't believe it ever happened to the extent many would like to believe it did... ...Someone mentioned earlier on here about gas masks? ...yes I could imagine thousands of those would be chucked ....and loads of other stuff that no one considered to be of any use...but surely anything that was sellable or usable in any way would find a new home.. So I really do have to conclude..... if you're looking for 'brand new Harley Davidsons, still in their crates' or 'complete Jeeps with a machine gun on the back!!' ?.. well... you're gonna be looking for a long , long time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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