Former 8th AF bases dump site digs...

[RAMC181]

Argh!

I live less than 2 miles from Grafton airfield, I could have given you the tour of the areas with no public access if I'd have known.

PB

[SPANNERmkV]

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Well that is the excuse I needed to nail down that I simply MUST come back to Duxford Flying Legends next Summer!

Bomberflight and I posted pictures on a thread when I got back.

SPANNER

[RAMC181]

Ah well, these things happen.

Apologies as I can be terrible with names rather than faces, but was it you I met at DX on Friday 24th June, when I was bringing the Mary Alice bumf for the restoration team?

TTFN,
PB

[SPANNERmkV]

Paul,
That scenario sounds familiar BUT my host MADE me go to Duxford six days in a row.
All's I can really remember is Warbirds, Book Stalls and Manhattan Dolls...

But if the person you remember looks like the guy in the picture I guess your memory is better than mine.


Sure wish I was in Nuthampstead with a cool beer and a hot steak!
SPANNER
aka Don Price

[Bomberboy]

I couldn't possibly comment...

Oh why not?
Go on!!!!!
I'd love to feast my eyes on this kind of stuff!
It's the sort of opportunity that one would give an eye-tooth to have a chance to go and see.

[DLSheley]

now don,t get me wrong i love all this stuff as much as all of you but doesn,t anyone find this extremly disturbing that the american military has buried millions of tons of what alot of can be considered hazardous waste all over the planet? i,m no tree hugger but ive seen the pictures of tractors and radial engines sitting in the surf on islands in the pacific god knows what else they threw into the earth or ocean frankley i find it disgusting but tipical of the arrogance of the US armed forces. f@#k every one else we are done with you and we leaving you our useless sh%t!!!!!

-

[John Dupre]

now don,t get me wrong i love all this stuff as much as all of you but doesn,t anyone find this extremly disturbing that the american military has buried millions of tons of what alot of can be considered hazardous waste all over the planet? i,m no tree hugger but ive seen the pictures of tractors and radial engines sitting in the surf on islands in the pacific god knows what else they threw into the earth or ocean frankley i find it disgusting but tipical of the arrogance of the US armed forces. f@#k every one else we are done with you and we leaving you our useless sh%t!!!!!

-

It is hardly disturbing. It was typical of the era. The US is not alone in dumping excess surplus military gear. Think of the context. Seventy years ago everyone all over the world that wanted to get rid of something would burn, bury or sink it. The Brits dumped tons of stuff they would otherwise have had to pay the US for. They even sank, circa 1948, a captured French sail frigate that had survived Trafalgar. The French spent the first 60 years after WW1 routinely dumping recovered military ordnance, including poison gas shells, in the English Channel. Many post war economies were rebuilt on salvaging abandoned military property from all sides. Take a look at the huge military graveyard near Kabul. Currently it is filled with ex Soviet stuff but military antiques dating to WW1 tanks and between the wars aircraft have been recovered. That place is hardly the fault of the US. There are millions of tons of surplus military gear all over the world that are not the responsibility of the US. The Soviets were nearly as profligate in sending their gear all over the world.

[51fixer]

now don,t get me wrong i love all this stuff as much as all of you but doesn,t anyone find this extremly disturbing that the american military has buried millions of tons of what alot of can be considered hazardous waste all over the planet? i,m no tree hugger but ive seen the pictures of tractors and radial engines sitting in the surf on islands in the pacific god knows what else they threw into the earth or ocean frankley i find it disgusting but tipical of the arrogance of the US armed forces. f@#k every one else we are done with you and we leaving you our useless sh%t!!!!!

-

It is hardly disturbing. It was typical of the era. The US is not alone in dumping excess surplus military gear. Think of the context. Seventy years ago everyone all over the world that wanted to get rid of something would burn, bury or sink it. The Brits dumped tons of stuff they would otherwise have had to pay the US for. They even sank, circa 1948, a captured French sail frigate that had survived Trafalgar. The French spent the first 60 years after WW1 routinely dumping recovered military ordnance, including poison gas shells, in the English Channel. Many post war economies were rebuilt on salvaging abandoned military property from all sides. Take a look at the huge military graveyard near Kabul. Currently it is filled with ex Soviet stuff but military antiques dating to WW1 tanks and between the wars aircraft have been recovered. That place is hardly the fault of the US. There are millions of tons of surplus military gear all over the world that are not the responsibility of the US. The Soviets were nearly as profligate in sending their gear all over the world.

And the present US has constantly been out cleaning up some WWII hazards including a few years back drilling into and recovering oil from sunken military ships in the South Pacific. Compare with the sunken German Sub off the coast of Norway in which the ballast was replaced with vials of Mercury that they were shipping off to the Japanese.
War is h..ell and dealing with the leftovers isn't much better.
The biggest thing we all can do is learn the lessons the past shows us for there isn't anything we can do to change the past.

[DLSheley]

now don,t get me wrong i love all this stuff as much as all of you but doesn,t anyone find this extremly disturbing that the american military has buried millions of tons of what alot of can be considered hazardous waste all over the planet? i,m no tree hugger but ive seen the pictures of tractors and radial engines sitting in the surf on islands in the pacific god knows what else they threw into the earth or ocean frankley i find it disgusting but tipical of the arrogance of the US armed forces. f@#k every one else we are done with you and we leaving you our useless sh%t!!!!!

-

It is hardly disturbing. It was typical of the era. The US is not alone in dumping excess surplus military gear. Think of the context. Seventy years ago everyone all over the world that wanted to get rid of something would burn, bury or sink it. The Brits dumped tons of stuff they would otherwise have had to pay the US for. They even sank, circa 1948, a captured French sail frigate that had survived Trafalgar. The French spent the first 60 years after WW1 routinely dumping recovered military ordnance, including poison gas shells, in the English Channel. Many post war economies were rebuilt on salvaging abandoned military property from all sides. Take a look at the huge military graveyard near Kabul. Currently it is filled with ex Soviet stuff but military antiques dating to WW1 tanks and between the wars aircraft have been recovered. That place is hardly the fault of the US. There are millions of tons of surplus military gear all over the world that are not the responsibility of the US. The Soviets were nearly as profligate in sending their gear all over the world.

Well said, John. I had originally posted a really kinda rude remark to Andy's post, but went back and erased it. I kinda got the feeling from his post that he just wanted to rant against those evil Americans, not giving a darn that the 1945 U.S. military that left all it's junk had just freed most of Europe.

[DLSheley]

Enough of the thread hijack, I'd like to see more photos of what was found.

[RAMC181]

The dig is scheduled for this coming weekend, so I'll see what we can come up with.

In the meantime, the airfields around here are being harvested and ploughed, so if I can dodge the forecast rain during the week I may have some things to "show and tell" beforehand...

All the best,
PB

[RAMC181]

A few bits and bobs from this evening's stroll across the airfield...

Bomb transit hoop latch:



What appears to be part of a bomb fin transit crate:



Aircraft bits, .50 cal heads and a couple of lead ordnance seals, along with a knife handle:



All the best,
PB

[RAMC181]

We have another dig coming up in a few days time.
This one will be another airbase general trash dump like the one last August, so who knows what will turn up...

OK All,

Now this particular dig has been done, I can say a little more.
As with the August Bank Holiday dig last year, it was another informal dumping-hole at Eye, which has now been fairly comprehensively cleaned out.

Like many general AAF airfield rubbish dumps the majority of finds had evidence of sustained burning, which was the usual practice to dispose of day-to-day waste. Due to this most that remained were the more substantial items, ranging from a chunk of what look to be the slate top of a billiard table, through broken crockery and lightbulbs, to packaging waste like ordnance and engine transit plugs, along with a small scattering of propeller tools etc.

Photos will follow as the bits and bobs get cleaned and catalogued.

All the best,
PB

[Bomberboy]

OK All,

Now this particular dig has been done, I can say a little more.
As with the August Bank Holiday dig last year, it was another informal dumping-hole at Eye, which has now been fairly comprehensively cleaned out.

Like many general AAF airfield rubbish dumps the majority of finds had evidence of sustained burning, which was the usual practice to dispose of day-to-day waste. Due to this most that remained were the more substantial items, ranging from a chunk of what look to be the slate top of a billiard table, through broken crockery and lightbulbs, to packaging waste like ordnance and engine transit plugs, along with a small scattering of propeller tools etc.

Ah so it was Eye airfield, I did wonder.
Is that really all you found?
I don't want to sound 'cheeky' , but that does not seem to have yeilded much for a weekends hard labour thrown in with a bit of energetic 'gun-ho'.

[ZRX61]

Ah so it was Eye airfield, I did wonder.
Is that really all you found?
I don't want to sound 'cheeky' , but that does not seem to have yeilded much for a weekends hard labour thrown in with a bit of energetic 'gun-ho'.

I remember about 30 years ago some locals digging on that field & everywhere they dug they hit concrete 3ft down.. They gave up after about 9 or 10 holes.