WW2 bunker near Hambledon Hill

[Crusty]

Mystery solved, many thanks Retlaw. I took a wander up there today and scouted the bunker fully, it's not in as bad a condition as it appears from the outside. I would not encourage anyone to enter the bunker as it is still a dangerous place, but I felt it should be documented before it is allowed to decay further. Here are some of the pictures I took of it for research purposes:

From the south.


From the west showing concrete platform and remains of retaining wall and soak-away pit, possibly the site of fuel tanks for the generators.


From the north.


North-east showing the blast wall and entrance.


The entrance corridor.


Northern ops/bunk room with roof access hatch.


Northern ops/bunk room eastern wall showing floor level duct and stove flu vent.


View from ops/bunk room towards generator room.


Southern wall of generator room showing exhaust vent.


Eastern wall of generator room with main cable duct exiting the bunker.


rectangular field markings 900yrds east of bunker which may or may not indicate the presence of decoy structures.


Well built from good old Accy brick, it'll be there for 100's of years providing the reinforced concrete roof remains stable.

I'm amazed given the scale of this decoy project just how little information is available about it. Presumably this site is just one in a complex of many. If anyone knows of other sites associated with the deception I would be very interested to hear of them, as it would be nice to record some of it before it fades away.

Many thanks to everyone who has commented in the thread I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Chris.

[DaveinGermany]

After all the talk on the site I had a look around for other "Decoy Site" info & found this on a site about Lincolnshire Airfields of WW II, hope you find some interest in it.

http://s192798389.websitehome.co.uk/urbex/ww2sites.kmz

[Crusty]

I have a copy but I'm sure others will find it useful, thanks dave.

[Retlaw]

Got the son in law & daughter to take me up there today,
manage to shuffle about 1/2 mile or more, son in law took his metal detector,
we made two surprising finds on the track leading to the so called cave.
picture attached, the one on the right has been fired down a rifled barrel
left hand twist, which denotes .303, the diam and weight are also consistant
with a .303, possibly an overshoot from the Hapton range,
thats probably why it wasn't to deep,
what I can't understand is the 6.5mm, no rifling marks.
Retlaw.

[Barrie Yates]

Originally Posted by Retlaw

Got the son in law & daughter to take me up there today,
manage to shuffle about 1/2 mile or more, son in law took his metal detector,
we made two surprising finds on the track leading to the so called cave.
picture attached, the one on the right has been fired down a rifled barrel
left hand twist, which denotes .303, the diam and weight are also consistant
with a .303, possibly an overshoot from the Hapton range,
thats probably why it wasn't to deep,
what I can't understand is the 6.5mm, no rifling marks.
Retlaw.

Certainly strange, particularly since it did not have rifling marks. One weapon that fits in this range is the Mannlicher-Carcano 91/38 - right calibre, right generation - also the weapon that was used to assassinate JFK I believe.

[odders]

What a great find Retlaw. Looking at Crusty's pictures I would say it has survived well, as it looks exactly as I saw it, the last time I was up there and that's 15+ years ago. With the coming good weather this weekend, I feel a trip is on the cards.

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Barrie Yates

Certainly
strange, particularly since it did not
have rifling marks. One weapon that
fits in this range is the Mannlicher-Carcano
91/38 - right calibre, right generation -
also the weapon that was used to
assassinate JFK I believe.

Barrie its not an eiytie bullet wrong profile.
The Carcano was a piece of junk, how he
managed to hit Kenedy with one of those
beats me, especially the amount of surplus
military rifles available on the American market
at that time.
I used to collect cartridges, like people collect stamps,
you'd be surprised at the history behind
a calibre of ammo, I had over 500 rifle Calibres
from .22 to .577 and around 250 pistol rounds from the
4.25mm lilliput to the old .500 Webly.
Also had a few shotgun rounds as well
Had to give them up when I surrendered my
permit, all I have left are a few pics.
I've attached one showing the Carcano, I've put a black
stripe over the top.
Retlaw.

[odders]

what a wonderful collection, thanks for sharing Retlaw, not very often you get to see such a variety, have all these been found locally?

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by odders

what a wonderful collection, thanks for sharing Retlaw, not very often you get to see such a variety, have all these been found locally?

No Odders.
If you read the post, I used to collect
cartridges, not find them, you couldn't
find cartridges in that condition metal
detecting, some of those on the picture
are over 150 years old.
The two cartridges on the right are .303,
notice the bullets are blue, they are wooden
bullets specially produced for the film
"The Longest Day", the wooden projectile
was to make the Vickers machine gun work.
on the end of the barrel was a disrupter,
which chewed the wooden bullet up,
if you ever see that film again, and look
closely you can see the sawdust pilling
up on the ground in front of the Vickers.

Retlaw.

[accyman]

used to play up teh hapton shooting range and im pretty sure i have a jar somewhere at my mums with a load of bullet heads in good condition although most of them were flattened from hitting the target and i recall on ewinter my friend collecting some only to find it was frozen sheep poop when his bullet colection defrosted in his pocket lol

[pmitchell]

This looks like a Starfish decoy site. Here's another that I've visited near Cragg Vale.

[rosegrove]

my mother said it was dummy airfield with dummy planes and searhlights it was used to divert german planes from manchester airport and hopefully bomb the dummy airport there was still bits there in the late 1940s after the war it was used 1940 till 1942 my mother is 86 and remembers armed guards on routes to the site

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by rosegrove

my mother said it was dummy airfield with dummy planes and searhlights it was used to divert german planes from manchester airport and hopefully bomb the dummy airport there was still bits there in the late 1940s after the war it was used 1940 till 1942 my mother is 86 and remembers armed guards on routes to the site

It had nowt to do with Manchester Airport. Manchester Airport
back in the 1940's was not worth the bother.
That decoy site was supposed to confuse jerry as to where
Salford and Trafford Park was. Never saw any dummy planes on it, just canvas
and wood structures, which at ground level to us meant nothing. I all ready
mentioned the guards on all the main paths, they wouldn't even let us pick
whimberries. Look at Google Earth and you can pick out a lot of straight lines
like streets, nature doesn't do straight lines.
Retlaw.

[kevj]

hi,about 20 yrs ago,i came upon a structre like you described,it puzzled me for ages,i heard some rumor previously that there may have been some sort of decoy airfield here.if i recall the building had round soil pipes built into the walls.i think these pipes fed the cables that led to the dummy airstrip.this was just speculation on my part,untill i read LANCASHIRE AIRFIELDS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR,page 45 refers to special decoy sites, codemame SF or (special fires) in accrington,at haslingden,accrington,burnley,worsthorne and mameldon hill(hameldon hill)
you may also be interested in a similar structre in gt harwood,its underground, i dont know what prpose it served,i assume its WW2,i think it may be under threat from developers for housing.access is ok,just hop over the stile and your'e nearly there.the grid ref is SD 731 329 and its on hindle fold lane. if you need any more info just ask.

kevj

[vagabondnma]

you may also be interested in a similar structre in gt harwood,its underground, i dont know what prpose it served,i assume its WW2,i think it may be under threat from developers for housing.access is ok,just hop over the stile and your'e nearly there.the grid ref is SD 731 329 and its on hindle fold lane. if you need any more info just ask.

kevj

Hi KevJ
Please can you tell me more about your site before it is lost - exact location etc.
Thanks