England 5-Mar-10 - Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker

After passing through Chipping Onga and turning left onto a winding narrow road I reached a car park and what appeared to be a rural bungalow. However this concrete imitation building housed some store rooms and a set of metals stairs down one level to a long sloping tunnel that lead to bottom floor of three story underground complex. This was the Kelvedon HatchSecret Nuclear Bunker that for 6 or 7 British pounds I could explore with the aid of self-guided audio tour.

So into the 'bungalow', no one about but a sign saying to pay at the end of the tour and that I must pick up an audio guide at the bottom of the stairs before entering the complex.
Down the stairs, get my guide and into the tunnel, but first take some photos, then spotted the sign no pictures unless  a  'licence to photograph' has been purchased. Being a mean sod I put my camera away so sorry no more pictures.  I found out a couple days later in my hurry to comply I had lost my spare camera battery and believe it was somewhere in this tunnel. So Kelvedon Hatch people the battery you found is for a Cannon IXUS 80 IS camera.

The lower level contains, air conditioning and power generation plants (all duplicated), fuel, water, and sewage storage. the upper levels contain civilian control room, scientist centre, BBC studio, military operation centre, dormitory, sick bay and canteen. Also in one corner I saw a great heap of early Geiger counters, all very large an obviously built before the advent of the transistor.

The complex built in 1952 using 40,000 tons of concrete, goes down to 100 feet below the Essex countryside, consists of three stories capable of housing up to 600 government personnel.

Well worth a visit and while in the area  so is the  church at Greensted. This is the oldest wooden church in the world.

Next time I will be visiting the Imperial War Museum at Duxford.

England 4-Mar-10 - de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre

In March this year I went to England primarily to see some of the early diaries associated with Scott's Last Expedition in the archives of the Scott Polar Research Institute, but while there I took the opportunity to visits several aircraft museums and other places of interest.

I arrived at Heathrow on 4 March and the next day headed up to the de Havilland Museum just off the M25 near London Colney.

Although the museum hadn't opened for the summer I was lucky to have a private tour thanks to John Stride.

This museum is a must for enthusiasts of the Mosquitofighter/bomber, wooded plane construction or the de Havilland stable of aircraft.

The photos included are - the original Mosquito designated W4050, a machine in progress of being restored, the 4000 pound bomb used by some of these 'small' bombers/fighters and a 6 pound anti-tank gun modified for mounting in the plane.

The plane being restored allowed me to see how the Mosquito was construction and the marrying of the wood construction with metal equipment such as engines, landing gear and armaments.

The 4000 pound bomb highlights the specs of the Mosquito B Mk XVI- 4000 pound bomb load, 1500 mile range, 415 mph max speed, 37,000 ft service ceiling - a quite a remarkable airplane for the 1940s.

Now the 6 pounder - 27 Mosquitos were fitted with these modified QF-6 anti-tank guns fitted with an auto-loader to allow for semi or fully automatic fire. Although I was told that they could only fire two shots in quick succession because of the slowing of the plane. This gun was mounted with two 303 siting machine guns. The gun weighed 1580 pounds and was used against shipping and U-boats, but was soon replaced by rockets.

Other places visited were Kelvedon Hatch secret nuclear bunker, Duxford Imperial War Museum, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, The Shuttleworth Collection and paused to photgraph the R100 and R101 airship hangars but more of that later.