Exploring RAF Hornchurch War Defences, Including Rare Tett Turrets, Essex.
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- #RAF #Essex #Military
This week we headed down to the former site of RAF Hornchurch in southern Essex to see what remains of the Airfield there..
Dating back to 1915 this was one of the Uks most important in its heyday protecting London and the Thames from the threat from German airships and later went on the play a great part in the Battle Of Britain and during the D-day landings.
Unfortunately today having post war been used as a quarry and a rubbish dump not too much remains of the airfield buildings but there are still plenty of bits to see if you know where to look including the very rare Tett Turrets which only a handful still survive!
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Thanks for watching 😊
I lived near to Hornchurch RAF station during the war so has lot's of memories for me. To see it all overgrown now is sad.
It is a shame especially as we knew there was once so much more but even if there was still more remains we couldn't possibly find them. It still a nice place to visit and a memorial to all those that served there. Must have been quite a sight to see all the fighters flying over. Thanks for watching 😊👍
I'm an ex RAF man and a resident of Hornchurch for the past 30 years. Today, due to a Men's Mental Health walk, I visited the country park (RAF Hornchurch) for the first time. Thank you for explaining things I saw today on the walk and I saw from the top of Ingrebourne Hill, with its view over London, why this airfield was chosen. And to bring it full circle. I met Douglas Bader many years ago.
Thanks Glyn we're glad you found our videos helpful. It's great to have a piece of history like this still remaining to remind us of the sacrifices made. Thanks for watching and commenting 😊👍
I grew up in that area. A school friend of mine has found bullet damage on the rafters of his house. Remembering that fighter planes would often I load ammunition randomly rather than carry the extra weight home across the channel. They would aim at anything 'interesting' including schools, but these stories never made it into newspapers for obvious reasons.
There's a lot of stories from that time that was never spoken about! It does make you wonder what else we've not been told..
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.. 👍😊
“Anti-aircraft, all that”.🙂👍🏼
Thank you for your excellent quality presentations. I have always been interested in the RAF particularly during WW2. To see these structures still standing today despite the ravages of time is amazing. All the best from Western Australia, Kind regards
Clare
Thanks Clare.. its a shame really that there isn't more still remaining considering how substantial the Airbase was but I guess still nice to be able to find something at least.. Thanks for watching and commenting 😊
UA-cam knows now that I really enjoy your videos on coastal defences. Another fascinating video with so much information as always, I never knew about ricochet walls or Tett Turrets before watching this so thanks for telling us so much about the things we're looking at
If you'd have asked me about them 8 years ago I wouldn't have had a clue either! 😆 It becomes abit addictive when you start learning about these places.. 😁
In the late 1980’s and early 90s I lived about 100 metres from the dispersaal pen you started off at, and used to walk my dog on the airfield every day. The Tett turrets were in better nick back then and any trees there were just saplings. There were also a lot of dugouts and bunkers behind that dispersal bay next to st Georges Hospital. The two storey pill box had only been buried for a year or two when ‘Two Men in a Trench’ excavated it again and ‘discovered’ those Tett turrets, the entrance door was below ground level and was still visible but had been blocked up. Interesting to see how the place looks 30 years later.
Another great video. See you both on the next! 🇬🇧🙂👍🇺🇸
Thanks Martin! Hopefully we'll be back again next Sunday 😀
ANOTHER GOOD LOAD OF INFORMATIOMN FROM YOU BOTH,THANKS😍
Thank you! We really love exploring military sites, there's always loads of history to be found.. 😊
There were remains of metal gun places in Tollesbury by the Blackwater , with a metal detector found part of a gold rimmed B.R plate . Hornchurch a famous base , covered with housing Across the Blackwater there are remains of an airstrip where Mozzies landed after reconacance to the East of the now closed Bradwell nuclear power plant & the famous tiny church St Peters on the wall .
Tollesbury has some interesting WW2 structures including quite a substantial Radar Tower plus once numerous pillboxes along the coast of which I know a few still survive, not aware of any gun emplacements but might be an explore for the future.. We'd love to explore RAF Bradwell when we get a chance as there's ALOT still to see there from its former life as an airbase and the little chapel is worth a look when in the area.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. 😊👍
Love your war explores! Great video again.. 👍
Thank you for watching 😊👍
A good explore, thanks for sharing😊👍
Thanks for watching, always appreciated 😊👍
I visited the UK in 1987 from Australia to visit as many of the aerodromes and graveyards with an emphasis on the Battle of Britain, this was inspired after reading the "After the Battle Magazine" or Holy Bible as I like to call it, volume one "The Battle of Britain Then and Now". After reading the history of the Station and the famous pilots who flew from it, and an article on "Death of an Airfield" on Hornchurch's closure and later destruction, it was high on my list to visit.
In the book a wonderful selection of before and after photograph's of each site and what it looks like today are included. Hornchurch has photos of its WWI origins (Sutton Farm) during WWII, and today (well the early 1980's anyway)
Photographs that caught my eye were of artefact's saved from the station after found on a rubbish heap! and now on display in the Hornchurch library. So I made my way to the town library and on entering I was asked if I needed help to which I replied "have you anything on the old aerodrome I could look at? well this lovely librarian bent over backwards to help me. She brought me copies of combat reports from the BoB and photographs. I asked her if they still had those saved artefacts on display and with that she directed me to a location where hanging on the wall was the RAF Hornchurch Station Crest with the Motto "First things First" (that made my day!) this was originally attached to the main gate which had then ended up on a rubbish heap after demolition, but luckily saved.
I asked her where the Station was located to which she replied there isn't anything to see as its now a housing estate (I guess the park and paths weren't there in 1987) but she did direct me to a cemetery where pilots were buried in WWII. I later visited Hawkinge which still had its Officers Mess and accommodation blocks, which finally succumbed to progress only recently. Nearby is the wonderful Kent Battle of Britain Museum situated on the old technical sight. So much history and places that helped save a nation, now only scant remains, tell of their passing.
Sorry for the late reply.. Glad you were able to visit some of these places, shame alot has since been lost but its nice that some are now being turned into little museums to keep their memories alive, pity it wasn't done before alot were demolished for development.. That certainly sounds like a book I'd be interested in adding to my collection, I'll have to keep a look out for a copy..
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, it's lovely to hear from you 😊👍
Hope you visited North Weald which isn't far away. Still operational as a civilian airfield. Sits astride the M11 with airfield and one remaining original hangar on one side and workshops the other.
Thank u em and stu ur videos are always inteasting
Thank you, glad you enjoy them 😊👍
Good morning Em and stu many thanks for this vid loved it
Thanks Rob, it was nice to get back to visiting some more military sites, hopefully many more in the next few months 😊
@@ExploringWithEmAndStu Hello Stu i will look out for all your vids keep safe in all there high winds.
You may be interested in Stow Maries near Maldon in Essex one of Europes few remaining WW1 airfields and currently being slowly brought back to its formal glory. Well worth a visit.
I can't say I'm too familiar with the airfield at Stow Marie's, definitely one I'll have to take a look at. Thanks for your message 😊
Great video. The concrete structure with the traces of metal set into it... I wonder if that was perhaps the base of a radio transmitter? Another thing I noticed was the pillboxes all the openings angled inwards. On most pillboxes, they slope outwards. I have always wondered why they slope outwards because it almost made the target larger to fire a bullet in. I wonder if this was a simple case of the contractor not following the plans or if these were built differently on purpose. Nicely done 🙂
You're very right, that does seem to be an unusual design which we often see in reverse on most pillboxes.. not sure why they are like this but maybe worth some research.. We'd love to find out more about that concrete structure with the gullies, it seemed odd but did look out onto open fields so many remnants of a type of radar structure once.. Thanks for watching and you're comments as always very much appreciated 😊👍
One of my first videos: ua-cam.com/video/-9ehv-eY06I/v-deo.html&ab_channel=PublicArchaeologist. This was before I did the presenting courses. Hopefully I will start posting again. Been working over the summer.
Thanks, we'll take a look! 😊👍
You guys are awesome
Thanks Grant, we very much appreciate you watching 😊👍
RAF Hornchurch was a fighter airfield not a bomber airfied.
Yes mainly Spitfires I believe, played a big part in the battle of Britain.. I may have slipped up and called them bombers at one point but it was definitely rebuilt during ww2 to be controlled by the RAF Fighter Command.