Secrets of The Motorway - M55
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- #blackpool #infrastructure #motorway
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No clickbait, A Sepecat jaguar really did land on the M55 motorway!
The M55 runs from Preston to Blackpool and it seems for the most part, it was built to plan without any major issues. That's a rarity.
The M55 does have a few secrets though.. for a while it was part of the first motorway built in the UK and with construction of a new junction underway, you could say the motorway has been unfinished since it's conception in the late 50s.
In this series we aim to explore what our motorway network is hiding. As we drive along at 70mph..ish...we simply just wouldn't be aware of what we're missing. This series aims to uncover some of the hidden secrets our motorways have to offer. - Авто та транспорт
XX109 has survived, it's displayed outdoors at the Norwich City Aviation Museum.
My home city lol
Must go there
@@Musashi_-81 musashi was shit!
Hello Jon, how the devil are you, have you had a good week?
You know I HAVE subscribed and it was indeed Wicked, Sweet, Awesome
I was there when they Jaguar landed it was quite a sight .The aerials at Inskip were part of HMS Inskip which was a Naval station, I used to work there in the 70,s. It’s still a government site but run by a private company now. There was at the time a Commanding Officer there who basically said that the runways where the sea and anybody seen walking on them would be put on a charge. He said that only Jesus could walk on water. So they had to use a water taxi, I.e a vehicle to travel about the site. I think it’s the same guy who decided that as he was a bit of a climber he would climb the one of the large masts which are 600 ft high. Snag was he froze about half way up and they had to get a rescue party to get him down
If he were a regular person, I'd say he was quite mad. However, being an officer in the Royal Navy, I guess that made him eccentric...
@@kirkmooneyham Nah, as a Navy officer that just made him normal, the real Navy "eccentrics" are the ones in the subs.
In Germany there are many section of the Autobahn which were bulid during Cold War to operate as emergency runway for nearby military airfields. They are mostly gone now but sometimes you can recognize it due to the special way they were build. They are a straight piece of road with no bridge or power line crossing, a concrete median with removable barriers and big parking lots on each side of the stretch to store the planes. They were connections to powerlines nearby to operate the emergency runway properly and you could place a mobile radar control tower along the side to operate the flights. In 1984 during a Nato military training an emergency runway was used for training purposes on the A29 Autobahn near Ahlhorner Heide Junction
All the bridges had signs showing direction and weight limits for tanks and I was told that some of the bridges had chambers built in that charges could be dropped in to quickly them blow up to slow down an invading army
I forget the name of the base, but there is a small air force base, probably near K-town that was divided by a local german roadway that separated the residential and tenant activity area from the airfield. There was a separate guarded gate and fencing around both sides and concrete bunkers lining the road and spanning the field that ran along the roadway. But rumor was that the underground bunker system was really a tunnel system to allow pilots and ground crews to get from their homes and offices to the airfield if the Soviets attacked.
Also, when I visited Rhein Main air base in 1989 or 1990 there were still a few sections of highway where they had the reinforced shoulders and hardened concrete jet bays and other standby equipment for emergency flight operations.
The way it was told to me was they were mostly so already airborne pilots had a place to land after the airfield had been bombed, but from what I saw the ones near Rhein Main were meant to refit and refuel for ongoing operations.
Sorry, it was Rammstein, not Rhein Main. Rhein Main is in a far too built up area. I always confuse Rammstein and Rhein Main for some reason.
The Luftwaffe did the same towards the end of the war even with the Me-262. They'd do their missions, land back on the road and then be pushed into the woodland at the sides to hide them from the allied air forces. If I recall I think for some months after the war heavily camouflaged aircraft were still being found in the woods on the sides of roads used for makeshift runways.
We have a similar system in Sweden that is still in use!
My Grandad (who lived just a few miles up the A6 from junction 1 of the M55) told me that the reason that the bridge was too low was that when they built it, they used an Ordinance Survey bench mark on a very large stone gate post as the datum for the works. Unfortunately, the farmer who owned the farm had moved the gatepost to make the gateway wider, but had buried the gatepost deeper into the ground than it was when the bench mark was applied to it, and so the bridge was lower than it should've been.
One of the first things you do when you build a road is set up your own setting out points/ stations down the road where you know there position and level. You would compare the levels with a number of bench marks and ordnance survey trig points along the route. Then you can erect fences etc in agreed positions before you start the main works.
It is normal for benchmarks, setting out points, stations etc to move so you normally check them against each other as the works progress. On a large project like a motorway it is likely they would have a survey team that would go through and check the stations every month or two. The contractors setting out engineer would be expected to work off at least two stations so that they can ensure they have not moved. The client would also have an engineer that would check some of the work. Whilst it is possible that they used one point as their only check of level it does seem unlikely, it would have taken a many months to build the bridges so they would have had to have been particularly lazy and unsupervised for it to happen.
I think it is more likely that there was some problem with the drainage design, services that could not be moved or the design headroom changed.
@@johnclements6614 well who knows... modern sensibilities might not have worked too well back then...
That’s brilliant. What a mistake. I always thought that bridge wasn’t part of the Preston bypass ? On Jon’s maps it shows the bypass ending at a roundabout. I always thought it was constructed for the M55 & the lane underneath is just for High Loads as the bridge on the road section on the roundabout is easily 16 foot high.
@@SiRhodesDriverTraining s
@@johnclements6614 you say that but I know that but quite a few of the houses built opposite me are 150mm lower than intended I heard it from mates who worked on the site and it's obvious to see they have shingle all around and the damp course is level with the ground not 150 up engineers can make mistakes
I love the way you say "Have you had a good week?"
It sounds genuine and concerning in a way.
It always gives me a warm and friendly feeling inside :)
Great to hear, that's what its all about :D
Jesus Christ mate. This is some remarkably well put together, beautifully made, genius level epicness happening here and you are class mate.
Highly underated.
Never matched and immutably perfect.
Thank you.
Lovely post - nice one
Is that you, Jon?
Well said sir!.
Well, Jaguars were not uncommon on the motorways.
🏆😂
The occasional Puma and Cougar too. Maybe even a Tiger, a Lynx or even a Cheetah. Or perhaps a Leyland Leopard.
@@CycolacFan I used to drive a “rabbit” lol
@@Dan23_7 I had a Lada (russian for swan :)
@@andw2638 Mine was a Mk1 golf but it was a rabbit in the states 😂
A crap joke on my part I think 😂
In the '80s, on a daytrip to Blackpool, we would drive along that road following the route of the disused railway and end up at the site of Central Station, which by then had been demolished with the trackbeds filled in and turned into a huge makeshift carpark. You could clearly see the surface of the platforms, chopped off steelwork and walls, and the old station lavatory building which was still in use.
It was very much the same until about 10 years a go when they pulled the old loo's down and did some resurfacing. You can still kind of tell where they were.
Very much still a large car park for now. There are big plans to redevelop it. Some sort of crack pot scientology thing I think.
@@craigcooperxyz An Erich von Daniken theme park I think. Many of his claims still draw people in, and are the main inspiration for the Ancient Aliens TV series, but a lot of them have been debunked. It concerns me that we might end up with an equivalent to Morecambe's notorious Mr Blobby theme park which these days is only of interest to the Urbex crowd.
Here in Finland we have several emergency "runways" across the country. They were made simply by widening an existing straight piece of road. One is located about 20kms away from where I live.
Also used in Sewden and Germany (during the Cold War).
Common in uk in areas with plenty of brake warming hills. Always wanted to send it in to one for fun!
Same in Singapore, tho one of the more famous ones are going to be decommission due to the expansion of the neighboring Tengah airbase. those emegency runways are more or less part of the early planning of singapore especially with our expressways. (the one being decommissioned soon is more like a Major rural road that got expanded with a huge median and removable infrastructure
Keep safe Finland from the monster next door
IIRC also part of the american highway system design is intended for emergency use too, hence why there's always at least a mile of straight road every once in a while, though Id be skeptical how useful they would be in some regions and these days due to the proximity of trees in some areas and due to lack of sufficient maintenance
My Dad served in the RAF during the 70s and 80s and when serving in Germany there were regular exercises that meant the Jaguars used autobahns as runways. My Dad preferred this type of exercise as he was a cook and would commandeer a service station and all German services at the time had to have fully functioning commercial kitchens so nice and easy for my Dad. Consequently he did not like exercises that involved the Harrier jump jet as that meant being in some forest in deepest darkest Germany where he had to set up a field kitchen and apparently there was a lot of mud that got splattered around.
“At a cost of only 207 million pounds” 😂
Passed my driving test in Blackpool at the Warbreck Hill test site. Drive home on Tue M55 ten minutes after passing my test. Gotta love the 1980s
I also passed my driving test there too (and in the 80's). I suspect the M55 was my first motorway too, though at the weekends I lived near Garstang, so also drove on the M6 soon after passing.
The M55 is the road which TVR, who were based in Blackpool, used to do their speed testing on. It’s a quiet road at night so they could get away with doing some big speeds without much trouble.
From personal experience, Sunday morning pretty popular also ! I remember being int he slow lane doing probably 80 as one came past - I felt like I was standing still !
Ive driven tge M55 many times but this makes it more interesting.
A you tube channel called Adventure me has done a video on the lost central station and the railway like if anyone is into this side of Blackpool history.
I think someone should count how many times Jon said "M55" and "XX109", because I'm pretty sure he tried to set a record of how many times he could say each one! 😆
I have been waiting for this! My home town Motorway
Where you at ? I’m Leyland
I can't believe all those ordinary people were standing just dozens of yards from that aircraft launch!
How do you know they're ordinary' people?😉
Check out an A10 landing on a road at Alpena, Michigan. people and house are quite close.
@@chrisplunkett2814there from Preston
Difference between then and now, no health and safety Nazis just common sense.
And those 600lb bombs were HE judging by the yellow bands on them. Those spectators were very close!
im australian yet addicted to this series
Been on the M55 once - for me personally it is a decent motorway. Certainly interesting that the M55 was once used as a runway!
So, a Jaguar exceeded the speed limit on the motorway, in other words, a standard day.
Join the road at the speed to match the existing traffic ✅
What a lovely, jolly day out. Man you crack me up. Had to pause the video to recompose myself. P.S. Your end shot and music are always on point. Especially this one.
XX109, the Specat Jaguar that landed on the M55 still exists and lives at the City of Norwich aviation museum which is well worth a visit if you like aircraft.
Who'da thunked we'd all be so looking forward to the next episode of a series about motorways! Being a North Westerner I've been loving the local (to me) action of the last few weeks.
Thanks to your other televisual masterpiece all the service stations, we called at Cairn Lodge services and ate a lovely dinner on the way up to Fife yesterday.
Keep up the fascinating work. 10/10
I was one of the kids on that film. Still live around there. It was my playground's before they made it into a road. We used to thrash old mopeds along the top of it to South shore. 😝
Perfect timing to catch that train on the outro drone shot!! ;-)
Wheyyy my home motorway! 👍🏻
Marvellous coverage, but there was few missing items 😅 I didn’t hear J3 mentioned and the royal naval airfield, apparently used to be used as a sonar station of sorts, according to my grandparent, it was used to detect submarines in the Irish Sea and was also named HMS Inskip which is apparently one of the few if not only building to carry the prefix HMS 👍🏻
Also may I add, yes Wyre is pronounced Wire 🎉
HMS Inskip was a Fleet Aur Arm Station during the war, known as HMS Nightjar. It was the transmitter station for the RN, / Whitehall Radio, and the receiver station was at HMS Forest Moor. I lived in Treales just down the road from it.
Thinking about the stories of using MW as airfields, pretty sure that came from the Military as in the theatre of BAOR (British Army of the Rhine ) we actually did it, using Rastplatz as turn around points for AC 130s and Pavematts for Harriers, though I have never heard it being used in the UK.
A number of sections of the post-WW2 Autobahn network were actually specifically constructed for use as auxiliary airfields, in case the Cold War had gotten hot. Those sections would be arrow-straight, lack a grass median, having a concrete one instead, and have removable median barriers. Each end of these prepared sections would also sport the Rastplatz or “rest area” you mentioned, basically a large car park with minimal amenities at either end. Whilst these were used for drivers to take a break during peacetime, they were designed to act as aircraft stands during wartime.
Out of curiosity, when you mentioned you used the autobahn was an airfield with the BAOR, was that in 1984 by any chance? I know that the German Luftwaffe and US Air Force ran an exercise in that year to test the concept, Exercise Highway 84, and I’m wondering whether you may have gotten roped into that as well.
@@thomilsvlog4544 I was in BOAR from 1989 to 1993, during on Active Edge we had 2 AC 130s land on a section of autobahn to support a Div Ex in Soltau. I was part of the AAC and we had to fly some parts from Gutersloh to that area. Knowing and seeing it in action was completely different and to see a flight of harriers parked behind the mound was exceptional. It was the longest I had been on exercise prior to being deployed on Ops.
I understand when the Jaguar took off it left two long burnt patches of tarmac on the yet to be opened M55. Runway tarmac a different formulation - you can see the two engines on reheat... like having two blow torches applied.
As someone from Blackpool, this is the motorway I've been waiting for.
Yes, I'm wierd
Great video John, very interesting,and again a mention too railway, very nice thanks 👍😀👌
ah welcome to Blackpool! wondered when you would make your way here.... quite a lot of history with road and train lines up here and a lot can still be seen once into central
Great stuff as always. At 00:40 are you standing on a cycle path with a give way sign just before a step of flights? Evolution at its finest. And a radio station with no Ringway? The world is turned upside down.
Beautifully ridiculous, isn't it?
@@qwertyTRiG But, to be fair, they have supplied one of those trough thingies to wheel bikes in, to save having to carry them up and down the stairs. It's just a pity it's on the left going down and on the right going back up, so you have to pick up your bike or walk around it at the bottom
@@kgbgb3663 It should be a "Stop" sign. "Give Way" means to proceed if there is no oncoming traffic. But if you want to ride down steps, knock yourself out.
@@philsharp758 A "stop and dismount" sign would make sense, if there is such a thing available in the UK. But if someone (not me) is athletic enough to be able to dismount and start wheeling their bike without stopping, it's fine by me, so long as they give way to people already on the steps. It looks like the authorities, despite their other failings, agree with me.
Ref the Jaguar jet story… there was no RAF Warton at that time, it was just Warton Aerodrome and operated by BAC, formerly English Electric, and later British Aerospace. I worked for the Warton Division after graduating, they were building the Tornado and EAP demonstrator that led to the Typhoon / EFA.
I didn't realise that it was RAF, always thought it was BAE.
Accidentally found this channel in a UA-cam rabbit hole. It's utter madness and I love it🤣 Keep up the nutty work
I've found it interesting to learn more about the motorway that I've detested all my (driving) life.
The scenery along the M55 is beautiful (until you reach Blackpool **rolls eyes**), the convenience of the road is superb and the traffic can be surprisingly less than frustrating. However, it's the 1 motorway that I have had the worst luck on due to either a vehicle break down, accident (or near miss) due to other road users or random police stops over trivial issues (less so since ANPR became a thing). I'm not even exaggerating the fact that these sort of situations have happened to me on only this motorway. So instead I only use the A583 to travel to Blackpool.
Regardless of my waffling, keep up the excellent work and I'm looking forward to the next episode.
A shorter video for sure but CRAMMED full of goodness, thank you.
Hello. Thanks for having me. I'm good. Yeah. my week was pretty good. Thanks!
I don't live in England, I rarely drive there or even visit but still I'm addicted to these. 🤷🏼
I'm an Anglophile in America enjoying these videos
In Sweden this kind of events happend often during the 70-s and 80-s. Viggen, Draken and Lansen often took off and landing from road-bases.
Cracking work John. Lewis is going to be upset not having a slot in this one as you discuss radio towers in what is essentially his back yard.
And at one one I thought Geoff Marshall was going to pop as you almost slid into a full on railway related thread.
Keep at it and all the best.
Absolutely amazing. Great content as per usual Jon.
Wonderful, as usual.
Thanks for another exciting episode!
4:27 Good to see someone keeping to the left when not overtaking.
When I worked for ICL (britains major computer company...yeah that long ago) I paid a visit to one of BAE's then sites in north Manchester (Chadderton). There were some buildings that clearly had been large hangers of WW2 vintage. So i asked around and was told that was where they had built the Lancaster bombers. But there wasnt any runways around the site. Ah, they said. Theres a piece of straight-ish dual carriage down one side of the site. They took off from there (...never to come back. Doesnt seem anyone landed there)
Now what was the Chadderton aircraft factory is the home of the Manchester Evening News, you pass it on what is now the M60 (Manchester Circular Motorway) The Lancaster's probably took off after building, to go over to either Woodford or Ringway (now Manchester Airport) for test flights, etc. before being issued to a Squadron or Maintainance Depot.
@@markbooth1117 I think its what is now called GreenGate / Lightbowne Road. The NOV building seems to be where BAE systems was and when I try to look it up, it seems that was the place. That said, its changed a lot since I was there even looking down from Google's satellite view.
If you look up exercise Highway 84 you can find videos of an German Autobahn used as a emergency landing strip. They tried it with C130 and C160 Cargo aircraft, F16 and Tornado jets, and even some A10 Warthogs. There were quite a few of these „Autobahn airfields“ in western Germany.
Used to be my local motorway when I worked at Warton. Looking forward to junction 2 and the PWDR opening 🎉
Great video to have playing in the background while I work on the car! My bfs been super impressed with the amount of facts I've given on motorways since I've started watching!
Great video: I was there along with my fellow students from our Aero Engineering degree course at University of Salford. Brilliant feat to watch. Never took any photos (camera broke the week before😲) so great to see it all again on video.👍🏻
Very interesting stuff! Typing this from the M62, right next to something you're definitely gonna talk about when you cover it... something to do with a certain house...
farm house?
Tremendous John.👍👍👍
My old stomping ground. Great to see the M55 on the channel, thanks Jon. Great work...! Regards the Jaguar, it did indeed come from Warton but by that time the RAF were long gone and it was (and still is) the home of BAE Systems who design and build aircraft there (currently Eurofighter Typhoon).
eh ?? the Yanks left it in the early 50s
Rumours had it that the A47 long straight stretch just outside Norwich was kept with the concrete structure (top layer) for Jaguars to land on if RAF Coltishall was hit.
Towards the end of the Jaguar life, they proved that the earth was round as they wouldn't be able to take off, with all the added equipment fitted to them. It was fun watching them take off at Incirlik in Turkey, and Cold Lake in Canada, on exercises and missions fully loaded.
Aah, the Jaguar. Constant thrust, variable noise...
There is at least one UK road built on the foundation of a runway . What is now known as Inchyra Road in Grangemouth was once the shorter runway of Central Scotland Airport , opened in 1939 , but later became RAF Grangemouth . This closed in the 1950s . many of the taxi ways in the airport became roads in the housing estate that was built on the site . While the control tower burned down in a fire , two large hangars remain as industrial premises , and there is a memorial garden , with walls bearing the names of those who lost their lives during the war , behind a Mk 1 Spitfire , at the former entrance to the airport . Photos of the airport when active are ( or were when last I visited ) displayed in the INEOS visitor centre just across the road .
Hey MNiJ, thanks for another great segment; enjoyed this as per usual. Looking fwd to some 'Wicked, Sweet, Awesome' merch; maybe T-shirts with 'I wave goodbye to drones' or similar? Have a great week.
I came home via this section from Garstang on Saturday night as you can tell from my channel name I'm very much into history but you learn something new everyday let's say that with the channels Motto Remember history is made everyday
Great video John
Another great video Mate, driven the M55 a few times heading to Blackpool and Lytham so great to get some history on it, especially the plane landing on the motorway.
great video as per usual mate :)
Loving the well timed train at the end there ;)
When you did the M61 last week, I was almost certain you would be doing the M55 this week. Thanks for another exciting episode
The M62 between junctions 7 and 9 at Warrington is built on the main runway of the old RAF/USAF Burtonwood airbase.
similarly the M5(S) between J12 and J13 follows the line of the runway of RAF Moreton Valence, latterly used by the Gloster aircraft company for the commissioning of Gloster Javelins
And down South, part of the M5 runs along the site of the main runway of RAF Moreton Valence. Some of the buildings survived until relatively recently as a business park, but have now been demolished to make way for a Dobbies garden centre and Javelin Park EFW (typical they chose such a scenic name for a giant incinerator!) However, aerial photos show crop marks along the alignment of one of the cross runways, while at the South end of the former airfield are ghost slip roads for a missing MSA.
Part of the M4 Services at Membury are built on parts of an old WW2 airfield.
I remember being driven past the Former RAF Burtonwood in the early 1980s When the Air traffic control tower and remainder of the Taxiway was still there.
The whole area is now a massive industrial area Amazon Asda & UPS Warehouses.
As always Jon, another very entertaining video and one I love due to the old railway references, you promised as we move further north of the Watford gap that we would see them and you are right!! :-D mucosa appreciation for the addition of these - it really shows a point that motorways took the place of old railway infrastructure.
I just love this series. Keep it up!!!
Cheers Jon, Motorways, Radio (miss Ringway Manchester, expected him to pop in there), Aircraft - look forward to what, boats, hovercrafts?
2:15 "so.. now!". Nailed it
That take off estimate was a bit optomistic .I reckon those cluster bombs were just empty cases and the plane was almost empty of fuel . Jaguars usually used the curvature of the earth to take off
Couldn't imagine being aloud to stand as close to a Military Plane taking off these days on a Motorway, imagine that, the Health & Safety....crikey.
Love ur Vids.
Things I expected: more detail than I needed to know about a motorway I've never driven on.
Things I didn't expect: STINGRAY, STINGRAAAAAAAAY
Well done Jon!
M dad redesigned the tail cone on the Jag as it had a tendency to stick when releasing the parachute. Anywayz... if you ever do the M65 you could talk about swampy et al and at Ewood, in Blackburn the road goes through water (under the canal and over the river). wot more do you want.
Thanks again Jon. Getting busy with the thanks scroll! Loving the increased love
I spent an hour learning how to make credits "roll" :D
On a slightly tenuous link regading Motorway's and Military Aircraft. Alongside the M3 between Jct 9 and Jct 10 is a bridge called 'Spitfire Bridge' & a piece of road called 'Spitfire Loop' . Back in the 1940's when it was the A31 a pilot flew a Curtiss Tomahawk under the one of the bridges clipping the bridge whilst trying to miss an oncoming HGV. The pilot crashed whilst landing but was unhurt. The story got out about what had happend but people assumed it was a Spitfire, hense the name, but wasn't until the 1980's that it was accepted that it wasn't a spitfire flown. (Thanks to Sabre Road's for clarification of info)
Someone should do a video about it (M3 episode)
@@AutoShenanigans 🤦♂️🤦♂️I’d forgotten you had already done a video on the M3! I had already watched it honest!!
Sweet video. As usual!! 😊. The ones I have travelled on are always more interesting.
This was the episode I was waiting to see as I regularly use the M55 for work. Never knew it was used to test plane landings.
Thanks for another cracking vlog very interesting 🧐
Bloody jolly good show, Jon … I have used the M55 but as a kid as a passenger in my dad’s car … probably time I tried it again when I return to the UK for the first time in 11 years!
Think I’ll need to hire an HGV to make the experience memorable!
Fine work.
good one john
Probably the only you tube notification I watch without fast forwarding. Brilliant
Reminds me of the M40 story. Just before it opened was used by the Andersons for the filming of 'Thunderbird6'. They flew a Tiger Moth under a bridge, the pilot got in to trouble as she was supposed to land it and drive under but a crosswind prevented it from happening.
another great video , well done
Part of the M8 at Renfrew was built over the old Renfrew Airstrip that served the city of Glasgow.
Shortly before the M55 opened there was a sponsored walk along it. I went on it (as an 11 year old) with my family and many hundreds or thousands of others.
It's funny, long after it opened my mates did an unsponsored walk down it at night and ended up making a contribution to Lancashire Constabulary's Christmas party funds. Eejits.
Excellent. Wyre is pronounced as wire not weer. Harry Yeadon was the responsible County Surveyor at the time of the M55 being built.
Great concrete sculpture, a total angle that life desired then with crush velvet and purple metallic paint and your ORANGE jacket looks cool on the Jon’s outro
Awesome video
The A5 duallng extension from the M54 to the Shrewsbury bypass was also designed to be able to land a Tornado on (and they did test it out before opening) with just enough gap between the bridges to set one down and use as a dispersal runway in the event of a hot war - the problem is anything big enough to hit the nearest base would probably have rendered the A5 uninhabitable too for as long as would have mattered - there are several other stretches of trunk routes that are also desingated dispersal fields - they can be told apart from the rest of the network because they are less likely to be filled with potholes....
Wicked, sweet, and awesome!
Not just stories. Planning to use roads as runways was part of NATO's cold war doctrine, and many planes, including the Jaguar were designed with this in mind. suitable runways would be priority targets, so alternatives had to be thought about. This was more envisioned as happening on German Autobhans, and they (and the Swiss) put way more planning into the infrastructure for it, but RAF pilots were fully aware they may have to use sections of motorway in war, and that could also apply here in the UK. I'd be surprised if they hadn't scouted out suitable stretches of road close to every airbase in the UK.
Thanks for the video I am going to Blackpool next week. So will drive down the M55 and now know what to lookout for.
Wicked, sweet, awesome 👍
awesome video
loved how they used the M55 for a runway test site during the cold war interesting bit of motorway.
It's the most interesting part of the M55 :D there's not much going on!
During the Cold War there were a number of military production facilities located around the Preston area.
A question that is probably not asked so much today but remained very much in the minds of planners back then was: "If there is another war, to what military purpose can this civil engineering project be put?" In the 60s and 70s there were still plenty of people around who had first-hand experience of WW2.
I remember when the Worsley interchange was constructed on the M61. Everyone who saw it said the same thing, "Box tunnels! What a great way to protect stuff from surveillance overflights and indirect blast damage." The world was a different place in those days.
You may like to find on a map the following locations: Salwick, Samlesbury, Warton, ROF Chorley, and HMS Nightjar. 50 years ago those locations had things that were of critical importance to the defence of the UK (not so much since the end of the 20th century).
Top job.
Good stuff as usual, mate. Did you know Blackpool Central was once officially the worlds busiest station...?
I will not have you cover radio sites without me 😂
It's a bit boring though innit mate... ;-)
@@AutoShenanigans I’m appalled
@@RingwayManchester Love you really x
Notable examples of flares adorning the legs of those watching the Jaguar take off.
The bridge over the A6 at Junction 1 was not built in 1958.
The previously referenced bridge was built coincident with construction of the M55 Motorway.
And it’s 16’ high so HGV’s can use the roundabout. The road through the centre is for Abnormal Loads as the A6 is a High Load Route.
I didn’t realise how much I needed the “have you had a good week?” until today. Thanks for asking, no it’s been quite crappy really. But this video has cheered me up! It’s a roller-coaster. Speaking of which… I was expecting your closing piece to be at the Pleasure Beach. But it was better, that train passing right at that exact moment. That there is James Burke level timing!
I was going to do a "beach outro" but that would have involved driving right into Blackpool during the school run... it's not for me. So we get a moody railway instead :D Thanks for watching.
Excellent video subscription added.
Welcome along!