Royal Air Force Greatworth
962 SU. Brackley 3205
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Some more Greatworth history
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Hello Martin,
As you suggested. I have had a trawl (crawl) through the Early Years to see if anything familiar turns up. At first I thought the Nissen Huts rang a bell, but all Nissen Huts look alike really. What decided me against was that the aerial masts in the background were too close - our billets backed onto open fields to the N and the masts were between us and the Tx site to the E or SE - and the Mess was larger than I remember..
The OS 1946 map showed up very little and I wonder whether the camp was excluded because it was a military site and thus a secret not for the general public.
What was interesting was to see the railway. I'm sure I remember a single track in a deep cutting near the village. I suspect it was unused even then, and I never did discover what railway it was or where it went.
I'm sorry I cannot be of more help to you, but I'll keep on trying.
Regards,
Roy
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There's no hurry Roy, slow and sure, eh? That road you mention, isn't marked on the OS of 1946, possibly omitted because of the war. Yes , central heating AND TV! Sheer decadence wot! Still the same iron bedsteads and bedpacks tho'. I was there through the heavy snow of '63, weren't we glad that the iron nissen huts were long gone, I think there'd have been fatalities under those circumstances. drifts up to 7 or 8 feet in the fields, you couldn't see the hedgerows or roads! after the first week we desended onto food rationing, no deliveries! Good ole days? yeah right!
Martin,
You have set a not very computer literate old man a bit of a challenge when you ask for a sketch map.
Still, I will apply myself and see what happens. Don't hold your breath, though.
I think I have been less than clear in my description of the site. Certainly the domestic site was isolated and somewhat lacking in facilities ('crude' is a word that comes to mind), but the main site was also accessed from the public road as it was in your day. Heavy goods will have come in that way and not have to be dragged across the fields. The entrance there was more conventional with a Police Corporal in attendance (by day, at least).
Your reference to Redifon rang a bell, though. Around my time there was great excitement that this (or perhaps an earlier one) had or was about to be, delivered and there was a fat file in the Office about it (not that I understood a word).
Central heating! What decadence! Even HQ 90 Group at Medmenham where I spent most of 1952 had coke stoves, although otherwise it was a great deal more civilised. But that is another story.
You have set a not very computer literate old man a bit of a challenge when you ask for a sketch map.
Still, I will apply myself and see what happens. Don't hold your breath, though.
I think I have been less than clear in my description of the site. Certainly the domestic site was isolated and somewhat lacking in facilities ('crude' is a word that comes to mind), but the main site was also accessed from the public road as it was in your day. Heavy goods will have come in that way and not have to be dragged across the fields. The entrance there was more conventional with a Police Corporal in attendance (by day, at least).
Your reference to Redifon rang a bell, though. Around my time there was great excitement that this (or perhaps an earlier one) had or was about to be, delivered and there was a fat file in the Office about it (not that I understood a word).
Central heating! What decadence! Even HQ 90 Group at Medmenham where I spent most of 1952 had coke stoves, although otherwise it was a great deal more civilised. But that is another story.
Yes a strange setup, specialy when you consider the weight of some of the gear that was transported to and from the tx hall. one SWB 8 set alone would gross three ton and they were also using a Massive Redifon 200 kw at one time, not to mention SWB10's and 11's all shifted in over a muddy track, that must have been a lot of hard graft. Any how could you, do you think, do a sketch of your accomodation setup including the adjacent roadway? A sketch too of the camps layout footpaths roads etc? Not to scale or a blue print, just a sketch to give us the general idea of what RAF Greatworth was like in the early postwar years. We younger generation of airmen, don't realy understand the spartan life of your generation's service, the nearest we came was square bashing at Bridgenorth or Wilmslow and the wooden barrack blocks we endured for only eight weeks. For most of us that was our only contact with a coke stove! every where else had central heating. (RAF Yatesbury didn't tho'). Your era isn't too well recorded, but it should be, we hear all about the wartime, not a lot of pre or post war times, it lacked the so called glamour of WW2. What do you think Roy? (Or anyone else who's following this!).
Martin,
So far as I can remember there was not a 'gate' as such, just a gap in the hedge with no control over entry. Vehicles used the public road to get to us and to return to the Tx site. The rest of us walked across the fields to get there as there was no metalled road connecting the two. The footpath began to the right of the ablution block but I cannot recall whether or not there was a gate there or at the Tx end but I suspect not.
I cannot begin to imagine what possessed anyone to build in the middle of a field, but that's the RAF for you!
Roy
So far as I can remember there was not a 'gate' as such, just a gap in the hedge with no control over entry. Vehicles used the public road to get to us and to return to the Tx site. The rest of us walked across the fields to get there as there was no metalled road connecting the two. The footpath began to the right of the ablution block but I cannot recall whether or not there was a gate there or at the Tx end but I suspect not.
I cannot begin to imagine what possessed anyone to build in the middle of a field, but that's the RAF for you!
Roy
That's pretty good and the access would have continued past the compound to the hall. Is that present gate where the original was?
Martin says...
Since I have never before attempted such an exercise on the computer I hope this reaches you. I have turned your box about 45 degrees anti-clockwise which seems just about right. Best of luck.
Roy
Using the OS map from the gallery, I've marked where the original main gate was on the scrollable google map in the side bar. If you double click over the tx hall, it'll bring the map up full screen, click the back button top left to get back to the site, okay? So, to basics, how was the site lined up as you remember Roy?
Tennis court was put there around the time of the existing acommodation site, placed over the CO's accomodation (2nd?). Yes Roy, there's a lot of unknown alterations, no one here was in at the building of the first stage, when acommodation was shifted from Helmdon onto the site and no-one here was here at the time it migrated across to the other corner of the camp. Derrek Savage remembers the new tx hall built over the top of the old, then the new accomodation built where it still stands. I'd guess the original tx hall, as on that OS map '46, got to be too small, so they built another a small distance away south that was bigger, demolishing the original when everything was up and running. But I wonder when that was? Every question we find answers to, is answered with more questions! But it makes little greatworth more interesting as it's story unfolds.
Martin
Looks like it. I can't remember anything about the layout of the Tx site, but we certainly didn't have luxury of a tennis court! The plot thickens
Looks like it. I can't remember anything about the layout of the Tx site, but we certainly didn't have luxury of a tennis court! The plot thickens
You're saying that there were TWO domestic nissen hut sites then? With the new buildings in '55 that is three developements after the war! The OS '46 map would be before on site billeting Roy, we don't have any pictures of the external view of the iron tx hall and I think there may be two of them too, the second one being a little distance south and a bit bigger, judging by this OS '46 map. Obviously little Greatworth had a lot going on in those days.
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We used to tune to Frequencies, Now 888 tune for Speed!
situated in the acommodation buildings
(Shades of the old Speedrace Transmitter?)
Triple Eight ocupy the acomodation site.
Tim Samways occupy the east of the `T' in the TX Hall
And John Austin's Furniture, at the North end.
Angus Watt's Campers.
VW Campers's in the Centre Hall.
Always more photos always needed for our galleries, please.
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