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Report - - RAF Massingham Fuel Depot 07/06/2022 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - RAF Massingham Fuel Depot 07/06/2022

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KyroRetnik

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
From what I've found, this is an extremely lesser known site, although playing a vital part in the operation of local airfields RAF Massingham, RAF Raynham, and RAF Sculthorpe. Before I carry on, please look up https://www.jimbooks.co.uk/free-downloads.php and look for a link named "Harpley Dams". This is my main source, as I've not found much more information on the site. I'm writing this as of 3.00AM so please forgive any typos. Anyway, let's get into the details.

Harpley Dams is the name of the area in which the site is based. I can't find an official name so I will refer to it as either RAF Massingham Fuel Depot or Harpley Dams. The Lynn and Fakenham railway had a stop at a nearby quarry, known as Wilson's siding (named after the quarry's owner). This siding proved useful for the construction of local airfields, and the fuel depot itself, as it would pass through the proposed site and deliver fuel to the local airbases. This is also how fuel was delivered to and from the site until 1958. I can't find an exact date for the construction but from what I've managed to find on Mr Baldwin's website, the construction of the depot took place in 1939, when the rail siding was closed. The RAF then purchased the siding and built the depot around it.

In 1951, RAF Sculthorpe was the temporary home to seven Convair B36 bomber aircraft, each having ten engines and taking 24 hours to refuel. This necessitated many trips back and forth from the depot, and in 1958 a pipeline was installed from the site to RAF Sculthorpe, overseen by RAF Raynham, as Sculthorpe was still very much an RAF base, just housing the USAF. By the time the fuel pipeline was completed, the B36 bombers had long since left the base, but remaining aircraft made good use of the pipeline. RAF Sculthorpe was the only local airbase to have a pipeline laid. Of course, to pump this much fuel such a distance required some heft, so a Rolls-Royce engine was used. The sculthorpe end of the pipeline is still very much visible today, although on an active STANTA training ground, making entry impossible and extremely dangerous.

Come 1994, both RAF Raynham and RAF Sculthorpe had been decommissioned, leaving the fate of the depot uncertain. The site was closed and remains redundant today. No developments can be made to an extremely high concentration of asbestos in every structure on site. Not much is left anymore, and all structures have been sealed tight. The Rolls-Royce engine used to pump the fuel has since been removed, and the site is very bare. From various notebooks found in the reception, the site may have had occasional visits from someone up until 2012 at the very latest. Enough rambling. Here are the pictures from my visit.


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KyroRetnik

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Not seen that before and explored Raynham and the area lots. Could you get into anything.

Not really, no. Almost all structures on site are sealed with cinderblocks and concrete. I've heard a rumour that there's still active security that pop round every now and again. so I'm in no hurry to return. The only structures I managed to enter was the reception building just by the gates and I found two hatches that had ladders leading down to pipes that I presume fed the underground fuel tanks.
 

tigger

mog
Regular User
Massingham Aviation Fuel Distribution Depot. Part of the old GPSS. There were 4 D1 tanks and 2 C2's
Orginaly ded by rail offload then later by pipeline via Swaffham Pumping Station.
 

KyroRetnik

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Massingham Aviation Fuel Distribution Depot. Part of the old GPSS. There were 4 D1 tanks and 2 C2's
Orginaly ded by rail offload then later by pipeline via Swaffham Pumping Station.
Evening mate, I don't suppose you could drop me a message and give me some more info could you? Can't find too much about it online
 

Wastelandr

Goes where the Buddleia grows
Regular User
Cool. Anyone would think the grass and concrete was made of asbestos. Always makes you wonder about the far worse places we've all seen without signage haha
 

Wastelandr

Goes where the Buddleia grows
Regular User
aaaa
You think this place is bad, Sculthorpe is way worse for it...
I've been there. The buildings are made out of it but its all fairly intact, the cement stuff never seems too bad. It's only when i see candi floss hanging from the walls the alarm bells start ringing.
 

A man called Martyn

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
To quote from "Fuelling the Wars" by Tim Whittle. A short summary of the site.

" Originally built as an AFDD depot during WW2 by Shell-Mex and BP. Connected by pipeline to the Thetford PSD and RAF Sculthorpe in the 1950s. Four 500 ton and Two 2250 ton semi-buried tanks. The depot at one time had facilities for Rail and Road loading. Site closed down in the early 1990s after the end of the Cold War "

The depot was known as Massingham PSD (Petroleum Storage Depot) or during WW2 as Massingham AFDD. For its two official names.
 

KyroRetnik

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Went there today evening was open although the two large stores and the switch rooms are flooded
There was minimal water during my visit. Everything was sealed. so spent 90 minutes wandering around the perimeter to find an entrance. Ended up going over the fence. Not sure why it would be open.
 

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