real time web analytics
Report - - RAF Saltby, Leicestershire, February 2019 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - RAF Saltby, Leicestershire, February 2019

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

HughieD

28DL Regular User
Regular User
1. The History
RAF Saltby is an ex-World War II airfield in Leicestershire, located in-between Melton Mowbray and Grantham. Its eastern end pushes it across the border into Lincolnshire by a few hundred metres. It opened in 1941 as a grass strip and surrounding support buildings until a year later when it was up-graded to Class A airfield standards with three converging concrete runways. It was used by both the RAF and the US Army Air Forces with RAF Vickers Wellingtons first to fly out of it. It was used primarily as a transport airfield and closed after the war and kept in reserve until 1955. The ground support station was constructed largely of Nissen huts and included mess facilities, a chapel, hospital and armoury and bombsite storage amongst other buildings. An ammunition dump was located outside of the perimeter track and surrounded by large dirt mounds and concrete storage pens. At its peak it accommodated up to 2100 staff members and boasted five hangars which were used to store 32 Horse gliders in 1943.

On its release from military use in 1955, much of the airfield was returned to agriculture. Today, a large amount of the airfield is intact, including almost the entire main runway remains, utilised by the Buckminster Gliding Club for gliding, motor gliding and glider aerobatics.

2. The Explore
Seem to be on a bit of a WW2 roll at the moment. This former RAF base is pretty much off the radar and few reports crop up. It might be down to the fact it isn’t a spectacular site and the bits that remain are dispersed over quite a large area. A lot of key buildings have been demolished (such as the old control tower) but there’s still enough to hold your attention for a couple of hours or so. I still have vivid memories of when I was a child cycling out to the base and there being more higher-slung buildings still standing than there currently is. The most striking thing about the site today is perhaps the number of intact and pretty pristine stanton shelters dotted over the area.

3. The Photos
Let’s start with the base’s water purification plant. Completely hidden from the road in a coppice in the middle of a field and barely visible from Google Maps, this bit of the base gets overlooked. Nothing amazing but some quite interesting shapes:

46414662584_acc202c2e8_b.jpg
img0962 by HughieDW, on Flickr

47086100312_021ef947a7_b.jpg
img0959 by HughieDW, on Flickr

32196354357_fd057ac29d_b.jpg
img0958 by HughieDW, on Flickr

47086151512_5279527323_b.jpg
img0957 by HughieDW, on Flickr

32196399357_e3a20a888f_b.jpg
img0955 by HughieDW, on Flickr

40173486853_0b57c8bbd7_b.jpg
img0952 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Nature has reclaimed the crumbling red-brick structures:

32196479717_88c520841f_b.jpg
img0950 by HughieDW, on Flickr

46224340475_234177cebf_b.jpg
img0949 by HughieDW, on Flickr

47138644681_26b5f44fcb_b.jpg
img0947 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Further up the road is a number of demoed buildings but many Stanton shelters remain:

47138334831_b09e42788f_b.jpg
img0965bw by HughieDW, on Flickr

32196273417_b2796023df_b.jpg
img0966 by HughieDW, on Flickr

46224035025_981a961ed4_b.jpg
img0969 by HughieDW, on Flickr

40173275073_ce293e6f03_b.jpg
img0973 by HughieDW, on Flickr

46224003145_f70919a23d_b.jpg
img0974 by HughieDW, on Flickr

This one wasn’t quite so lucky:

47085949822_3f33f57b2a_b.jpg
img0978 by HughieDW, on Flickr

One of a number of remaining RAF pattern blast shelters:

46414497864_c2395fa8db_b.jpg
img0979 by HughieDW, on Flickr

47138174101_2cf9fd73a7_b.jpg
img0981 by HughieDW, on Flickr

46414439024_84c102b68d_b.jpg
img0985 by HughieDW, on Flickr

An old water tower:

8456347313_e1d0cc8a67_b.jpg
img7262_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Not too sure what this is:

8457446720_68888f150a_o.jpg
img7258_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

On the inside:

img0988 by HughieDW, on Flickr

More building bases:

47085803522_6ddf2df50a_b.jpg
img0989 by HughieDW, on Flickr

…and blast shelters:

47138067081_6e09b19137_b.jpg
img0991 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And more Stanton shelters:

8456348429_4c018360a3_b.jpg
img7273_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr


8457447904_54ce1c8f38_b.jpg
img7268_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

8622229905_2380f4d469_b.jpg
img8631_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

8622229741_40305f2e2e_b.jpg
img8625_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

8622229423_e3fd8e9925_b.jpg
img8624_1 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 

Mike422062

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Interesting to see this. I was born in Saltby at St. Michael's Farm and my grandfather had land requisitioned to build the airfield. My dad would have explored all these buildings many times I expect. He also says he rode his bike on the roofs of the hangers that were there. An anecdote was that my grandmother saw her first black man (an American GI) drinking a pint from the Nag's Head pub sat on her garden wall, a rare site in those days.

Note, there was a memorial built by Ukrainian farm workers allocated to my grandfathers farm during/after the war. I think it was dedicated to their dead comrades. How they came to be in Saltby I don't know; maybe they fought with the Germans against the Russians. I vaguely remember my dad saying they didn't want to be sent back but they were. The memorial was close to the airfield and I saw it in a state of complete disrepair maybe 15 years ago so probably disappeared altogether now. It was built of bricks, some concrete and other material they'd have collected locally. I'm sure they probably came to a tragic end when they were returned to the Russians. Now I think about it I may go and see if I can find it again though it will be nothing but a small mound in a hedgerow as it wasn't much more than that years ago.
 

Mike422062

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Interesting to see this. I was born in Saltby at St. Michael's Farm and my grandfather had land requisitioned to build the airfield. My dad would have explored all these buildings many times I expect. He also says he rode his bike on the roofs of the hangers that were there. An anecdote was that my grandmother saw her first black man (an American GI) drinking a pint from the Nag's Head pub sat on her garden wall, a rare site in those days.

Note, there was a memorial built by Ukrainian farm workers allocated to my grandfathers farm during/after the war. I think it was dedicated to their dead comrades. How they came to be in Saltby I don't know; maybe they fought with the Germans against the Russians. I vaguely remember my dad saying they didn't want to be sent back but they were. The memorial was close to the airfield and I saw it in a state of complete disrepair maybe 15 years ago so probably disappeared altogether now. It was built of bricks, some concrete and other material they'd have collected locally. I'm sure they probably came to a tragic end when they were returned to the Russians. Now I think about it I may go and see if I can find it again though it will be nothing but a small mound in a hedgerow as it wasn't much more than that years ago.

For anyone interested in the Ukrainian Memorial in Saltby I visited there again recently and spoke to my father about it as he remembers the Ukrainians being there. I doubt less than a handful of people know anything about it or have any interest in it but I'm adding info here so it is not lost forever.

I checked some facts with my dad. During the war Italian PoW were held at Saltby, these were then replaced by German PoW and at some point Ukrainian PoW were concentrated there. Now some of you will know that the Soviets/Stalin treated the Ukrainians appallingly in the 1930's with mass starvation and imprisonment being imposed on very large numbers (in the millions), so when the Germans invaded they were seen as liberators from the Russians by many for a while. Some Ukrainians joined the German forces and fought for them against the Russians. It would be these men that ended up in the Saltby PoW camp at the airfield, and also these men the Ukrainian memorial was built by and for.

Below is a picture of where the memorial was by the side of the road. Note the PoW camp was alongside the road in the present day wood. Note several of the woods around there didn't exist years ago but were grown to hide all the concrete rubble and debris from the airfield. I recall seeing the memorial when it was already dilapidated now it is gone completely. There is evidence of a lot of fly tipping around there so I expect someone fly tipped on it/around it and the whole lot got cleared away. Very sad as this had a story to tell of men a long way from home. The road in the picture was half the width at the start of the war and not metalled. The RAF doubled the road width to access the airfield and metalled it.

Also is a general layout of where the PoW camp was and a windowless hospital.

The memorial had the emblem shown below on it raised from the surface. All made from stone and concrete etc.
 

Attachments

  • Location.jpg
    Location.jpg
    357.1 KB · Views: 20
  • Emblem.jpg
    Emblem.jpg
    21.7 KB · Views: 24
  • Airfield.jpg
    Airfield.jpg
    126.2 KB · Views: 22

Mike422062

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Realised some of my images were not accurate so attached new ones here.
 

Attachments

  • Saltby PoW Camp.jpg
    Saltby PoW Camp.jpg
    109.2 KB · Views: 54
  • Site of Ukrainian Memorial.jpg
    Site of Ukrainian Memorial.jpg
    100.4 KB · Views: 19

Who has read this thread (Total: 364) View details

Top