Kenley

**PNK** · 11-05-2008, 16:38

A rather poor quality shot of the hangar and tower at Kenley in 1972.

There is a lesson here in photo storage. This is a scan of a print of the rough matt variety that was once fashionable. The grease from my fingerprints has attacked the photo leaving a permanent stain. Most of my 1970's prints hve faded to give an orange colour cast which will no doubt end up looking sepia!
Back in my youth I didn't see the sense of keeping negatives and print nor did I think about future value. I never dreamt back then that it would be possible to print from a negative without chemicals!

Peter

**norwichpaul** · 11-05-2008, 17:09

Dont beat your self up over this, we have all I am sure had a similar experience (at least us oldies have). I have for example, only negs from about 1979, all my previous negatives were seriously damaged by condensation as I lived in a caravan back then. Some of these I have kept but they are in poor condition. I have scanned many of them and using Paint.Net (a free programme) I was able to clean them up. i recommend this programme just Google Paint.Net and down load it for free.

**Scapa** · 05-09-2008, 20:24

Even so, this is a pretty interesting and rare photo, Peter - any idea when the buildings were destroyed? Arson/fire or demolition?

**PNK** · 05-09-2008, 21:23

I think the hangar burnt down in the 1980's. I am not sure about the tower. If anyone has a copy of "Battle of Britain Then and Now" it has a good photo of the hangar remains looking very WW2. If I can get hold of my copy I will post the details.

Peter

**lee999** · 05-09-2008, 23:13

I have the the up to date version of 'Battle of Britain -then and now'...I had a check re the hanger. There are no full hanger pics. The only one shows a comparison shot of a burnt out hanger in 1940 and a pic of the last remaining hanger after it was burnt down on October 23rd 1978! It further says that in Sept 1979 after the remains were demolished and cleared.. a wood and canvas temporary hanger was built for the air cadets.

For ya info

**Scapa** · 10-09-2008, 21:06

Thanks very much for this info, guys, I thought it was destroyed by fire. As I have just stated on another thread, Kenley had possibly one of the UK's last surviving Bessoneau hangars in the late 1980s/early 1990s (I forget when I saw it or if I took a photo), so this must be the same structure! I happen to know that RAF Stafford donated their very last Bessoneau 'spares' to Brooklands Museum in the late 1980s - enough parts for a single front end bay to be recreated complete with canvas curtains. These are still stored by the museum some 20 years later and are now very rare or possibly unique.

**norwichpaul** · 10-09-2008, 21:23

UNIQUE!

**REF** · 10-11-2008, 23:04

The airfield is MOD owned still and there has been, or just about to be a fence put up aound the flying field to stop dog walkers walking across the airfield while gliding is taking place! There is a civvie gliding club that is active on weekdays and the Air Cadets are active at weekends

**lee999** · 11-11-2008, 21:52

Awesome pics.......As PNK states...unchanged runways etc since the war. One of the fighter pens has been restored and is a memorial! Shame most of the site is now new housing!