Gosport

[Daveg4otu]

Gosport.....

http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/airfields/gos.html

[Daveg4otu]

Today I received the eMail below from a reader of my Hampshire Airfields website.

I have no idea if there is any truth in the story - but - FWIW - here you go....

Location is of course Gosport aerodrome....

dear sir a freind i work with told me his father worked at this airfeild after the war and they had a some brand new merlin engines still in there crates. he tells me they were exsess to requirements and buried under the airfield how true this is i dont know. do you know about this at all.

[Carnaby]

... brand new merlin engines still in there crates. he tells me they were exsess to requirements and buried under the airfield how true this is i dont know. do you know about this at all.[/I]

Oh dear, oh dear... It never ceases to amaze me now it's always intact Spitfires and Lancasters that were buried - never Hurricanes or Halifaxes. It's always Merlins - never Griffons or Centaurus or Napier Sabres. They were probably buried to the sound of Glen Miller performing his last live concert before he disappeared.

Did all these things carry a label stating 'In no circumstance must this item ever be returned...'

Sorry to be cynical, but...

Graham

[PETERTHEEATER]

Yes, nowadays its referred to as the 'Urban Myth' I believe.

When I was with RAF Bomb Disposal in the mid -'60s we were often sent on excursions to try and locate items which had been informed to our masters in the Air Ministry by individuals writing in relating stories of buried munitions. During a job at Dunkeswell we were sidelined for a few days looking for the buried jeeps, trucks, engines and aircraft' supposedly left behind by the USAAF/USN. The locals, at the time, were full of stories of what and where it all was. Apart from enough cutlery to service a restaurant we found nothing remarkable.

The only follow-up that resulted in a find was at Duxford when I located at ton of belted aircraft MG ammo pretty much were an anonymous writer had said it was.

That said, I am sure there are some treasures out there awaiting discovery.

This one will run and run and run......

[Daveg4otu]

Yes, nowadays its referred to as the 'Urban Myth' I believe.

Yes - and there are thousands of them.

I posted it just for amusement - if there is anything buried at Gosport is is now likely to be under a housing estate.

These "buried" rumours have been around for years ....

When I was a teenager the New Forest airfields were still complete, hangars and everything else in place .

Rumours were rife(among young aircraft spotters) of aircraft (usually something exotic) hidden away in hangars at StoneyX/Holmsley/Beaulieu/ etc....but , apart from an unidentied fuselage about the size of a Dove that did appear at Holmsley in one of the hangars there around 1956 , the only things we ever saw were a very large number of Green Goddesses(Fire engines) that were stored for years in various hangars.

There was also a long standing rumour/myth/fable (whatever you will) that a Marauder had at one time overshot the end of one of the runways at Stoney, and had sunk in a bog.

Many hours spent searching the area - we never even found a bog big enough - let alone an aircraft ...did find a few scraps of ally but that was it.
It kept us kids occupied for days every summer.

[Richard Drew]

images[1].jpgWell this is odd, I was talking to the Gosport museum curator on Tuesday and a local is sure a Wyvern is buried somewhere on the airfield. Now that would be an interesting dig.


Richard

[REF]

Nearby at Lee, the is a pub called the Wyvern, a bit off topic I know!

[mawganmad]

images[1].jpgWell this is odd, I was talking to the Gosport museum curator on Tuesday and a local is sure a Wyvern is buried somewhere on the airfield. Now that would be an interesting dig.

There was indeed, but it was burned on the fire training pit before hand, doubt you would find much now.

[Richard Drew]

I have updated my Blog with a small piece on FAR Gosport a visit we took the other day, I am hoping that AIX will now organise a tour ASP.

'C' Hangar & museums.
hangar (c)mus.jpg

WW1 Hangarage.
sclofflying.jpg

Torpedo workshops.
torpedowksps[int].jpg

Internals to an 'A' Hangar.
hangar[A]internals.jpg

Richard

[REF]

Thanks to the guys at the BAS for organising a trip to HMS Sultan / Gosport yesterday. A cracking day out and very well worth going to if you can. An ARG visit is in the pipeline and the date will be announced by CDP soon.

Anyway, one thing that struck me while on the visit was the C Type Hangar, this is the same hangar but diferent views;

1 -


2 -


3 -


4 -


Note the following;

The cladding on the east side of the hangar
The brick finish on the west side
The gable end on the north west corner is different to the other corners