North Witham

[stevie]

Heres an airfield i'm sure many users on this forum are familiar with. The old US Ninth Air Force base at North Witham. Now known as Twyford wood the site is owned by the Forestry Commission and is a nature reserve. A great place to walk round.


The peri track's all still exist amongst the trees as well as the tracks leading to the bomb dump..

There are many mounds of rubble like this below..

The main runway


All the runways remain pretty much intact although there are some sections removed. Heres one of the intersecting runways below

[stevie]

The control Tower stands in great condition.


It's quite unusual to see a tower with a basement area like this...

Perhaps August isn't the best time to view an airfield surrounded by undergrowth but i wasn't going to let a few thistles get in my way
Front view of the tower..

It was great to see the signal square still exists in front of the tower...(Perhaps just a little bit on the overgrown side)


Theres quite a few foundations, bases of buildings and more piles of rubble around the tower area..

[stevie]

On the section of runway in front of the tower can be found this ramp which i think was used for loading bombs up on to trucks when the RAF took over the airfield just after the war.



The only remaining hangar on the airfield is this T2 on the former technical site. Now an industrial estate.


Grrrr!! It's times like this that i wished i had a decent lens on my camera. Anyway that dot in the distance is the water tower.


So North Witham is well worth paying a visit in my opinion. It must be about my tenth visit now!! It's certanly a lot different to many of the other disused airfields around the UK. Must say though that it's a shame that there isn't a memorial anywhere to show the many ramblers, horse riders, bike riders and dog walkers just what historical events happened here.

[David Thompson]

There is an excellent book called 'Danger Area by Martyn Chorlton which deals with the history of 100 MU at South Witham . There is a chapter in the book about North Witham including a 1947 aerial photograph . The MU was a bomb storage depot which is what they used the airfield for post war and the bombs can clearly be seen on the aerial photograph . Published by Old Forge , ISBN 0-9544507-2-8 , £6-95 , softback .

[mawganmad]

Nice pics there Stevie, and an interesting look around thanks.
It is different to see the tower with a basement as you say, is it a basement or a very substantial plinth (like Davidstow)?
Guessing from the pics, is this were Withams ex military vehicles are based?

As for that loading ramp, there is one identical at St Athan, just outside the airfield boundary, never thought it mas airfield related, but might be time to reconsider this!

[NJR]

Tower location.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=52.78....6&r=0&src=msl

NJR

[norwichpaul]

There is a plan of NW in my Military Airfield Architecture Book.

[Jerry]

Did you get the audio warning about theives?



Anyway, the celler:



Some internal photos:

[mawganmad]

Nice pics there Jerry.
I'm fascinated by the Towers' cellar, does anyone know if it is unique or what its use was?
You can clearly see the proper internal finish of unfinished brick and dado height rendering painted green.

[kebecker]

I suspect it was added to elevate the building to allow the controlers a better view. I remember the site in the early 70's even then the forsestry obscured the sight line, I will see if I can find my old 2 1/2 inch map and plot some intervisibility lines.