Unknown item at Deenethorpe

[P Bellamy]

I noticed this tripod-mounted "something" in the background of one of the wartime photos of Deenethorpe:



Any ideas as to what it was?

All the best,
PB

[SAPPER]

Probably the station morse ident light....

[Carnaby]

Probably the station morse ident light....

Reasonably confident it isn't this.
The only tripod-y thing I can think of is the so called 'Chance Light' used at the runway threshold. Those used later in WWII were nothing like the earlier heavy-duty versions, and consisted of a box containing the lamp, supported on a tripod on wheels.
That said, I don't think the box in the picture is big enough, and there is no evidence of a trolley at the base.
Mystery continues

Graham

[REF]

Looks to like like something used for surveying the area, or even a camera of some description

[Richard Drew]

Could it be a radar reflector??? I have no idea if there ever was one but many airfields had radar workshops and a contraption like this may have been used to calibrate the radar.

[ww2nut]

war of the worlds spring to mind! lol

[TommyUSA]

What's in the foreground of the photo? A greatly deteriorated wing of a crashed aircraft?

Tommy

[P Bellamy]

Here's the full photo:



And the other half of the plane:

B-17G-10-DL 42-37722:
Date Assigned to 401st BG: 21 Jan 1944
Date Lost: 28 Jan 1944
Nature of Loss: Ground Accident
Other Details: Caught fire and burnt out at the base. Scrapped.

After a normal landing on runway 10, the aircraft showed a burst of flame, apparently under the tail, but probably from the No. 3 engine. The crash crew was away quickly and at first seemed to have put it out, but the fire suddenly reappeared and rapidly became too strong to control. All members of the crew evacuated the aircraft unhurt.

All the best,
PB

[P Bellamy]

The Deenethorpe "Mystery-thing-on-a-tripod" has turned up again.

Hiding in the back of a photo as before, this time in Hangar 1 during the 401BG's 100 Mission party:



From the reflection, whatever it is would appear to be a vertical cylinder...

All the best,
PB

[PNK]

Could it be the light that point upwards, forgot the codename for it, that marks the airfield?