[mustangdriver]

I was wondering if any of you guys that live over where some of the WWII bases where would be interested in picking up a piece of history for me. Any of the bases that are not restored or anything sometimes have small pieces of stone, rock or something else cool. Is there anyone out there that would send me a piece from a base, or some of these bases? I am trying to work on a project with these items. The more bases the better, but I don't want anything that is stollen from a restored field. I am just talking about a brick or small stone from some of the bases. You guys aver do anything like that?

[tank nut]

Cool idea!! I wish that i lived next to a world war two site as I would send you some stuff for sure! I am lucky enough to have a small peace of the berlin wall at home and wish that I could get to a world war two battlefield to pick up some cool stuff too!!!!

[jim]

Originally Posted by mustangdriver

I was wondering if any of you guys that live over where some of the WWII bases where would be interested in picking up a piece of history for me. Any of the bases that are not restored or anything sometimes have small pieces of stone, rock or something else cool. Is there anyone out there that would send me a piece from a base, or some of these bases? I am trying to work on a project with these items. The more bases the better, but I don't want anything that is stollen from a restored field. I am just talking about a brick or small stone from some of the bases. You guys aver do anything like that?

I will try to remember next time I go to a museum or show etc at one of these places and see what i can find MD.

The weather forecast is real bad for the weekend over here and its Elvington (ex WW11 Halifax base) show on Saturday.
If the weather holds up I will go .

[MoMo]

Dear Mustangdriver,

our weekend home on Loch Ryan ( Stranraer ) overlooks a long loch which still has many wartime concrete aprons which run into the Loch. It was there that about 1000 flying boats ( Catalinas, Sunderlands, etc. ) were based at various times during the war. They fought the Battle of the Atlantic.

There are a few Nissen huts, some workshops, lots of seawall defences and, of course, all those aprons which stage into the Loch. ( there is a sunken Sunderland too, but I'm not getting you that...I'll save it for myself, ha-ha!! )

We're going down there tomorrow, so I'll see what is loose and laying about.

Check out the history of the base and you'll see that it was the centre of activity for training and servicing those flying fish and providing a huge concrete target for gunnery practice nearby.

During the second world war the loch was busy with wartime activity. Cairnryan became No. 2 Military port, an important secondary large-scale port facility that was available for use should facilities on the Mersey and the Clyde became unavailable due to enemy bombing. Two large piers were built at Cairnryan to enable large tonnage ships to dock and unload cargo. The harbour was used as an import point for troops coming from the USA after 1942. Only one of the two piers still stands today, and it is unusable due to the poor condition of the wooden piles (the pier has been unused since a small section collapsed with tragic consequences in the 1990’s). With U-Boat menace in the Atlantic taking a heavy toll on merchant shipping the area became an important centre for anti-U-Boat operations. Flying boats operated from the loch to protect allied shipping making its way to Liverpool or Glasgow either via the North Channel or the Firth of Clyde. There were two RAF stations on the Loch, RAF Wig Bay operating from Wig Bay near Kirkcolm and RAF Stranraer operating from the town.

Just north of Cairnryan are what looks like a number of concrete 'boats' resting on the shore - these too are a legacy of the second world war. They are in fact 'Beetles' from the Mulberry harbour project. The beetle pontoons were used to hold up the 'Whale' roadway sections, with four of the whales being built at Cairnryan. With easy access to the North Atlantic, Loch Ryan was used as the surrender destination for the U-Boats who were out in the Atlantic in 1945 when hostilities ceased. The U-boats and their crews were held at Cairnryan, before the boats were finally towed out into the Atlantic and sunk. Other wartime activity on the loch included construction of target rafts made out of wood and cork, which were built in Stranraer then floated out the Loch and round the Rhins of Galloway to their positions in Luce Bay for bombing practice (operating out of West Freugh). The loch was also used by Winston Churchill when he departed from Stranraer in a Boeing Flying boat on 25 June 1942 when making his second visit of the war to the USA.

There's lots of other stuff, but I haven't time to sift through it just now.

Cheers,

MoMo

[mustangdriver]

Thank you guys so much! This may turn out to be a great project.

[MoMo]

some more pics of Sranraer at war :


U-Boat crew at the surrender, 1945.

1945. U-Boats at berth before they were scuttled!

Flying boat. Is this a Stranraer?

German aerial photograph of Loch Ryan as a base.

[mikeb1958]

Originally Posted by tank nut

Cool idea!! I wish that i lived next to a world war two site as I would send you some stuff for sure! I am lucky enough to have a small peace of the berlin wall at home and wish that I could get to a world war two battlefield to pick up some cool stuff too!!!!

I have a nice metal detector too and would love to find some old buttons, pins, empty cartridge shells, etc. When I was in the Air Force and stated in San Vito, Italy, I had a metal detector. During WWII, this was a German Stuka base I was told. I was stationed there for 1.5 years from 1980-1982. I did find some various cartridge shells and a Nazi spoon. It was fun finding things.

[SKUNKY]

mustangdriver, I had the foresight to save some chunks of blacktop from when they tore up the road in front of my house a few years ago..I can probably bring myself to part with a few pieces if you want. There's a lot of history associated with it. A man who used to live down the street was a B-17 gunner in the 8th Air Force. He used to drive his 1972 Ford LTD Brougham up and down the road before they finally took his license from him because he kept mowing people's mailboxes down.

He died shortly thereafter.

[TopHat]

Skunky, you miss MD's point. He is following in the footsteps of the guy in one of the MASH episodes (was it Rizzo?) that was going to swallow pieces of a jeep so he could smuggle it back home and re-assemble it.

MD wants his own WWII base.... piece by piece.

[tank nut]

Top hat, skunky did you guys take your silly pills today?