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Jun 30 9 tweets 3 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Today's Ghost WW2 Airfield #GhostWW2Airfields is RAF Silverstone 👻

Now better known as being the the home of British Motor Racing and the F1 Grand Prix 🏁🏎️

Then vs➡️now☑️ shown below...

Now let's take a closer look at Silverstone Airfield / Circuit in wartime...

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RAF Silverstone opened in 1943 as a base for training RAF flying Vickers Wellington bombers.

I don't have a photo of a Wellington at Silverstone, but here's an example...

Aircraft like this once sat on Silverstone Circuit, before thundering down a runway to take off.

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Speaking of which, here's a photo of Silverstone in 1983...

Despite being used for racing in the 1980s, you can still the runways and the sandy coloured aircraft dispersal pans where the bombers would be parked up.

In the 1980s it still looked like a WW2 airfield.

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This wartime history explain the circuit's "Hangar Straight".

Here's a photo of the famous piece of track in 1949, shortly after the first race had been held. It shows the two hangars next to the straight, which was named in their honour.

Photo via Oversteer48.

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These painting by John W. Johnston offer an interesting comparison to how the airfield was in 1945, and then just a few short years later had cars instead of Wellingtons buzzing past the Nissen huts.

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During the war, tragedy struck.

On September 18, 1843, a Wellington left Silverstone on a training exercise.

It crashed on farmland in Devon, killing all 6 crew.

There's a memorial to the men on the roadside near the crash site.

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This is Norman Neville Dunn. He was one of the men who died after taking off from RAF Silverstone.

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If you have enjoyed this tour, please do share and follow...

I tweet ghost airfield threads like this once or twice a week 👻

And if you have any photos of Silverstone from its time as an airfield, or any thing you can add, please do contribute.

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In a previous tweet I wrote:

"On September 18, 1843, a Wellington left Silverstone on a training exercise."

I am sure you all appreciate that should read 1943.
Sorry for the mistake 🙏

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More from @WW2Airfields

May 29
This wartime hut near Dunmow airfield in Essex was put up for sale for £1.45 million after being converted into a luxury 5 bedroom home.

Conversion photos in the thread... 🧵 Image
The hut is said to have once housed RAF and American service men near the former RAF station Great Dunmow in Essex. Image
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May 28
A bunker on the site of RAF Ringstead, a former Royal Air Force radar station at Ringstead Bay, Dorset, has been converted into a holiday home.

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May 5
Ingenious ways the Japanese used decoys & visual illusions.

First, painting a B-29 to appear flying at several 1,000 ft. At altitude, gives illusion of B-29 w/ flames streaming from engine. Japanese hoped aircraft would drop to investigate and become targets for flak.

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Back on the airfield now, a dummy bomber made of wood and bamboo.

It's covered in plants and netting also, as if a real aircraft were being camouflaged - double bluff!

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More "camouflaged" dummy aircraft found on a Japanese airfield in Okinawa in April 16, 1945.

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May 5
German airfield photos from the Second World War, from the LIFE magazine archives.

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May 4
A thread of colourised WW2 airfield photos to start the day.

(Credits on the watermarks, otherwise unknown).

☕️

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May 3
In 1947, Art Lacey purchased a B-17 bomber for $13,750 and flew it from Oklahoma to Troutdale.

He disassembled it, transported it covertly, and placed it atop his 48-pump gas station.

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Lacey also opened the Bomber Restaurant and motel. The gas station was closed in 1991, Lacey died in 2000.

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By the time Lacey died in 2000, the B17 looked forlorn and proved an attractive nesting place for local birds.

The nose section had already been removed in 1996 for a restoration project, which stalled when cash ran short.

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