(All images via Google Street View; former fighter revetments at RAF Harrowbeer)

Abandoned wartime airfields are important features of the UK landscape, compelling reminders of the devastating 20th century conflict that forged our modern world. But few can be as well integrated into that landscape as RAF Harrowbeer in Devon. Though the World War Two buildings have largely gone, the perimeter track and remarkably well-preserved fighter revetments have been integrated into the local streetscene, virtually frozen in time.

Nestled between the villages of Yelverton and Axtown, the grassy expanse of the former runways – their asphalt pulled up for hardcore – is now grazed by sheep. Concrete tracks along which armed fighter aircraft once taxied to their takeoff positions are now lanes connecting the pleasant villages. It’s along these, to the east and west of the site, that old fighter revetments stand quiet, though not always empty (see below).

Urban Ghosts took a drive around the disused airfield via Google Earth, and we highly recommend it – the former RAF Harrowbeer offers a fascinating and, in a way, haunting glimpse at scenes so often only available through black and white period photography. It’s not hard to imagine the adrenaline, trepidation and thrill of the scramble as one Rolls-Royce Merlin engine after another roared to life, poised for combat in the skies above southern England.

RAF Harrowbeer, situated on the boundary of Dartmoor National Park between the market town of Tavistock and the crucial port city of Plymouth, opened in 1941 and remained in use until 1950. Part of No. 10 Group of RAF Fighter Command, it was from here that World War Two pilot Tony Cooper flew his Supermarine Spitfire MK.IX, serial number MK805, on numerous daring missions against Luftwaffe fighters and bombers. The original Spitfire MK805 survived the war, and has also been the subject of a unique, hand-built static reproduction crafted by Terry Arlow over the course of 28 years.

Above, a full scale Spitfire replica can be seen parked in a wartime revetment at Harrowbeer during a local event. During the Second World War, dozens of similar machines would have been dispersed across the airfield, separated by blast walls and grass berms to prevent the spread of destruction from falling bombs. In the background, the grandeur of the former Ravenscroft School is plain to see. The building served as the officers’ mess during the war, and is now a care home.

On the northwest side of the airfield, a series of concrete foundations and narrow roads signify wartime buildings long since demolished. The outlines of the abandoned runways remain just about visible, while a other surviving hard standings are reminders of the need to disperse aircraft far and wide in the event of an enemy attack.

In the distance, to the east, the lonely, isolated beauty of Dartmoor reaches for the horizon. This wild upland is no stranger to wartime aircraft wrecks. But pilots flying out of RAF Harrowbeer had a more pressing geological concern in the form of Roborough Rock on the nearby down, a tor-like outcrop not far from the airfield.

As an interesting aside, the airfield would normally have taken the name of the nearby community (or, more accurate, the closest railway station). But since Yelverton was considered too similar a name to RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, it was named Harrowbeer instead. Check out the video above for a drone flight around RAF Harrowbeer. Or explore the former Fighter Command station for yourself via Google Street View here. For a more detailed history of the base and its role during World War Two, this excellent website is your one stop shop.

Related: 5 Abandoned Cold War Airfields of Britain

The post The Former Fighter Revetments of RAF Harrowbeer, Devon appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Sébastien ERNEST – Spirit of Decay; MiG-21 Fishbed)

The title ‘Abandoned MiG in the Wood’ pretty much sums it up. Urban explorer Sébastien ERNEST has documented some amazing scenes on his website Spirit of Decay, and this abandoned MiG-21 Fishbed – a Russian-built fighter jet used widely throughout the Cold War years – is yet another example of the decaying military history that haunts the European landscape.

Its location (perhaps on a former air base or in a defunct museum) isn’t revealed, which in many ways makes the old jet’s presence more compelling. Who knows what you might find while out for a walk in the woods! Like much decommissioned and discarded military hardware, however, this MiG-21 doesn’t appear to be derelict. Grimy for sure, and in need of some TLC, but it looks as though its bare metal finish would mainly benefit from a good clean.

Of course, it’s impossible to tell from the picture the extent to which corrosion has taken hold of the undercarriage and other internal components. Nor can we assess how structurally-sound the retired fighter is. Photographed earlier this year, it’s clearly been there for some time, and it seems reasonable to assume that it’s going nowhere fast. Like the old warbirds before it, perhaps in time aircraft like this will be gathered up and preserved also.

Related: 21 Abandoned Airplane Graveyards (Where Aviation History Goes to Die)

The post The Abandoned MiG-21 in the Wood appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com); wreckage of Lancaster NF920 ‘Easy Elsie’)

The broken wreckage of her wings and fuselage lie where she crash-landed in marshland 72 years ago. On October 29, 1944, a force of 37 Avro Lancaster bombers from Nos. 9 and 617 squadrons took off from RAF Lossiemouth on Scotland’s rugged Moray Firth. Among them was NF920, a Lancaster B.III wearing the code KC-E, known to her crew as Easy Elsie. Her target was the mighty Bismarck-class battleship Tirpitz, the pride of the Imperial German Navy.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

The great battleships of World War Two carried with them the morale of a nation, and losing them would prove catastrophic not just militarily but on the home front too. Her sister ship Bismarck had been scuttled in May 1941 following battle damage in the North Atlantic. The task of sinking Tirpitz went to the crews of RAF Bomber Command, in a series of missions that would force the famous Avro Lancaster to operate at the very limits of its capabilities.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com; one of Easy Elsie’s tail fins and rudders)

Armed with eight 15 inch guns, the 800 ft-long Bismarck-class battleships, together with U-boats and other Germany naval vessels, had terrorised Atlantic merchant convoys during the early years of the war. Crippling them became a top priority for Allied forces and with Bismarck out the way, attention was turned to her sister ship Tirpitz.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

The RAF’s first bombing raid (Operation Paravane – September 15, 1944) failed to sink Germany’s prized battleship. But unbeknownst to Allied mission planners, the damage was extensive enough to convince the Imperial German Navy to write-off Tirpitz as a seaworthy vessel. Instead they chose to patch up her damaged hull and press her back into service as a static, floating gun battery in the event of an Allied invasion of occupied Norway.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com; part of an RAF roundel)

After the raid, Tirpitz had been towed to the Norwegian fjord city of Tromsø and moored off Håkøya Island. With its location fixed, Bomber Command set about planning its follow-up raid, Operation Obviate, in a bid to banish the ship to the bottom of the fjord once and for all. But Tromsø was just out of range for the RAF Lancasters in their standard configurations, and major modifications were needed to get them there.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com; the remains of a name)

Fitting extra fuel tanks in the Lancasters’ bomb bays wasn’t an option since the space was needed for the 12,000 lb Tallboy bomb required to sink Tirpitz. Instead, fuel tanks from smaller Wellington bombers were fitted inside the Lancs’ fuselages, giving aircraft a capacity of 2,406 gallons but making their cramped cabins all the more claustrophobic.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

Another problem was that the Lancasters were now two tons overweight. To counter this, ground crews set about removing various defensive equipment, including the mid-upper gun turret and articles of heavy armour plating. While they worked in earnest, Wing Commander James “Willie” Tait, officer commanding 617 Squadron (which had formed in 1943 for the famous ‘Dambusters’ raid Operation Chastise), began requisitioning more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engines from other 5 Group Lancasters to be fitted to the specially-modified aircraft earmarked for the operation.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

As cloud cover began to clear over the target, 37 Avro Lancasters left their bases in Lincolnshire bound for RAF Lossiemouth. One of the aircraft, drawn from No. 463 Squadron RAAF, carried a film unit. Once the Lancs arrived at their forward operating base in northern Scotland, which put them barely within range of Tromsø, final preparations were made for the top secret mission codenamed Operation Obviate.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

Just after 1am on the morning of October 29, 1944, 148 Merlin engines roared to life, shattering the peaceful calm of the Moray Firth as the bomber force got airborne, each one carrying just enough fuel to complete the 2250 mile round-trip. Among them was the Mk.111 Lancaster, serial number NF920, nicknamed Easy Elsie.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

A de Havilland Mosquito recannaissance aircraft had already swept the target and confirmed the weather was good. Operation Obviate was on as the Lancasters flew low inland, using the Scandinavian mountains as a shield against the radar stations around Tromsø. But as the RAF bombers raced against the elements to their target, the wind changed and cloud cover obscured Tirpitz just seconds before they ran in. The Lancasters were forced to bomb blind.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

The battleship was heavily defended by land and ship-based gun batteries and Lancaster KC-E Easy Elsie was hit by flak as she made her bombing run. Having lost an engine and unable to see the target through the cloud, 26-year-old Australian pilot Flying Officer Daniel William “Bill” Carey eased his mighty Lancaster round to repeat the hazardous move a second time. Carey and his crew are understood to have made as many as six bombing runs before releasing their Tallboy earthquake bomb on the unfortunate ship below. But as Easy Elsie turned for home, the Lancaster was struck by flak once again.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

By this stage Lancaster NF920 was flying on two engines and couldn’t have made it back to Scotland. Bill Carey set course for neutral Sweden and crash-landed Easy Elsie in marshland near the small community of Porjus, in the north of the country. Apart from a dislocated knee suffered by Carey himself, the entire crew survived unscathed. After an unsuccessful attempt to burn their wrecked aircraft, the crew of NF920 were interred by Swedish authorities for several weeks before being repatriated to the UK.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

Easy Elsie, however, wasn’t so lucky. The wreck of Lancaster NF920 was destined to lie where she came to rest in the marshes of northern Sweden that fateful night in 1944. Her remains are still there today, more than seven decades after Operation Obviate was prosecuted. The years have not been kind to her. Though the tough northern weather has conspired to fade her national markings, Easy Elsie’s green/brown camouflage and black-painted undersides remain visible. It’s souvenir hunters that have done the most damage. As a result, what was once a substantial wreck (rather like this B-17 Flying Fortress in Papua New Guinea) has been reduced to a substantial pile of torn and twisted metal. Some of her parts have even surfaced on eBay.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

Despite her deteriorating condition, Easy Elsie likely remains the most impressive Avro Lancaster bomber wreck in Europe (perhaps with the exception of various ditched aircraft). She also fared better than the battleship Tirpitz, which survived Operation Obviate when none of the 32 bombs dropped hit their target, but was finally sunk two weeks later during Operation Catechism – the last of nine attempts to destroy the feared Bismarck-class warship.

(Image: Johan Ylitalo (website: JohanYlitano.com)

Today, the wreck of Lancaster NF920 Easy Elsie can be visited thanks to a wooden catwalk across the swampy ground. A signpost bearing the inscription “2 Lancastern” points the way. How long it survives, however, remains uncertain, as those visitors intent on taking a piece of the bomber with them slowly reduce her to nothing. The final word goes to a Facebook page simply titled Bring Easy Elsie back home to the UK. Though it hasn’t been updated since 2015, the 6,016-strong group’s mission is (or was) clear: “We are trying to repatriate the wreckage of 617 squadron’s (the Dambusters) last remaining Lancaster bomber – “Easy Elsie” from a swamp in Sweden.”

Related: Peter Jackson’s Full Scale Lancaster Bomber Replicas Spotted in New Zealand

The post Easy Elsie: The Endangered Wreck of Avro Lancaster Bomber NF920 appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Mike Searle; giant arrow the abandoned Ashley Walk Bombing Range)

The New Forest is one of the most unspoiled natural wildernesses in South East England, one of the country’s most heavily populated regions. Its serene heathland, rolling pastures and verdant forests are a haven for wildlife and those seeking a quiet escape from the bustle of urban life. But the area wasn’t always so peaceful. Even today, reminders of its secretive wartime history endure half-concealed amid the landscape.

(Image: Mike Searle; remains of the wartime ship target)

It was here that the Ashley Walk Bombing Range was established in the summer of 1940 under the control of RAF Boscombe Down, home of the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE). The aim was to develop, test and evaluate a new generation of British bombs that would carry to fight to the German heartland. Work called for a series of dummy installations to be constructed across the range, including a giant concrete arrow to direct incoming aircraft to an illuminated target in the valley at Lay Gutter, to the south.

(Image: Mike Searle; foundations of the demolished North Tower)

Explaining Ashley Walk’s background, the Real New Forest Guide writes: “At the start of World War Two, British bomb technology had not really progressed a great deal since the end of the Great War in 1918 when a 20lb bomb was considered large. Against this background there was an arms race to catch up with the perceived superiority of the German Luftwaffe and the weaponry that they had at their disposal. As a result, over the next five years this tranquil part of the New Forest would have more armaments dropped on it… than most other parts of England, with the exception of the larger cities – and included the largest ever bomb to be dropped on British soil.”

(Image: Mike Searle; map of Ashley Walk Bombing Range)

Construction of the range began after the New Forest Verderers – tasked with stewarding the area’s common land and royal forests – approved an application to make 5,000 acres available to the Air Ministry for munitions testing. In the process, three houses were evacuated and nine miles of security fencing installed. Thirteen gates allowed access to authorised personnel, some of whom were billeted in huts opposite the Fighting Cocks pub in Godshill.

(Image: Mike Searle; an abandoned concrete arrow near the North Tower site)

Locals discussed developments on Ashley Walk Bombing Range among themselves in hushed voices. But on the whole, the general public knew little of the secretive work underway within, despite reports of local children using the range as a playground. In fact, much of the clandestine research and development conducted at Ashley Walk remained shrouded in mystery until the latter decades of the 20th century. Even so, the surviving infrastructure scattered across the wild heathland tells the story of an important chapter in British military history, and the crucial role it played in the development of hard-hitting ballistics technology.

(Image: Mike Searle; site of the Main Practice Tower)

According to Aircraft & Airshows: “…every type of air dropped ordnance used by the RAF (with the exception of incendiary weapons) was tested here between 1940 and 1946. Along with the air dropped ordnance, guns and rockets were also tested and evaluated. The types of bombs tested ranged from small anti-personnel types to the ultimate in air dropped ordnance, the 22,000 lb Grand Slam earthquake bomb.”

(Image: Mike Searle; N/S range indicator on the abandoned New Forest bombing range)

Ashley Walk Bombing Range was broken into two sections. A smaller practice range with a diameter of 2,000 yards allowed inert bombs to be dropped from a height of 14,000 feet. A diesel generator was on hand to illuminate targets during night bombing, and a control structure known as the Main Practice Tower oversaw operations from its vantage point on Hampton Ridge, close to the concrete directional arrow that hides on the heath to this day.

(Image: Jim Champion; surviving observation tower near Amberwood)

To the north, a larger 4,000-yard-diameter section of Ashley Walk, controlled by the North Tower, comprised the High Explosive Range where more powerful weaponry could be dropped from 20,000 feet up. A range office oversaw all operations, and two observation huts (one of which survives today) were also constructed. Two small airstrips near Godshill were built for transport purposes.

(Image: Jim Champion; old bomb crater near Leaden Hall)

Wandering the eerily peaceful heathland of the abandoned Ashley Walk Bombing Range today yields ominous clues to its former purpose. New Forest ponies drink from puddles collected in World War Two bomb craters and the remains of structures representing walls, ships and other air to ground targets are still visible amid the idyllic surroundings.

(Image: Jim Champion; New Forest ponies on former Ashley Walk Bombing Range)

Line targets simulating railways were used to test attack techniques involving rockets and bombs. Wall targets, with their thick armour plating, helped evaluate Barnes Wallis’ now-famous bouncing bombs, including Highball and Upkeep. Other structures allowed for the testing of fragmentation bombs, and a number of aircraft pens were built to simulate those on Luftwaffe bases.

(Image: Jim Champion; abandoned rifle butts on the edge of Hampton Ridge)

One giant structure that remains somewhat mysterious is a 79 by 70 foot slab of 6-ft-thick concrete called the Ministry of Home Security Target, more commonly known as the submarine pen. Local rumours suggest the sub pen was built to evaluate the best way for the RAF to destroy the heavily fortified German U-boat pens along the French coast. Tests revealed that 500 lb bombs were ineffective on the structure, and it wasn’t until the advent of earthquake bombs (cue the 12,000 lb Tallboy and the 22,000 lb Grand Slam) that German submarine pens could be penetrated. Other theories hold that it was built after the Battle of Britain to test improved air-raid shelters.

(Image: Mike Searle; Tallboy bomb crater on Ashley Walk Bombing Range)

Inert Tallboys were the first earthquake bombs to be dropped on Ashley Walk range, followed by live versions soon after. The weapon would be employed to great effect by Nos. 9 and 617 squadrons against high profile targets including the Dortmund-Ems Canal, V2 rocket sites, the feared battleship Tirpitz and – of course – U-boat pens. Tallboy was even used to flatten Hitler’s holiday home, the Berghoff near Berchtesgaden, on April 25, 1945.

(Image: RAF; a 617 Sqn Lancaster drops a Grand Slam on Germany’s Arnsberg viaduct)

But the biggest was yet to come. After a series of inert tests, Avro Lancaster PB592 dropped a live 22,000lb Grand Slam (aka Ten Ton Tess) from a height of 18,000 feet onto the range below. The bomb impacted near Pitts Wood and, after a nine second delay, blasted a massive crater 124 feet in diameter and 34 feet deep into the earth. Locals weren’t told of the test in advance! The next day, Lancaster PD112, flown by Squadron Leader C. C. Calder, successfully dropped its Grand Slam onto the Bielefeld viaduct in North-Rhine Westphalia, its earthquake effect causing 100 yards of bridge to collapse.

(Image: Mike Searle; remains of A & B fragmentation target)

In January 2014, archaeologists began excavating the remains of the Ministry of Home Security Target on Ashley Walk Bombing Range, which was buried after World War Two ended, in a bid to discover whether any chambers survived inside, and what might be in them.

(Image: Mike Searle; remains of C & D fragmentation target)

Archaeologist James Brown told the BBC: “There have been all sorts of rumours about things being buried inside; tanks, planes, bombs. We hear of that all over the forest.” He added: “Things that were once quite common, like pill boxes and airfields, there was a distinct attitude after the war to remove them, to forget almost. Now we’ve moved on 70 years or so, a lot of information is starting to disappear. What we get quite a lot across the forest is various lumps of concrete. We want to encourage people to realise it’s not a lump of rubbish that needs to be removed.”

(Image: Mike Searle; remains of Grand Slam bomb crater at Ashley Walk Bombing Range)

Near the remnants of the submarine pens, the massive crater made by Ten Ton Tess has slowly disappeared into the heathland of the New Forest. The giant hole was largely filled in after the war, though its location remains barely visible to the discerning eye. As with other relics of the abandoned Ashley Walk Bombing Range, nature has been swift to reclaim the environment. But its compelling wartime history endures in the ruins left behind.

(Image: Martin Vaughan; the concrete arrow on Deadmans Hill once pointed towards targets on Leaden Hall)

Related: The Wrecked Aircraft and Dummy Airfield of the Otterburn Ranges

The post Ashley Walk Bombing Range: Explore the Ruins of a Secret World War Two Test Site appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Richard Law; abandoned US Army watch tower on Llanrhidian Marsh)

Like a solitary sentinel guarding the vast saltmarshes north of Landimore, on South Wales’ picturesque Gower Peninsula, the so-called American lookout post harks back to a less peaceful time. The ‘obs post’, as it is also known, is now long abandoned, and its derelict condition has grown increasingly perilous year on year.

The modest military tower was built decades ago by US forces, when the expansive Llanrhidian Marsh was used as a live firing and bombing range. It cuts a lonely form on the wild landscape today, largely forgotten by most except perhaps the photographers who have made the trek out to capture it.

(Image: Richard Law)

One of them was Richard Law, whose photo caption serves as a cautionary warning for other snappers and rural explorers who may stray a little too close:

Erected by US forces as part of the area’s former use as a bombing range during the war, this concrete-and-brick lookout post is now abandoned, and in some danger of collapse. A metal notice bolted to the wall proclaims that Llanrhidian Sands are used at your own risk due to the danger of unexploded ordnance, and is ‘signed’ by The Ministry of Supply.

Related: 10 Abandoned Allied Control Towers of World War Two

The post Abandoned American Lookout Post on Llanrhidian Marsh, South Wales appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Theo van Vliet)

Rusting and forlorn, these gutted, empty shells of once-proud Lockheed F-104 Starfighter jets look as though they’re awaiting the scrapheap. But the decommissioned aircraft actually make up part of a small boneyard attached to the PS Aero aviation collection in the town of Baarlo, Netherlands.

The small museum’s facility is unassuming yet unmistakable, thanks to another old Starfighter mounted in a striking pose by the main entrance. The Cold War collection also includes an ex-RAF English Electric Lightning interceptor, an American McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom as well as an assortment of helicopters and Russian-built MiGs. The defunct German Air Force F-104 airframes pictured here may be set for restoration or spares recovery, serving as parts donors for the museum’s more complete Starfighters.

Click here to explore PS Aero’s historic aircraft collection in pictures.

(Image: Theo van Vliet)

The post Starfighter Graveyard: Rusting Hulks of F-104 Fighter Jets at Baarlo, Netherlands appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Ministry of Information)

These historical photographs reveal the clamour of work inside the A. V. Roe & Company aircraft factory at Woodford, in Cheshire, England, at the height of World War Two. Captured in 1943, the colour scenes reveal the final assembly of RAF Bomber Command’s famed heavy bomber, the Avro Lancaster, which entered service the previous year in a bid to take the fight to the heart of industrial Germany. Some 3,500 Lancs (40% of the RAF fleet) were produced at Avro’s Chadderton factory near Oldham, before being transported to Woodford Aerodrome by road for final assembly.

Due to the sheer numbers needed for the war effort, other Lancaster airframes were built by a range of manufacturers including Metropolitan-Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth, as well as the Austin Motor Company at its plant in Longbridge, Birmingham. Canadian-built machines were manufactured by Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario.

(Image: Ministry of Information)

Over 7,300 of Avro’s most celebrated design were produced during the chaotic years of the Second World War. Today, only 17 intact airframes survive across the world, including two airworthy Lancasters in the UK and Canada. A specially-adapted variant of the type was famously used during Operation Chastise when, on May 16-17 1943, ‘the Dambusters’ of No. 617 Squadron dropped Barnes Wallis’ bouncing bomb on the major dams of Germany’s Ruhr valley. (10 full-scale replica Lancasters have been built for a remake of the classic 1955 film of the same name.)

(Image: Christie Michael)

The photograph above shows a number of completed Lancasters on the ramp at Woodford, awaiting delivery to operational units. The caption reads:

Newly-completed Avro Lancaster B Mark IIIs on the apron of the A V Roe & Co. factory at Woodford, Cheshire. NE124 (centre) served as ‘OF-J’ with No. 97 Squadron RAF and was shot down over France by a German night-fighter while raiding the flying-bomb site at Prouville on the night of 24/25 June 1944. LM578 (second right), a Yeadon-built example, served as ‘EM-L’ with No. 207 Squadron RAF, with whom it crashed off the Dutch coast while outbound for a night raid on Wesseling, Germany, on 21/22 June 1944.

Woodford Aerodrome witnessed almost 80 years of continuous flight testing until its last owner, BAE Systems, finally sold the facility off 2011. The airfield’s proud history remains alive in the Avro Heritage Museum, outside which stands another of the company’s most iconic products – the Avro Vulcan.

The post Colour Photos Show Avro Lancaster Bombers on the Woodford Assembly Line in 1943 appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: FFUrbex Fotografie)

To date, we’ve documented some of the world’s most impressive abandoned tanks and armoured fighting vehicle graveyards in a series of in-depth features on Urban Ghosts (you can explore them in more detail below). This article brings you a few more, the location and purpose of which we are not entirely certain.

(Image: FFUrbex Fotografie)

Urban exploration outfit FFUrbex Fotografie snapped these abandoned tanks in a field in Europe. Their mighty hulks have slowly rusted down with time, and the old tanks appear to have stood quietly in this undisclosed location for a long time.

(Image: FFUrbex Fotografie)

Despite clear signs of corrosion brought on by decades of idleness, the derelict fighting vehicles appear to be largely intact. But small areas of graffiti suggest that they are accessible to vandals and – wherever they may be – that their presence is well known locally.

(Image: FFUrbex Fotografie)

The rurex photographs reveal the presence of at least four abandoned tanks, standing in an expansive field surrounded by forest. The land they occupy looks to be well kept, and round hay bales in the background suggest that this is agricultural land rather than a military firing range.

Perhaps the military and farmers coexist side by side. Or maybe these rusting tank carcasses are the leftovers of an abandoned bombing range that has now closed to military activities, but where the relics of the past linger on.

More Articles About Abandoned Tanks:
10 Tank Cemeteries & Wrecked Fighting Vehicles of Europe, Asia & the Middle East
Rockensussra’s German Tank Graveyard & Dismantling Facility
Urban Explorer Photographs Vintage Tanks Abandoned in a European Forest
Dive a Mysterious Sunken Combat Vehicle at the Bottom of the Gulf of Aqaba
Vast Tank Graveyard Haunts a Clearing Somewhere in Europe

The post Rural Explorers Stumble Across Abandoned Tanks appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Ben Salter; decommissioned SEPECAT Jaguar XX845)

Amid the stark, windswept beauty of Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula lies an old wartime airfield which ceased regular operational flying decades ago. Though Predannack Airfield remains in use as a relief landing ground for RNAS Culdrose, a collection of derelict planes and helicopters reveal the facility’s main function: that of training ground for the Royal Navy’s firefighters.

It may look like an abandoned aircraft graveyard, but these ex-RAF and Fleet Air Arm airframes are still very much in use. Some have stood quietly on the weed-strewn World War Two dispersals on the south side of Predannack for years. Others, like the decommissioned SEPECAT Jaguar pictured here, are more recent additions.

The Jaguar T4, serial number XX845, is used to simulate an undercarriage failure on landing, its nose-wheel partially retracted to create a surprisingly photogenic pose. This aircraft first flew in August 1975 and was delivered to the RAF later that month. After 30 years of operational flying, the well-worn jet was retired in 2005 to St Athan for spares recovery. She then spent several years as a ground instructional airframe at Cosford before moving to Predannack by road in 2009.

(Image: Ben Salter)

The Jaguar T4 is a twin-seat training version of the Anglo-French attack aircraft, which remained in RAF service until 2007 and flew operational combat missions as part of Operation Granby during the 1991 Gulf War. A good number of the UK’s SEPECAT Jaguar fleet escaped scrapping after being withdrawn from service, and many remain in storage or in use as ground trainers.

Urban Ghosts has visited the Predannack aircraft graveyard in a previous article (here), but this is the first time we’ve taken a closer look at a specific jet. Jaguar XX845 is missing her tail fin, forward cockpit canopy and an assortment of panels and parts. But aside from that, the airframe is relatively intact.

(Image: Dave Taskis)

Situated near Mullion close to the southernmost point of mainland Britain, Predannack Airfield opened in 1941 as a base for Hawker Hurricane night-fighters defending the port towns of southwest England. It was also ideally located to serve as an emergency landing ground for battle-damaged bombers returning from targets in occupied Europe.

After World War Two, the airfield was used as an experimental flight test facility by Vickers-Armstrongs before entering a period of care and maintenance and ultimately finding use with the Royal Naval School of Flight Deck Operations.

Keep browsing – explore more from our Aviation category here.

The post “Crashed” SEPECAT Jaguar XX845 at Predannack appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Pennan & Svärdet via Facebook; Kalixlinjens Museum’s “crashed” Saab 35 Draken)

It’s one of the most unconventional aircraft wreck photos we’ve ever seen (if indeed such things are ever conventional). This “crashed” Saab 35 Draken looks more like a piece of public art than an abandoned fighter jet. Some may even question whether or not Photoshop has been involved.

The ill-fated Draken is understood to have been written off in a crash caused by a catastrophic failure of its single Volvo Flygmotor RM 6C afterburning turbojet engine. Though the ejection seat is no longer fitted, the fact that the canopy remains in place suggests the pilot may not have ejected from the stricken jet during the incident.

The ex-Swedish Air Force aircraft, coded 07, is now on public display at the Kalixlinjens War-time museum in northern Sweden. It makes for a great diorama, though we hope that the other exhibits didn’t end their flying days quite so battered.

Built to replace the earlier Saab Tunnan, the Saab 35 Draken was a successful Cold War fighter aircraft manufactured in Sweden from 1955 to 1974. The supersonic jet was exported to Austria, Denmark and Finland and was also used by the USAF for test pilot training.

This isn’t the first time that a grounded example of the Cold War fighter has appeared on Urban Ghosts. We’ve featured the trashed airframes on the military firing range at Rinkaby as well as this dismembered Finnish Air Force Draken (shown in the photographs below courtesy of Sameli Kujala). The damage to the above aircraft is understood to have resulted from the engine failure. But it also looks like the aircraft may have spent some time on a firing range after the incident.

The post Kalixlinjens Museum’s “Crashed” Saab 35 Draken Fighter Jet appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Tsibin Konstantin; Mount Yamantau in the Ural Mountains)

Mount Yamantau is a part of the Ural mountain range near Bashkortostan in Russia, a wild and brooding landscape where craggy peaks reach high into a cloud-filled sky, and for years, rumours have circulated about a top secret base built beneath the remote range.

Beginning in the 1990s, satellite images appeared to pick up major excavations underway in the area surrounding the 5,380 ft Mount Yamantau, which also includes the military closed town of Mezhgorye. Inquiries into the excavations have resulted in myriad responses from the Russian government, none of which have entirely satisfied western governments.

Russia has offered up a number of seemingly-conflicting explanations for the shadowy site’s purpose in response to ongoing US questioning. The Kremlin has variously claimed that the site is a large-scale mining operation, an emergency bunker for Russian leaders, a repository for the nation’s most valued treasures, and even a food storage bunker. But when probed further by foreign media outlets, the Defense Ministry declined to comment.

(Image: via Google Earth; Mount Yamantau and the closed town of Mezhgorye)

The Mount Yamantau complex – whatever it may be – appears to be vast in scope. In 1996, several years after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the New York Times reported that thousands of workers were involved in the building of what the west suspected to be a subterranean nuclear facility, and that an entire railway and highway system have been constructed to support it.

Some reports suggest that construction began on the facility beneath Mount Yamantau (the highest peak in the southern Urals) as early as the 1970s, and continued for decades before coming under the scrutiny of western surveillance satellites.

Some Clinton administration officials believed it may be a command and control centre as well as a nuclear bunker for Russian officials, making it defensive in nature. But they also speculated that it could be a wartime production facility to be deployed in the event of a nuclear strike, or a storage site for clandestine weapons of mass destruction.

The potential purpose of the mysterious construction beneath the Ural Mountains was a delicate one for the Clinton administration. Officials and analysts were concerned that millions of dollars of US aid to Russia – provided in a bid to assist the financially-starved country dismantle its Cold War nuclear weapons – could be funding new weapons production, in breach of arms limitation treaties and beyond the needs of national defence.

(Image: Pesotsky; entrance to the closed military town of Mezhgorye)

The shadowy facility beneath Mount Yamantau, in the vast mountain range that separates Europe and Asia, has resurfaced in the press at various points over the years. In a 2015 article, ETF Daily News asked whether “Russia has constructed massive underground shelters in anticipation of nuclear war” and cited a Russian television report claiming that “5,000 new emergency nuclear bomb shelters were scheduled to have been completed in the city of Moscow alone by the end of 2012”.

With Russia not talking, the precise nature of the massive underground construction project – which is claimed to encompass an area as large as Washington, DC inside the Beltway – deep in the Urals remains shrouded in secrecy.

Related – Top Secret Tombs: The Classified Stealth Aircraft Burial Grounds of Area 51

The post Is there a Secret Russian Nuclear Base Beneath Mount Yamantau? appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Peter; the remains of Tornado ZA600 after RTP)

Panavia Tornado GR4 ZA600 wore a variety of camouflage schemes throughout its 33 years of service, from the early Cold War green/grey finish to the more up-to-date low visibility grey. But the strike jet was arguably best known for the commemorative tail fin which it obtained in 2011, celebrating 95 years since the founding of No. 41 Squadron as a Royal Flying Corps unit at Fort Rowner in 1916. Latterly coded EB-G, ZA600 remained on charge with 41 (in its current guise as the RAF’s Test and Evaluation Squadron) at RAF Coningsby until she was withdrawn from service in 2015.

(Image: Peter)

The Tornado’s spares-recovered hulk was later photographed awaiting disposal at RAF Leeming in June 2016. Tornado ZA600 first flew on March 18, 1982 and was delivered to the Royal Air Force the following June. Built as a GR1 model, the strike aircraft was returned to the assembly plant at BAE Warton in May 2000 for conversion to GR4 standard.

(Image: Peter)

Of 228 Tornado GR1s delivered to the RAF, including early batch trainers for the TTTE (Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment), around 142 airframes went through the Mid Life Upgrade programme between 1997 and 2003, reemerging from the Warton facilities as vastly improved GR4s.

But as the Tornado fleet approaches retirement later this decade, airframes that have reached the limits of their flying hours and fatigue lives are steadily being withdrawn from service and scrapped. Retired jets make their final flights to RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, where they’re stripped of all useful parts in a process known as RTP (reduced to produce).

(Image: Peter)

What’s left – as demonstrated here by the hulk of Tornado ZA600 – is little more than a hollow carcass and a stripped-out set of wings. As we saw with ZD844, the remainder is then carted off to the scrapyard.

Considering what a formidable strike jet the Tornado was (and indeed still is) there’s something undeniably sad about the empty, helpless shell seen here. But in an ominous twist for those of us secretly hoping that certain withdrawn Tornados were being stored for possible future sale to museums, ZA600’s dismantled hulk wasn’t the only one dumped on wooden shipping pallets the day these photographs were taken.

(Image: Peter; reduced to produce: Tornado GR4 ZD788)

Also present are the remains of ZD788 (098), a slightly younger red-spined airframe which is easily identified by its own commemorative tail fin, celebrating 40 years of the Tornado (above).

Related: Derelict Tornado GR1 Carcasses (ZA322, ZA361 & ZA375) on Marham Dump

The post The RTP’d Remains of Panavia Tornado ZA600 appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Alan Allen. A spare, unused Lightning fuselage awaits scrapping)

Dumped in the undergrowth of a neglected yard in Staffordshire, England, this innocuous chunk of metal may look like any other piece of industrial scrap. But the article once belonged to one of the Cold War‘s most high performance warplanes – the English Electric Lightning. Well, sort of. It’s actually a spare Lightning fuselage, which was built for attrition purposes but is understood to have never been used.

The rear fuselage section housed the Lightning’s two powerful Rolls-Royce Avon afterburning turbojet engines, which were uniquely configured one on top of the other. The wings were designed to slot into the gap at the front of the article (left of photo) like a giant Airfix kit. The forward fuselage, including cockpit, was then bolted into place.

Stewart Scott, in his book Lightning! Photo Album – Volume One, shows the unused Lightning fuselage from a slightly different angle. The caption reads: “A once brand new rear fuselage section lying in the undergrowth of a Stone (Staffordshire) scrapyard. The 10th edition of the publication ‘Wrecks and Relics’ notes the presence of “at least two ‘spare’ Lightning fuselages, acquired from RAF Stafford”. There has been no entry under Stone since then so it is not known whether or not these sections still exist.”

Scott’s book was published in 1994, reflecting the vintage of the photograph. Though it’s possible that old relics like this can linger on in scrapyards for years (and such places have yielded all manner of treasures over the decades), it’s unlikely that the unused Lightning fuselages have avoided recycling more than two decades later.

But given the ongoing efforts of preservation groups to maintain Lightnings in working order, a spare fuselage or two could prove to be quite a find. Not to mention the surviving cockpit sections that could be mated with a rear fuselage. Then all you’d need is a spare set of wings, tail planes and fin – if such items themselves survive – and you’d have, as Scott says, a “Lightning that might have been!”

Related: The Corroding Hulk of Lightning XM178 at Savigny-Les-Beaune

The post Rare Photo of Unused English Electric Lightning Fuselage at Stone, Staffordshire appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Images: SurfacePics)

We’ve covered the abandoned Motor Technica Museum in the German spa town of Bad Oeynhausen before (see here). In this brief post, we wanted to offer a more detailed glimpse at the rusting Soviet-era tech that still sits quietly outside the abandoned museum building. In his Flickr stream, urbex photographer SurfacePics showcases a variety of decaying military vehicles, including tanks, Cold War jets and helicopters. The Russian MiG-21 fighter aircraft, prominently positioned atop a decaying armoured vehicle, has become something of a landmark subject for urban explorers in North Rhine-Westphalia. Google the defunct Motor Technica Museum, and this is probably the scene you’ll notice first.

(Image: SurfacePics)

Above, uncontrolled foliage has begun to creep up around the defunct museum’s old MiG-21 Fishbed. As we wrote earlier in the summer: “The MiG was actually an exhibit at the defunct Motor Technica Museum, which closed down in 2007. Since then, the outdoor exhibits have become increasingly overgrown as nature has steadily moved in.”

The post A Closer Look at the Abandoned Motor Technica Museum’s Rusting Vehicles appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Irish251 – website)

With its tail fin severed and wings well and truly clipped, it’s difficult to imagine that this forlorn hulk once helped pave the way for Britain’s most iconic fast jet interceptor: the English Electric Lightning. After a series of prototypes had culminated in the production of the P.1B, which reached Mach 2 in 1958, the RAF’s first operational Lightning variant, the F1, wasn’t far behind. Forty-two Lightning F1s were built, including a pre-production batch of 20 development jets and three static test airframes. The neglected hulk seen here, serial number XG327, was one of those development aircraft.

English Electric Lightning F1 XG327 was built in March 1959 and was retained by English Electric for trials work for several years thereafter. By the start of 1961 she had moved to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, before transferring to RAE Bedford in 1966 for supersonic noise tests.

But by 1968, less than a decade after her maiden flight, Lightning XG327 had been retired to ground instructional duties. Adopting the maintenance serial 8188M, she joined No.5 School of Technical Training (SoTT) at RAF St Athan in South Wales. XG327 endured for several decades in the ground instructional role, before perishing in the fire pits of Manston alongside a number of other iconic British aircraft of the Cold War era. Taken in 1982, the above photograph shows the Lightning F1 before the burnings began in earnest.

Related: Rare Photo of Unused English Electric Lightning Fuselage at Stone, Staffordshire

The post The Battered Hulk of Lightning XG327 at Manston, Kent appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(All images by Martin Briquet)

When French urbex photographer Martin Briquet was returning home from a visit to Italy, he came upon a vast graveyard of decommissioned tanks, where row upon row of seemingly-abandoned fighting vehicles stood quietly amid the long grass of a field.

Some of the armoured vehicles looked to be in good shape, while others were consumed by foliage and appeared to have been stored at the undisclosed location for a long time.

The images show defunct tanks and other military technology that look to be largely complete – at least externally. But other photographs revealed the decrepit cabin of at least one armoured vehicle, suggesting that some were more serviceable than others.

According to the photographer, the tank graveyard and APC is part of a military complex where decommissioned vehicles are stored pending sale to a foreign buyer. Those that aren’t fit for future use are broken up for scrap.

(All images by Martin Briquet)

Among the mothballed fighting vehicles are American-designed M113 armored personnel carriers, which the Italian Army is steadily replacing with more up-to-date machines including the Dardo IFV.

Related: 10 Mighty Tank Graveyards & Abandoned Battle Vehicles of the World

The post A Graveyard of Decommissioned Italian Army Tanks & Armoured Personnel Carriers appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Nick; the abandoned rectory in Tyneham, Dorset)

A month before Christmas of 1943, the residents of a tiny village in Dorset, England, received what must have been a very traumatic letter. Their village on the Isle of Purbeck was a matter of “national interest”, and the 225 residents had just over a month to gather their belongings and relocate. The area around Tyneham was needed for training soldiers and testing military machinery. Those who lived there had no choice but to leave.

(Image: Nick; the rectory before the requisition of Tyneham)

Residents, who accepted the requisition of their homes as part of their patriotic duty, were promised by the authorities that they would one day be allowed to return to their village. But that never happened. No one ever returned, and the village of Tyneham now stands as a ruined World War Two time capsule.

(Image: Antony McCallum; ruins of the Gould family home)

Highlighting the ill-fated village in its Local History pages, the BBC writes that in spite of repeated attempts to return the village to the control of its displaced residents, Tyneham has remained in the hands of the UK’s Ministry of Defence.

(Image: Bing Maps; Tyneham ghost village from above)

But even if residents had been able to return, the war years had taken their toll on the Dorset village, and most of the cottages were no longer safe for habitation. Today, the ghost village remains a part of the British Army’s Lulworth Ranges, a pretty landscape blighted by the wrecked carcasses of abandoned tanks and other military targets.

(Image: Damien Everett; abandoned tank target on the Lulworth Ranges)

From the mid-1970s, complaints from locals led to the village and a network of footpaths across the firing ranges being opened to the public at weekends, an eerie reminder of the wartime sacrifices made by those on the home front.

(Image: Damien Everett)

Those who visited the Dorset ghost village were greeted by the ruins of structures that had been ravaged by wartime shelling, while decades of inhospitable weather and neglect had also taken their toll. Tyneham’s Elizabethan manor house had been demolished by the British government in 1967 and its characteristic cottages were reduced to empty, roofless shells.

(Image: Tuuraan78; St Mary’s Church)

Not all the buildings in Tyneham, however, fell into dereliction. The school house (which was actually closed in 1932) still stands as if its pupils have simply gone home for the evening, and the village’s Church of St Mary has been turned into a museum.

It was on the door of the church that one departing resident left a patriotic and poignant note for the military men who would be moving in as they moved out. It read:

Please treat the church and houses with care; we have given up our homes where many of us lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly.

(Image: David Merrett)

It remains to be seen whether that day ever arrives. However, Tyneham’s wartime and later military role wasn’t the only time that demolition came calling. When the 1986 historical drama Comrades will filmed there, Tyneham’s original 1929 K1 telephone kiosk was reportedly destroyed. The one that stands in the village today is understood to be a replacement.

Related – Battle Grounds: 6 Ghost Villages Urban Explorers Should Avoid

The post Tyneham: Dorset’s Ruined World War Two Ghost Village appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Eric Lusito – website)

Those who are fascinated by abandoned aircraft and Cold War military relics, especially those that endure across the vast expanses of the former Soviet Union, may already be familiar with this atmospheric photograph by Eric Lusito. Framing the stripped out carcass of a MiG-21 Fishbed fighter jet against the backdrop of an abandoned Soviet airfield, the image is part of a wider series – compiled into book form – called After the Wall: Traces of the Soviet Empire, documenting the fate of many decommissioned facilities across the former Eastern Bloc.

The scene here reveals an abandoned Soviet air base in Mongolia, which is understood to have been built in the 1970s. According to Lusito’s caption, the facility had a vast runway of two miles in length, and units stationed there maintained a high level of readiness in the face of a possible threat from neighbouring China. The base eventually closed, and this venerable old warrior was left behind.

Almost 11,500 MiG-21 fighter jets were built in a production run spanning 26 years, from 1959 to 1985. A product of Moscow’s famed Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau, the supersonic warplane has served with the armed forces of some 60 countries across four continents, with more than 10,600 produced in the former USSR alone.

And though it remains in active service with several nations, many surviving MiG-21s are rusting, empty shells of their former selves. The aircraft pictured here had been mounted for display as a gate guardian at the Mongolian airfield, but when the base closed at the end of the Cold War, the once-formidable jet – the distinctive red star still visible on its tail fin – was abandoned and left to rot, like the derelict airfield around it.

Related: Click here to explore more of our Aviation pages.

The post Derelict MiG-21 Hulk Guards an Abandoned Soviet Base in Mongolia appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Matt Ried – website: Rocky Lakes Photography)

As photographer Matt Ried wrote on Flickr, it’s “not every day you run across a 1950’s jet trainer sitting abandoned at a tiny airport with dirt runway.” The seemingly-abandoned aircraft is a withdrawn Lockheed TV-2, a two-seat version of the better known P-80 Shooting Star developed as an advanced trainer for the US Navy.

The TV-2 jet pictured here, wearing the tail number 6617, was photographed in June 2014 at Calhan Airport in Colorado. Despite its situation, and several missing panels, the retired turbojet trainer looks to be in reasonable condition and hopefully a candidate for preservation.

(Image: Google Earth)

The aircraft, which sports the distinctive orange markings of US Navy trainers, is also clearly visible on Google Earth at the dusty little airstrip about 30 miles northeast of Colorado Springs (see here, and the screenshots above and below). Though the Lockheed TV-2 gained a solid reputation as a respected jet trainer, it wasn’t carrier-capable, and for that reason the manufacturers developed a further version able to operate off the flight deck. Somewhat confusingly, this aircraft was christened the T2V SeaStar.

(Image: Google Earth)

As the National Naval Aviation Museum writes:

Though successful as a land-based trainer, the TV-2 was not satisfactory for carrier operations. Early in 1953 Lockheed undertook to develop a carrier-capable prototype. These aircraft differed from the TV-2 in having a humped cockpit to provide better vision from the rear seat. The design sought lower landing and take-off speeds and featured a tailhook, strengthened airframe, redesigned tail and dorsal fin and modified landing gear. Lockheed replaced the TV-2’s J33-A-20 engine with the J33-A-24. The Navy designated it the T2V-1 Seastar.

Related: 21 Abandoned Airplane Graveyards (Where Aviation History Goes to Die)

The post Abandoned Lockheed TV-2 Jet Trainer at Calhan Airport, CO appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.

(Image: Airman 1st Class Cheyenne Morigeau)

There is no shortage of early model F-16 Fighting Falcons languishing in storage at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. This defunct F-16A, however, isn’t parked among the endless rows of mothballed planes that define the US government’s famous aircraft Boneyard. Faded and worn, its sun-bleached fuselage left open to the elements, this aircraft hasn’t flown in more than a decade.

The F-16 is mow used as a crash recovery training airframe, where those poised to respond to emergencies involving crippled aircraft and injured crew can hone their vital skills. The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base website reports that students from across the world make the journey to the Arizona base to train in a variety of crash rescue scenarios.

(Image: Airman 1st Class Cheyenne Morigeau)

Other redundant airframes used in the training exercises involve the retired hulk of a once-formidable F-15 Eagle (above) and a KC-135 Stratotanker.

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is one of the most successful all-weather supersonic multirole combat aircraft of all time, with more than 4,500 built to date. The serial number of this early production F-16 airframe is understood to be 79394, making it an F-16A Block 10B and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. If you can find the location of this particular aircraft on Google Earth, please drop us a comment below!

Related – Raptor 4001: The Gutted Shell of the World’s First Fifth Generation Stealth Fighter

The post Decommissioned F-16A (79394) Used for Crash Rescue Training, Arizona appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.