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Kelvedon Hatch

There we were, thirty-five of us standing in this little clearing looking at a bungalow having negotiated a small wooded pathway somewhere in deepest Kelvedon Hatch just north of Brentwood, Essex, about 25 miles from London. What’s strange about that you might say. Well, when we entered the bungalow and made a 90 degree turn there was a corridor,120 feet long, with blast doors at the further end. We had just entered what was, until 1992, a secret underground bunker to be used by the government to administer our country in the event of a nuclear attack.

The end of the corridor was buried God knows how many feet under a hill.  Beyond this was everything needed to sustain 300+ personnel needed to run our country, for up to 6 months. Imagine your home being sealed of for 6 months completely and you can imagine the complexity of this site.

Apart from air, water, food and power, you needed to take care of every eventuality. There was a sewage plant, BBC television studio capable of transmitting any where in the World. There was an operating theatre, mortuary, ablutions, dormitories, teleprinters, office accommodation for all the major Government Ministries and local Government agencies, and private rooms for just three senior personnel, including one for the Prime Minister.

At the end of the tour, the MHAS group enjoyed refreshments in the canteen, before leaving through the ten-feet thick reinforced concrete walls, by the exit tunnel.

The site had been secretly built (how did they do that?) in 1952 at a cost of 1.6 million pounds and closed in the early 1990’s. Visit their web site through this link.

North Weald

We then visited the site of the old North Weald battle of Britain Airfield. First on the agenda was the museum. This contained a wonderful collection of items relating to their history including the Norwegians stationed there.

One exhibit uncovered the full details of the Battle of Barking Creek. This incident was the first air casualty in WW2 and it was, unfortunately, by friendly fire. One Hurricane crashed into a field at Hintlesham just outside Ipswich.

The next site was that of Aces High, a film company.  There was an interesting 'display of various aeroplanes, and props used in filming.

Our last item was a visit to “The Squadron” with its mess facilities - my burger and chips was huge.

Here we walked the flight line where some interesting aircraft were parked - including a Canadair T-33 painted in USAF Thunderbirds display team colours. We also viewed some interesting take offs, including a Jet Provost, a pair of Yaks and a Christen Eagle - an aerobatic bi-plane.

Russell Bailey had done it again. It was a wonderful day out and a good time was had by all.