Queston ? equipment buried in newton abbot devon

[Ash Riding]

1st of all I am new on here so hello to you all .
A couple of months ago I was talking to a couple of old gentlemen at stover country park near Newton abbot , devon .
They took me a very interesting story of the American base .
They said that at the end of the war the Americans dug a huge hole then proceeded to bulldoze tanks , bridging equipment , motorbikes , jeeps etc into the hole then cover it up .
I am uncertain of the exact place but have been told that it is possibly under the industrail estate .
As anyone else on here ever heard about this or have I just had my leg pulled ?

[Gary J]

In the mid 1980's, a trench with around 500 750cc WLA Harleys was uncovered in Devon/Dorset.
Some were in packing crates .. some pushed into the trench, .. most were semi-complete.

The "unearther" sold them as job lots for around £500 each for "restoration".
I remember the advert running in the Motor Cycle News for around 2 years.

Obviously the Harleys were in poor condition having seen 50 years + in open buried ground.

Gary J.

[Ash Riding]

Thanks gary , I have been told that alot of items have been found at dunkerswell airfield as well . Would love to get invovled in a military archaeology dig

[Gary J]

After some thought, I remembered that the site where the Harleys were dug was close to Bournemouth ..

[Steve T]

Hi and welcome to the forum !

Tales abound of the American and British forces burying anything from a box of buttons to whole tanks and aircraft at virtually EVERY site of military significance in the world. Most of these tales are pure folklore but one or two may well be true.

I have to say that most tales involve one or two items, not hundreds of vehicles as in your story. For example, the farmer who owns the land where the airbase sits that I search took pains to tell me a Jeep was buried in it's crate somewhere on the base.

If such a huge operation did take place, I would find it difficult to believe that such a burial could escape public attention even back in the 1940's but you never know !

If the 'trench' is under the industrial estate, you've got no hope of finding and retrieving anything, other than by proving beyond doubt to the authorities that the buried items actually exist.You may then be able to get them to designate it an area of archaeological interest. However, what you do after that is debatable ! You will certainly need more than a metal detector and garden spade to get the stuff up ! Ground penetrating radar and a JCB would be good for a starter.

Anyway, all the best in your search

Steve T

[cornishboy]

hello and welcome also,im in cornwall so i thought id be neighbourly and say hi

[Steve T]

Well.....I have just had a look on Google Earth at Stover Country Park and was amazed to see what look like intact barracks, just to the southwest.

If these are WW2 baracks (or possibly a POW camp), I would forget about the tales of buried tanks and get yourself, a metal detector and a spade down there IMMEDIATELY !

Also, the Americans were very fond of dumping equipment in any water filled hole near the base. Was the lake in the park there in the war ? If it was, that's where alot of stuff will be.

Finally, the industrial estate you think the trench is under.....is it the estate to the West of the 'barracks' ?

Cheers

Steve T

PS I live 300miles away so have absolutely no intention of getting myself down there to search the place ! It's all yours

[Ash Riding]

Hi cornish boy .
In reply to steve t , the barracks are " little poland " , they where built in ww2 to house all the polish refugees coming over . I would presume that the estate is to the west of that . Im really unsure if the pond was there in 39 - 45 . I will do some more digging for information

[Steve T]

Ash Riding

Little Poland will definitely be worth searching in my humble opinion

Steve T

[Gary J]

Well yeah know doubt the story sounds bloated after nearly 30 years.
There was a half page article in the MotorCycle News at the time, .. and if you can find a copy of the paper from around 81 to 83 you will see his clear cut advert.

On searching the net, the ony ref. I could find was a chap who also got the "flying pigs" reaction. Although he was just passing a comment to what had happened in Dorset as a comparison to similar "folk tales" in Australia.

For once this is a true story .. and your 30 years too late ..

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ZRX61
14th April 2008, 23:46
When anyone first hears anything of the Bundaberg Bunkers, the reaction is "yeah bull****e". We have all heard of Buried Harleys still in their create etc etc and most will dismiss the story as just that, as many have done in this forum.
The guy who dug them up is named Iain Cotteril. I've had my hands on 4 of those bikes...
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