Queston ? equipment buried in newton abbot devon

[Steve T]

Oh I say......I am most sorry if I offended you Polski......I certainly didn't mean to. My post was not in reference to yours, but to Ash Ridings original.



Steve T

[Nige H]

Personally I think this is part myth part fact, yes kit was buried at every airbase in the U.K. used by the U.S.A.A.F. during WWII. However in the main this was surplus personal gear, extra sets of boots, clothing and larger items such as parachutes. Bigger items such as GMC's, jeeps and other vehicles were sold off at disposal auctions after the war, as they were just to valuable to be just bulldozed into the sod.
The reason behind this disposal of kit was one the cost of shipping it all back to the States, and two it was now surplus to peace time requirements. The other reason was that bomber crews and the like were given a maximum flight/weight limit for them plus there kit and personal items, so when they flew there aircraft back home to the U.S.A. they had to leave a lot of G.I. gear behind.


I know of a dump at a local WWII airbase that is now a museum, which I've been involved with for about 18 years, out of the that dump we had rolls of aluminium chaff of the type used on D-Day, clothing, boots and even a loaded and still cocked Colt M1911A1 .45 ACP pistol, but no jeeps or jimmies



Nige.

[RH1941]

Another nurse that I know 1st. Lt. ANC Marion C. White was with the 160th general hospital. Her unit arrived in Scotland on 4-23-44 and then moved to an area around Cheltham on Lord Vesty's Estate.Near Foss Bribge, Cirencester,and Stow on the Wold . She told me time and time again about how at the end of the war they took all thier extra supplies and buried them. She said it was uniforms,boots ,tents ,and surgical supplies.Just got of the phone with her she laughed and said she didn't see any jeeps ofr trucks in the hole. Gary

[Johnny-D]

Spot on guys! It's VERY unlikely that jeeps were driven into dumping pits..... jeep parts YES..... complete jeeps I DOUBT IT!

Someone from the local museum tried convincing me that a bloody B17 was buried somewhere on the local WW2 American Airbase!! Yea.... Right!!!!

As Steve has already stated, 99.9% of these stories are complete tosh, but there's always the slim possibility of some substance to the rumours. If you've got the time and patience to investigate further then good on ya mate!!

I really should learn to dive!!! Imagine the WW2 treasures that lie beneath the waves just off the British coastline, in particular the English Channel!!

[gibba1008]

like you say most of these buried treasure storys are a bit of a myth, however back in the early nineties i was working up on our land on the airfield when an elderly gentleman asked if he could have a look round the remains of the old base, chatting further he told me he was ex raf and when the yanks left the base in 45 they were moved in to clear up..... no storys of crated jeeps and 50 cals still in grease paper but he told me that gear of all sorts was buried, in particular a canibalised 6x6, just a chassis mind with a wheel or two he blatently remembers being covered up, did i get his name or number...no......needless to say iv been hunting ever since!!

[Ash Riding]

Steve T , I think you are right on having a good look at "little poland " . I googled the place & I came across a website detailing all the ww2 bases . I am certain that " little poland " was actually built in 1943 as a us Army hospital , 750 beds & bolero construction ????? .
I cant belive i have been so stupid & not found this website before . For anyone else in the south devon area , you need to check out paignton camp , grid ref 885591 , it was a camp for op Overlord , also cullompton camp , grid ref 025075 built 1941 , it was a reception camp supplying 8 th corps , unless these places have already been searched

[Ash Riding]

Woody uk , it was scuba diving that got me so interested in ww2 relics in the 1st place , off the south devon coast there is so much that it is unbelivable .
There are 3 u boats off brixham , 2 are ww1 & the 3rd is ww2 , there is a large amount of ships & aircraft also at depths i can go to & quite a few i cant .
scuba diving off slapton sands is also a very good site , although its very spooky i find .
There is also a german bomber off teignmouth that as been ripped apart by other divers leaving nothing really to look at .
When i can afford it i will be booking my flight to Truk lagoon to have a look at all the jap navy stuff over there

[Nige H]

Again mentioning medical supplies that were another thing that we found a lot of, in the main the class Morphine ampoules of the type used in battlefield first aid kits, these were all disposed of though official channels due to there contents.

As to the pistol, having gone through the base records the group found out that it was probably the weapon used in an attempted murder, as apparently the base Surgeon was more of a butcher than a Doctor and someone had taken a very nasty dislike to his workmanship, and so one night when he had finished his shift at the hospital, someone took some pot shots at him and fired 6 out of the 7 rounds in the gun before disposing of the evidence, with the dump being only a few hundred yards walk from the hospital complex it must have been an ideal place to dispose of the weapon.


Nige.


P.S. I've heard many such myths over the years, jeeps in crates, buried brand new, jeeps trucks, aircraft etc etc. But needless to say all are false or old boys war storys. I've even heard of people who have gone looking for such things, such as the guys in Germany who have been looking for many years for the secret under entrance to the tank storage bunker under Berlin airport LOL, which hold 3 brand new! Tiger tanks which had been stored in the capital during the last days of WWII to help in the last stand against the Russians.

[Gary J]

There was the underground aircraft factory on the old Fallingbostel camp, which was off limits to military personnel because it had been flooded and supposidly booby-trapped.

Google "Fallingbostel underground factory" for various connections.



P.S. I've even heard of people who have gone looking for such things, such as the guys in Germany who have been looking for many years for the secret under entrance to the tank storage bunker under Berlin airport LOL, which hold 3 brand new! Tiger tanks which had been stored in the capital during the last days of WWII to help in the last stand against the Russians.[/QUOTE]

[OKW]

There being buried equipment in Devon/Cornwall was the holy grail being put about in Military Vehicle Conservation Group circles in the late 70's, i wasn't aware it had actually been dug. There must be some photos out there of this operation which would be interesting to see, rather like the aircraft recovery digs of the same period, after all seeing is believing, usually.
As for equipment in the Cheltenham area, anything buried would have been dug up by the locals. When the yanks finally left several haystacks converted themselves into jeeps. These had been aquired by barter but it was felt better to wave uncle sam good bye before using them on the roads. There was a farm near Toddington Glos with 2 jeeps in a shed there in various states of disrepair. it appeared that 1 had had a body structure fitted to it to make it look a bit like an early landrover. The farmer was a nasty old sod who would reach for his gun. Again he over estimated the value of these items and thought they would be his retirement fund. I actually touched these so i know they were real. When i went back several years later there was an industrial estate there, in the middle of nowhere with poor roads which makes sense.
At Stoke Orchard Glos there was a glider training base. After the war ended the RAF left, the spider huts and air raid shelters were left. As accomodation was so short in the local area the camp was then squatted on, quite a few were country wide. Not long after arrival it was noticed that the boys were playing war, all were wearing tin hats and carrying revolvers. This was ignored to start with until it was noticed that the cap guns were in fact webleys. Questioning led to a shelter where there were .303's, stens and webleys still in the racking as forgotten by the RAF. A phone call was made and the weapons were collected by some quiet but red faced erks. Just recently another squatter there stated to me that the Germans were no trouble, quite nice really. This led to the disclosure that part of the camp was a POW camp. Before anyone travels with their detector be aware that the camp in now under several meters of rubbish being the local authority tip. As a youth visiting the site i can remember the base hospital being there with a large yellow painted sign gas casualties this way on the outside wall. All alas gone now. A digital camera would have been so useful.