Well I decided to give one of the barrack areas of 'my' airfield one last blast.
As I thought, the area was totally clear of stuff and I was just about to leave with nothing in my finds bag...........and then I stumbled on an area that I must have somehow missed on every previous visit. It was about 10 yards past the last hut and I was surprised at the amount of stuff coming out of such a small area. When you consider the rest of the site, (which is substantial), yielding nothing.....nothing at ALL.
All these came from one little area about 10 yards square.
Firstly before cleaning.
Now unfortunately I didn't take a group shot of the after cleaning bit so we go straight into the individual bits.
Firstly a nice selection of lids. Jam was obviously very popular.
Some bits I couldn't ID, apart from the ring which I think is the rim to a pocket watch.
A couple of toys ! One lorry cab with no markings, the other the remains of a very old style racing car.
A couple of Merlin engine exhaust stub gaskets. Why they were in the barracks area heaven only knows !
Some 'O' rings, one of which still has fabric attached and is even marked on the back. Anyone know what it's off ?
Now this is a heavy and very substantial feller. I believe it is the case of a magneto, but not sure what it is off. Possibly an old motorcycle ?
This next piece is an EXCELLENT example of why you should ALWAYS take everything home to be cleaned. Assume everything is going to be of interest and only throw stuff away after you've cleaned it !
This was caked in mud and appeared to be a totally plain piece of metal. However, one clean later and hey presto !
Anyone know what the abbreviations mean ?
This is a hefty chunk of brass with the remains of green paint on it. I think it is the nozzle for a fire hose. What do you think ?
Now this piece got me REALLY excited when I dug it up An American mess tin
A French coin dated 1939, a German pebble button, a buckle off something and an odd button. It may be a pebble button but the 'pebble' bit has fallen off.
Lastly the usual cartridges although not many at all this time around.
And that's the lot. Hope you like them and can help ID some stuff.
Hello Steve,
I'm amazed you are still pulling up pieces from your air base! How long have you been digging it now?
The i/d tag with coolant spelt wrongly has exactly the same type of stamp as the last war idents used on Royal Navy ships by the dockyard builders for tagging things like cable runs etc. They were also stamped in a hurry, by hand, and uneven, only difference is that the navy ones were stamped on copper tags.
Only an observation, but I've seen an example of the navy ones, in fact I found it in the remains of a submarine in a scrapyard some years back.
I've enjoyed looking at the finds from your site which I know you have been working on for a long time. I expect you must have got just about every bit from there by now, but you can never be sure can you?
Best regards,
navyman.
Navyman - Two and a half years. I keep photos of what I find in separate dated folders. I have 32 folders of pictures from this site. And even after all those visits you're right......still can't be totally sure it's clear. Especially after days like this !
Some really nice finds ... that glass bottle .... looks like an American Fitch's aftershave lotion bottle ... The GI issue mess tin is really nice .... soon you'll have a complete GI issue mess kit!
Fantastic finds again mate, mess tin would look nice in my collection!! Hope you have another site lined up as i for one would really miss your threads of all your finds.... any chance there are more finds on your location but just a little deeper? is there any ponds within the perimeter?
regards paul
USAAF airbase crew barracks - 22nd March 2010
.
Hope you have another site lined up as i for one would really miss your threads of all your finds.... any chance there are more finds on your location but just a little deeper? is there any ponds within the perimeter? 
Bookmarks