Aifield aicrew qtrs - Latest visit - Disappointment to gobsmacked in an hour !

[Steve T]

Hey guys

Well yesterday, as it was such a lovely day and for once the mrs had nothing planned for me, I made an unexpected visit to the aircrew barracks.

After 3 hours of digging through all the new plant growth, (a devil of a job and not one to be recommended), I had very little to show for my hard work. Then, with only an hour left of search time, I found something that lead to me staying in one spot for over an HOUR !

Disappointment turned to gob-smacked in a very short space of time.

I am now satisfied that the barrack area I have been searching is clear of all finds. I've now searched it thoroughly over 4 separate visits, totalling some 20 hours !!!

On to my finds for the day. To begin with, there weren't many. I found a shed load of 12 bore end caps and they were really annoying me on the day.

Before cleaning..........



After cleaning...............



And now some of the finds in detail.

Firstly, not necessarily WW2 but an interesting 12 bore cap. Pin fire I believe. No idea how old it is though.



A couple of tube tops. Squibb is a pharmaceutical company so probably an antiseptic or pile cream Phillips is more likely shaving cream or such like.



In the same hole as the tube tops, a piece of Naafi plate.



I thought this was junk to begin with, but when i cleaned it up, the ring around the centre reads W.R.A. Co New No. 4. Well I know what WRA stands for so is it the base off a cartridge of some description ? It's quite big, about 4cm in diameter.



Some spent cartridges. 4 .45 cal and one .303 blank



The bases of the 45 cals.....



A fantastic USAAF button. Think it is the type used on their posh dress unifroms.



No I have seen something like this before (although obviously in better condition) but can't quite put my finger on what it is. Interestingly found within a foot of the button........



Ok now here we go.

DON'T SCROLL DOWN YET !


Cast your minds back and you'll remember we are now confident this airfield also, at some point, housed German POWs.

There I am......all disappointed having been searching for 3 hours and found very little......when I decide to search right up against the trees as I usually avoid them when in a new area. I get a detection and dig up a single coin......then another.....then another........Until finally I get THIS lot............













It took me an hour of digging all around the base of a large tree. And I mean up close and personal with the bark and main roots !

I have 2 thoughts on this.

1. The tree was there 65 years ago and the POWs would sit against it having a fag and drop coins. (My wife's idea but I think too many coins for that !)

2. 65 years ago the tree WASN'T there and for some reason the coins were buried or dumped on a spot and a tree happened to grow right up through the middle of the 'deposit', and hence the coins became spread all around the base of the tree. Perhaps someone buried them for safe keeping ?

Perhaps they were having a game of cards and this was the pot when they got called in and left them there ?

Have a closer look.....every single one is German and dated between 1940 and 42. Pictures show front and back of the coins.

10 Pfennigs



5 Pfennigs



1 Pfennig



Close up of the back of some of them.



So this is why I went from disappointed to gob-smacked in the space of an hour. The damn things just kept coming ! 69 WW2 dated German coins with the Swasitka on and EVERYTHING from a site in England

Hope you like em

Steve T

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Steve, once again a great thread!

The item you cannot put you finger on is a US Presidential Unit Citation bar. It would have once held a dark blue ribbon.

Cheers, Ade.

[Steve T]

Unit citation ? WOW !!! Cool

Thanks Ade

PS Sorry i didn't take you with me.....it was a last minute decision

[spotter]

the big cartridge base (4cm) looks like the bottom remains from a 1.5in (very) signal pistol cartridge

[big ned]

Hi Steve,

The 12 bore cartridge base cap is indeed a pinfire type.The case was waxed paper and has rotted away long since.

These types of cartridges were first used over 100 years ago, but are still available today, however, at a hundred quid for 25, they a

re prohibitally expensive!!

[Rifleman]

the pistol cases marked REM-UMC i belive are remington

though nowdays remington mark thiers with R-P

UMC still make ammo for .303 i am told {need some for mine!}

[Steve T]

Thanks Rifleman.......I am a self taught expert on headstamps. Identifying them is easy compared to digging the feckers up !

To be honest I thought you guys would got MAD over the coins i found

Steve T