21 November 2010

RAF Rednal



Parent to nearby RAF Montford Bridge, the station at Rednal was operated for the same period, and by the same training unit. Its three runways, in the form of an almost equilateral triangle, were also used by the US Air Force to bring back to military hospitals in Shropshire, using Douglas Dakotas, soldiers wounded in Normandy.



The range of training exercises undertaken at Rednal - reconnaissance, cross-country, fast ascent and low flying, flying by instruments and in formation, bomber accompaniment and dogfight practice - resulted in a number of accidents. In 1977 the body of Pilot Officer Jean Noizet was recovered from his cockpit: during WWII he had crashed into nearby woods after collision with another Spitfire. The remains of his aircraft are in the museum at RAF Cosford.



The control tower is now the centrepiece of a paintballing arena; and a section of one of the runways is given over to a karting circuit. A nearby fortified farmhouse has three brick-faced pillbox embrasures. The various hangars and support buildings are in either agricultural or light industrial use. In one yard are stored an Austin K9 truck and a number of fairground rides.

2 comments:

Steve R Bishop said...

I'm currently writing my own blog piece on this amazing place. The vehicle is long gone, but I found some seagul trenches, and a few ruins that weren't on the industrial estate, farmland, or paintballing.

YMGW said...

Thank-you Luke - I shall check out your blog.