Old military remains, Lincolnshire...

[Shaun Haselden]

Battle scars on the landscape. One of countless airfield remains on the countryside in Lincolnshire. This is at a place called Kelstern. Love these old places. So much 'atmosphere'. I was born and I grew up in Lincolnshire surrounded by these old remnants.

 

[Tony Warren]

Hi Shaun. I lived in Lincolnshire for may years, in Cranwell south of Lincoln. Known as "Bomber County" so many Lancaster squadrons were based there in WWII, many of them on the edge of the escarpment between Grantham and Lincoln so that taking off into the west with a full load they had some height to lose as the gained speed I would imagine! Your image captures the mood so well. the old concrete taxi-way leading the eye to the stacked straw bales that could be an old military building. The barbed wire gives it that added touch and the monochrome, heavy sky all add to the mood. Lovely result.

 

[Shaun Haselden]

Hi Shaun. I lived in Lincolnshire for may years, in Cranwell south of Lincoln. Known as "Bomber County" so many Lancaster squadrons were based there in WWII, many of them on the edge of the escarpment between Grantham and Lincoln so that taking off into the west with a full load they had some height to lose as the gained speed I would imagine! Your image captures the mood so well. the old concrete taxi-way leading the eye to the stacked straw bales that could be an old military building. The barbed wire gives it that added touch and the monochrome, heavy sky all add to the mood. Lovely result.

Tony, thank you for your comments. Since being a child in the north of Lincolnshire I have been drawn to these historic sites. I had a family member with connections to RAF Grimsby before it was even a Royal Air Force station. So much history, so much to say. For me it is not about blue skies and fluffy clouds because they are so rare. For me it is about the reality of rain and mud. This place is grim and those airmen had to face death every day they lived and flew. I want to show how barren Lincolnshire is and how hopeless their situation was. Black and white then ? Definitely. Grey, grim clouds ? Definitely. High contrast/high sharpness. Definitely.

 

[Shaun Haselden]

Here is the latest in my project covering old military/airfield images. This is one of the old runways at what was RAF Kelstern. Once again, I am always emotionally connected to the sheer loneliness of the place. How can somewhere once so noisy, busy and horrific now be so deathly quiet..? It is as though the land is still healing.

 

[Shaun Haselden]

Here is the latest in my project covering old military/airfield images. This is one of the old runways at what was RAF Kelstern. Once again, I am always emotionally connected to the sheer loneliness of the place. How can somewhere once so noisy, busy and horrific now be so deathly quiet..? It is as though the land is still healing.

I have just sat and looked at this image and it has a striking resemblance to the old French battlefields of WWI. Not intended by me though.

 

[Tony Warren]

Tony, thank you for your comments. Since being a child in the north of Lincolnshire I have been drawn to these historic sites. I had a family member with connections to RAF Grimsby before it was even a Royal Air Force station. So much history, so much to say. For me it is not about blue skies and fluffy clouds because they are so rare. For me it is about the reality of rain and mud. This place is grim and those airmen had to face death every day they lived and flew. I want to show how barren Lincolnshire is and how hopeless their situation was. Black and white then ? Definitely. Grey, grim clouds ? Definitely. High contrast/high sharpness. Definitely.

Coincidentally I lived in Grimsby before moving the Cranwell. RAF Grimsby would be the airfield where the nueclear response missiles were based I guess. North Cotes I believe. Your comments regarding the brave men who flew in those lumbering bombers struck a chord. An uncle of mine was a tail gunner in a Lancaster and was killed over Holland.

 

[Shaun Haselden]

Coincidentally I lived in Grimsby before moving the Cranwell. RAF Grimsby would be the airfield where the nueclear response missiles were based I guess. North Cotes I believe. Your comments regarding the brave men who flew in those lumbering bombers struck a chord. An uncle of mine was a tail gunner in a Lancaster and was killed over Holland.

Tony, the nuclear missiles you refer to were Thor IRBM's and were based all over Lincolnshire at places such as Caistor and Ludford Magna. The finest, best preserved of these is easily the one at Caistor. North Cotes housed Bloodhound's which were for the defence of the then V Bomber bases. I think Bloodhound missiles were also at Barkston Heath.

Deeply sad to hear of your uncle. Brave men who had no choice. So many in so many countries. My uncle was James H Haselden who learned to fly out of what was then Waltham aerodrome. He then joined the Civil Air Guard also at Waltham but when this became RAF Grimsby he moved to Brough as an RAFVR. During a flight in which he was tutoring a student pilot at Brough, another pilot in the area flew into them. That pilot died straight away, James died a few days later but the student survived dying years later.

 

[Tony Warren]

That was a tragic accident Shaun and cost three lives. Simply awful. Thanks for putting me right about the airfields and missiles. It has brought it all back for me - it is 50 years ago that we lived there - I had completely forgotten about Waltham. And I can picture the missiles at North Cotes and they were too small to be the ones I said. Spiky things, all pointing out to the east.