What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
..in a windowless room behind the military police reception, this thing on the wall:
The cylinder is hollow, sealed (apart from the hole someone has punched in it) and its jacket full of sand.
The hole in its base is corrugated, about 8 inches deep and doesn't go anywhere.
For what it's worth, Skulthorpe was a British airfield, then the Americans took it over in 1945.
Any ideas? We're stumped
The cylinder is hollow, sealed (apart from the hole someone has punched in it) and its jacket full of sand.
The hole in its base is corrugated, about 8 inches deep and doesn't go anywhere.
For what it's worth, Skulthorpe was a British airfield, then the Americans took it over in 1945.
Any ideas? We're stumped
Last edited by Major_Tom on Tue May 02, 2023 2:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What is this?! RAF Skulthorpe exploration
Toilet roll holder
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Re: What is this?! RAF Skulthorpe exploration
Fire blanket ?
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Re: What is this?! RAF Skulthorpe exploration
No it's a hermetically sealed cylinder (or it was till someone put a hole in it) and the hole in its base isn't deep enough to hold s blanket. And the entire thing is well over engineered for that!
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Re: What is this?! RAF Skulthorpe exploration
Can't help feeling it must be some sort of fire protection device. A windowless room was perhaps a fuse or armament store for safety reasons but I can't find anything like that as a fire system
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
I reckon I have seen that thing before , maybe on a war doco
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
Thanks for the replies and thoughts. I heard it may well be a device to check firearms are unloaded. You put the muzzle in the hole in the base, open the action, check for a round, then squeeze the trigger.
https://www.army.mil/article/58684/behi ... o_soldiers
So the room is probably the armoury for the MPs and the cylinder is a cleaning barrel, or slug.
But the mystery continues, why is it upside down? You don't want to be pointing loaded firearms in the air, it introduces an unnecessary step and a dangerous risk
https://www.army.mil/article/58684/behi ... o_soldiers
So the room is probably the armoury for the MPs and the cylinder is a cleaning barrel, or slug.
But the mystery continues, why is it upside down? You don't want to be pointing loaded firearms in the air, it introduces an unnecessary step and a dangerous risk
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
Tom, I think you are correct.
Always have somewhere safe to point your weapon during NSPs. (Normal Safety Precautions)
As to why it is up instead of down, no idea, except it leaves the floor clear for storing stuff.
However, the guard commander (been there, done that) is responsible for checking the chamber to ensure it's clear before you 'clear, ease springs'.
In a windowless room that may be easier to do looking up, rather than down.
Having done night shift guard commander at Marham with live armed guards, I can tell you the responsibility of being 100% certain that chamber is clear is a heavy one!
Always have somewhere safe to point your weapon during NSPs. (Normal Safety Precautions)
As to why it is up instead of down, no idea, except it leaves the floor clear for storing stuff.
However, the guard commander (been there, done that) is responsible for checking the chamber to ensure it's clear before you 'clear, ease springs'.
In a windowless room that may be easier to do looking up, rather than down.
Having done night shift guard commander at Marham with live armed guards, I can tell you the responsibility of being 100% certain that chamber is clear is a heavy one!
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
I dunno Bug , I dont think that thing would contain a 3006 round ( even if full of sand ) and being as how we are blaming the yanks one would have thought there would be at least one bullet hole as ....well .... americans and gun safety...... So yeah nah.......unless said american was aiming dead centre when he blew a hole in the side, which sorta works ( they aint great shots either ) Just wondering how many times a 3006 bullet would ricochet around the inside of a windowless concrete bunker . The possibilities of an own goal are real .
I dunno what it is , dont even know if its complete but I think we keep looking. Youd think red has gotta be for fire or some hot hazzard .
I dunno what it is , dont even know if its complete but I think we keep looking. Youd think red has gotta be for fire or some hot hazzard .
Sometimes I talk to myself ... and we both have a good laugh
Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
Some more photos for you gentlemen
Barrack blocks
Admin / Security HQ
Plotting Room?
Telephone Exchange
Penis
Hope the kids that smashed the place up don't get asbestosis
Barrack blocks
Admin / Security HQ
Plotting Room?
Telephone Exchange
Penis
Hope the kids that smashed the place up don't get asbestosis
I'm the one who leaves all those shoes in the carriageway.
Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
It doesn't have to Hames, the service rifles are .223. But high velocity bullets tend to break up and use up lots of their energy quickly, rather than richochet around like old school round nosed lead. The hole in the base is only 8in deep, which would give the round lots of room to dissipate its energy.Mc Tool wrote: βWed May 03, 2023 8:32 pm I dunno Bug , I dont think that thing would contain a 3006 round ( even if full of sand ) and being as how we are blaming the yanks one would have thought there would be at least one bullet hole as ....well .... americans and gun safety...... So yeah nah.......unless said american was aiming dead centre when he blew a hole in the side, which sorta works ( they aint great shots either ) Just wondering how many times a 3006 bullet would ricochet around the inside of a windowless concrete bunker . The possibilities of an own goal are real .
I dunno what it is , dont even know if its complete but I think we keep looking. Youd think red has gotta be for fire or some hot hazzard .
I feel you about the overengineered nature of it though, one hole and the whole thing has to be replaced or repaired!
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
Nice info Martin, most interesting!Bug wrote: βWed May 03, 2023 6:37 pm Tom, I think you are correct.
Always have somewhere safe to point your weapon during NSPs. (Normal Safety Precautions)
As to why it is up instead of down, no idea, except it leaves the floor clear for storing stuff.
However, the guard commander (been there, done that) is responsible for checking the chamber to ensure it's clear before you 'clear, ease springs'.
In a windowless room that may be easier to do looking up, rather than down.
Having done night shift guard commander at Marham with live armed guards, I can tell you the responsibility of being 100% certain that chamber is clear is a heavy one!
As with a lot of weird stuff in these places, it's often bespoke alterations for unique aspects of the site (like low light in this case maybe) that is the reason, so I like your theory!
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
223 wasnt invented untill 1957Major_Tom wrote: βThu May 04, 2023 9:22 amIt doesn't have to Hames, the service rifles are .223. But high velocity bullets tend to break up and use up lots of their energy quickly, rather than richochet around like old school round nosed lead. The hole in the base is only 8in deep, which would give the round lots of room to dissipate its energy.Mc Tool wrote: βWed May 03, 2023 8:32 pm I dunno Bug , I dont think that thing would contain a 3006 round ( even if full of sand ) and being as how we are blaming the yanks one would have thought there would be at least one bullet hole as ....well .... americans and gun safety...... So yeah nah.......unless said american was aiming dead centre when he blew a hole in the side, which sorta works ( they aint great shots either ) Just wondering how many times a 3006 bullet would ricochet around the inside of a windowless concrete bunker . The possibilities of an own goal are real .
I dunno what it is , dont even know if its complete but I think we keep looking. Youd think red has gotta be for fire or some hot hazzard .
I feel you about the overengineered nature of it though, one hole and the whole thing has to be replaced or repaired!
Sometimes I talk to myself ... and we both have a good laugh
Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
Good point sir.. but the barrel would have been a much later addition in the airfield's life.Mc Tool wrote: βThu May 04, 2023 10:09 am223 wasnt invented untill 1957Major_Tom wrote: βThu May 04, 2023 9:22 amIt doesn't have to Hames, the service rifles are .223. But high velocity bullets tend to break up and use up lots of their energy quickly, rather than richochet around like old school round nosed lead. The hole in the base is only 8in deep, which would give the round lots of room to dissipate its energy.Mc Tool wrote: βWed May 03, 2023 8:32 pm I dunno Bug , I dont think that thing would contain a 3006 round ( even if full of sand ) and being as how we are blaming the yanks one would have thought there would be at least one bullet hole as ....well .... americans and gun safety...... So yeah nah.......unless said american was aiming dead centre when he blew a hole in the side, which sorta works ( they aint great shots either ) Just wondering how many times a 3006 bullet would ricochet around the inside of a windowless concrete bunker . The possibilities of an own goal are real .
I dunno what it is , dont even know if its complete but I think we keep looking. Youd think red has gotta be for fire or some hot hazzard .
I feel you about the overengineered nature of it though, one hole and the whole thing has to be replaced or repaired!
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
We had a similar device on the wall of the Guardroom at RAF Binbrook, I think it had warning signs on it as it was still a working RAF base then but I have been racking my brain for the last 24 hours and I cant remember what they said.
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
"would have been a much later addition " .....ha ha , any half arsed lawyer ( so most of them ) could have a field day with a statement like that .
I was in the RNZAF in the early 80's .....even worked guard duty on the main gate into the airfield ( Woodburn ) but I dont recall seeing one there........tbh if it didnt have tits, a barrel or a motor I probly could have hit my head on it and still not noticed it
I was in the RNZAF in the early 80's .....even worked guard duty on the main gate into the airfield ( Woodburn ) but I dont recall seeing one there........tbh if it didnt have tits, a barrel or a motor I probly could have hit my head on it and still not noticed it
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
Great stuff Tom. Most of the old airfields I have been to have scant remains now but then many ceased operations in the late 1940s.
Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
The control tower was demolished last year sadly - we missed it by weeks!
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration
It is a shame when historical buildings have to come down . Down here ,since the Christchurch earthquake , the powers that be ( yep , them arseholes again ) are declaring various structures "unsafe " and are closing them down . Old churches are a classic case as we like to turn them into homes .
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