What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

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Major_Tom
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What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Major_Tom »

..in a windowless room behind the military police reception, this thing on the wall:

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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.

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For what it's worth, Skulthorpe was a British airfield, then the Americans took it over in 1945.

Any ideas? We're stumped :headscratch:
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

Post by Mc Tool »

Toilet roll holder😁
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Re: What is this?! RAF Skulthorpe exploration

Post by Jasonmarie »

Fire blanket ?
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Re: What is this?! RAF Skulthorpe exploration

Post by Major_Tom »

Mc Tool wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 5:23 am Toilet roll holder😁
One would physically fit in there, but... :lol:
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Re: What is this?! RAF Skulthorpe exploration

Post by Major_Tom »

Jasonmarie wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 2:51 pm Fire blanket ?
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

Post by Peter-S »

Major_Tom wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2023 8:43 am
Jasonmarie wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 2:51 pm Fire blanket ?
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!
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 systemπŸ€”
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Mc Tool »

I reckon I have seen that thing before , maybe on a war doco πŸ€”
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Major_Tom »

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 :headscratch:
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Bug »

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!
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Mc Tool »

😁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 )πŸ˜‚ 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 .πŸ™‚πŸ€”
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

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Some more photos for you gentlemen

Barrack blocks

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Admin / Security HQ

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Plotting Room?

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Telephone Exchange

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Penis©️

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Hope the kids that smashed the place up don't get asbestosis :(
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Major_Tom »

Mc Tool wrote: ↑Wed 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 )πŸ˜‚ 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 .πŸ™‚πŸ€”
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.

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

Post by Major_Tom »

Bug wrote: ↑Wed 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!
Nice info Martin, most interesting!

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

Post by Mc Tool »

Major_Tom wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 9:22 am
Mc Tool wrote: ↑Wed 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 )πŸ˜‚ 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 .πŸ™‚πŸ€”
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.

I feel you about the overengineered nature of it though, one hole and the whole thing has to be replaced or repaired!
223 wasnt invented untill 1957 πŸ˜‹πŸ˜
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Major_Tom »

Mc Tool wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 10:09 am
Major_Tom wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 9:22 am
Mc Tool wrote: ↑Wed 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 )πŸ˜‚ 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 .πŸ™‚πŸ€”
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.

I feel you about the overengineered nature of it though, one hole and the whole thing has to be replaced or repaired!
223 wasnt invented untill 1957 πŸ˜‹πŸ˜
Good point sir.. but the barrel would have been a much later addition in the airfield's life.
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by SCP440 »

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

Post by Mc Tool »

😁"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 πŸ˜†.
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 πŸ˜†
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Peter-S »

Major_Tom wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 8:53 am Some more photos for you gentlemen

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.
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Major_Tom »

Peter-S wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 5:24 pm
Major_Tom wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 8:53 am Some more photos for you gentlemen

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.
πŸ‘ The control tower was demolished last year sadly - we missed it by weeks!
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Re: What is this?! RAF Sculthorpe exploration

Post by Mc Tool »

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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