Lost sites from the Battle of Britain. R.A.F Kenley's forgotten but vital World War II defences

[@joanmatchett8100]

I love these kinds of video's, you would walk past these things, and never know what they were. We have a lot of concrete pill boxes here , thankfully, most have survived.

[@tacraling]

Thank you so much for your comment. It is, as you said, amazing just how much history we can encounter every day and never realise!

[@quoman2232]

Very interesting.Thanks.😀👍

[@tacraling]

Many thanks for your comment. I'm really glad you enjoyed it!

[@markporter-thechurchhistor6784]

An excellent video,very informative and very well presented👍You should apply for a position on the history channel on tv😀

[@tacraling]

Thank you for your lovely comment. That's very kind! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video. It's nice that the shop has a plaque, and I hope the tower will continue to be left standing.

[@colinthomas5462]

Very interesting I'm enjoying your channel, thanks for sharing 👍

[@tacraling]

Many thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying it! All comments are always most welcome. 🙂👍

[@janlindtner305]

A "random" historical story 👍YES❤👍🤟

[@tacraling]

@janlindtner305 Thank you, Jan. These are the kind of places that can be passed by every day, and yet their history is completely unknown. Many thanks for following the link to this! 👍🙂

[@johno1504]

Wow thank you , so many buildings have been knocked down or forgotten

[@tacraling]

Yes. Let's hope the tower continues to survive!

[@TheNemocharlie]

I have a photograph, taken at 3000 feet, by my wife's uncle, Squadron Leader Dennis, of the airfield in 1937 when they were experimenting with different forms of camouflage for the airfield by attempting to break it up into fields with the use of either paint or diesel. He went on to deserve as a bomber pilot throughout the war, suffering the indignity of being shot down by a German night fighter at dusk over England, only to be mistaken for a German by the locals on the ground who had assembled with pitchforks to greet him when his parachute landed. He died in 2005 but I remember him so well. Looking back, WW2 seems so long ago, yet whilst there were people like him alive, it appeared much closer. We should never forget the sacrifices people of his generation made. We used to live in a road where there was a house where Douglas Bader spent a lot of time at parties and also was the home of the air attaché to our Embassy in Moscow, who also flew Hurricanes and Spitfires in WW2. Thanks for such an interesting video. In the future, please could you include a brief visit to the church adjacent to Kenley primary school? Buried in the church yard are a number of Polish air men who died at RAF Kenley, and if my memory serves me, 2 German crew. I'm sure you will know this, but at certain times of the year you can clearly see the bomb craters left by the Germans outlined in the vegetation on Kenley Common, particularly at the point where Kenley Lane, if extended, would meet the airfield.

[@tacraling]

@TheNemocharlie First of all, thank you so much for subscribing and for your lovely comment. It is greatly appreciated, and thank you also for sharing your information as well. Your wife's uncle must have been a remarkable character. With regard to the churchyard next to Kenley Primary School, do you actually mean Whyteleafe Primary School, which is at the bottom of the hill from Kenley Aerodrome? If so, that's St Luke's Church, and its churchyard contains "Airmen's Corner." That has many servicemen's graves from Kenley, many of which are pre-World War II. I have made a number of videos there, which you'll find on my channel. Coincidentally, I've just filmed another one, and I'll be uploading it in the next day or so. Please look out for it. All thoughts and comments are always most welcome. Thanks again. 👍🙂

[@stuarthiggins9161]

In the 1980’s I lived in the bungalows just behind you facing the entrance to RAF Kenley. It was said that the bungalow had housed some of the injured service men and that the damage to the door architraves was due to the wheelchairs they used. There were a lot more buildings on the airfield at that time, some derelict and the area was used for a film Winter Flight in 1984. The entrance to the airfield was also used in the film Reach for The Sky about Douglas Bader in 1956. I didn’t know about the shop in the valley, but for many years in the 70’s/80’s it was a freezer centre.

[@tacraling]

Excellent, Stuart! Thank you so much for the additional information! I had no idea about the injured servicemen or the filming at the aerodrome. However, at the start of "Reach for the Sky" there's a cricket scene, and that was filmed in the Whyteleafe Recreation Ground! You're also spot on with the freezer shop. It was "Dalgety Freezer Shop" in the 1960s before later becoming "Cordon Bleu". It closed in the early 1990s. Thanks again for watching and commenting. Have you subscribed to the channel?

[@penny1454]

I love the uploads Very informative Thanks for sharing

[@tacraling]

Thank you for watching, Penny, and I'm very pleased that you like what you've seen so far. 😀 👍

[@pooooornopigeon]

Another excellent informative video, and all round my old stomping grounds.

[@tacraling]

Thanks for your comment. It's always a pleasure to hear from you! Watch out for another video coming soon about All Saints' Church at Warlingham. I've made a return visit to look at more of the general history of the church and its graveyard, following the requests and comments I received after the first film. It's a lovely place, and I had a gloriously sunny day this time!🙂

[@pooooornopigeon]

@@tacraling I played tennis at the club near there and used to fish for tadpoles, chubb, rudd, barbel and sticklebacks in the ponds near there too, small world eh ?

[@tacraling]

@@pooooornopigeon It is indeed!

[@visitingdeadadventures]

Very interesting ,,outstanding video .i am bad for just pulling up on where i am trying to go ,and just walking on over where it is ,and not worried about it being on someone property. LOL.😅😂

[@tacraling]

😅👍

[@visitingdeadadventures]

@@tacraling ❤👍

[@chrismccartney8668]

Great what it is hidden in full view. I go sailing off Essex Coast and had seen Bradwell Bay and control tower and runways but when sailing down the coast towards the river crouch there were a couple markers for wrecks in shallow water it turn out these target wrecks for testing and training with rockets etc for aircraftbased at Bradwell Bay..

[@tacraling]

Many thanks for your comment and information. You're absolutely right. There's a lot around from World War II that goes unnoticed. So much was constructed so quickly and then abandoned as the danger passed. Sadly, that meant a lot of sites remain forgotten.

[@thegolds1567]

As young children living in Caterham my brother and I climbed this Bofors tower in the early 50's until some sensible person removed the metal access ladder.

[@tacraling]

Wow, that's a great story! I bet you got an amazing view from there! Thanks for watching and commenting. I hope the video brought back some happy memories for you. Please take a look at my other films, as they include many locations around the Caterham area.

[@JamesWilliamson-w8y]

Most of RAF Kenley is "Common Land" making it impossible to build any permanent structure on it. Today it is legal for anyone to exercise their dog on the runway. That's the ATC 's problem.

[@tacraling]

@JamesWilliamson-w8y There's been a perimeter fence there for many years now, which was quite controversial when it was first erected. It's nice to still be able to get close and access the aircraft blast pens, etc. Many thanks for watching. 👍