End of an era, Felixstowe Port removes last Naval air station building [Photo Plug]

[michael davies]

End of an era, Felixstowe Port removes last Naval air station building [Photo Plug]

Friday saw the start of the demolition of the very last Naval air station building of note, there are one or two smaller WC blocks and sheds but the last remaining hanger from before WWI was fenced off and the contractors moved in. I was fortunate when the building became disused to gain access to the interior for a photo shoot and again today part way through the demolition.

Initially the hanger was used for seaplanes and was unique in that it had two overhead traveling cranes, these were used to load the seaplanes into special made pallets and these where then stacked up, these cranes survived nearly 100 years and can be seen up in the roof space of the internal images, there were two cranes, one each side of the centrally running support structure.

Three hangers were originally erected in 1913 and construction was carried out by Bolton & Paul Ltd of Norwich, number 3 was the last remaining survivor,the other two were pulled down many years ago due to structural issues and site clearance. Originally clad in corrugated sheeting (covered in a thick black obnoxious tar like paint), number three hanger lasted long enough to be re clad in the more modern angle stamped sheeting.

There was lots of talk of the hanger being removed piecemeal to IWM Duxford, however a survey revealed that too much damage would be done during the removal (due to its riveted truss construction) and the building would become nothing more than scrap, therefore the building remained in service for many more years as a transit shed for Tescos.

When the new Terminal was authorized the hanger fell within the contractors site and its last use was as a covered site to make the concrete shapes required for the new quay, this work has now been completed and the site is now required to be cleared for the new container terminal.

Attached some images of the hanger.

Good bye RNAS Felixstowe, you served your country well.

 

[michael davies]

The external images.

 

[Pips]

So what's going up in place of it all?

 

[wilycoyote4]

perhaps there is a scenery maker who can put it in FSX

 

[michael davies]

So what's going up in place of it all?

Nothing, the area will be cleared and the top surface removed, new drains will be added and the whole area re-covered in block paving, on this will be stored hundreds of containers for the new terminal which is being built on the site.

 

[Ken Stallings]

Nothing, the area will be cleared and the top surface removed, new drains will be added and the whole area re-covered in block paving, on this will be stored hundreds of containers for the new terminal which is being built on the site.

Would it be safe then to presume once the terminal is constructed that this becomes additional tarmac for parking?

Ken

 

[michael davies]

Would it be safe then to presume once the terminal is constructed that this becomes additional tarmac for parking?

Ken

Ken not quite, we prefer block paving, due to the terminal construction (a very deep base of sea sand) we use man made blocks, these are laid by hand, millions of them, literally !. Due to ground movement and the weight of the container stacking cranes (250T) these tend to shift a little and settle, so its much easier over time to dig up the small effected area, re-level and then put blocks back. Areas that are tarmac'd will not take the weight with out a substantial hardcore base underneath. Some areas are concrete and that is up to 18" thick to take the weight of the cranes.

Additionally this will become storage for containers, stacked 5 high that gives a footprint loading of 150T maximum per column, there are seven columns between the crane legs, therefore the technical max loading in each zone with a crane is approximately 1300T.

Heres a couple of pictures grabbed off the net, the tank containers are only stowed two high for safety reasons, everything else is five high.

Best

Michael

 

[Ken Stallings]

Excellent information! Thanks for sharing it!

Ken

 

[spatialpro]

I'm horrified it didn't have a preservation order on it....

 

[michael davies]

I'm horrified it didn't have a preservation order on it....

It did, sort of !, too many things conspired against it really, its right in the middle of a new container terminal a flag ship for UK business, there was no future trade or traffic for it within the new terminal and a survey carried out showed that taking it down would cause even more damage, it was rumored to go to IWM Duxford but the fact that it could not be effectively taken down precluded any restoration project. The whole hanger is riveted together with 25mm rivets, the sort of thing used to join ship plates, there are no bolted joints so to dismantle would have required hundreds of rivets to be burnt out, I did mange to 'obtain' a complete rivet and a plate (twisted from the cutting up process) with a rivet through it as some sort of personal memorabilia but the rest will be fridges or cans by the end of the year. Good quality scrap metal like this is in very high demand, especially in China, who ironically own the Port ?, go figure !.

I had one last look this morning as I left work, only one small corner wall remained as well as the center beam for the cranes, by the end of the weekend there will be nothing left standing and by this time next week I suspect the whole area to be completely cleared TBH.

The control tower was unique as well, one of only two built to this type, but again it was right in the middle of the new terminal and was one of the first buildings to go.

Sadly we've become a nation of consumers, nearly 60% of box moves are goods in wards and 20% of exports are empty boxes going back out to be refilled with cheap foreign imports, when your shifting over 3 million boxes a year and looking to keep share holders happy with the expected 17% profit each year you need to expand and thus as always, history gets bulldozed. It is Ironic that these hangers saw the introduction of one of the first UK container service's when Sealand started their Atlantic 1 service in 1966, ironic in that it'll be containers that brought about their demise.

 

[James Maskell]

Friday saw the start of the demolition of the very last Naval air station building of note, there are one or two smaller WC blocks and sheds but the last remaining hanger from before WWI was fenced off and the contractors moved in. I was fortunate when the building became disused to gain access to the interior for a photo shoot and again today part way through the demolition.

Initially the hanger was used for seaplanes and was unique in that it had two overhead traveling cranes, these were used to load the seaplanes into special made pallets and these where then stacked up, these cranes survived nearly 100 years and can be seen up in the roof space of the internal images, there were two cranes, one each side of the centrally running support structure.

Three hangers were originally erected in 1913 and construction was carried out by Bolton & Paul Ltd of Norwich, number 3 was the last remaining survivor,the other two were pulled down many years ago due to structural issues and site clearance. Originally clad in corrugated sheeting (covered in a thick black obnoxious tar like paint), number three hanger lasted long enough to be re clad in the more modern angle stamped sheeting.

There was lots of talk of the hanger being removed piecemeal to IWM Duxford, however a survey revealed that too much damage would be done during the removal (due to its riveted truss construction) and the building would become nothing more than scrap, therefore the building remained in service for many more years as a transit shed for Tescos.

When the new Terminal was authorized the hanger fell within the contractors site and its last use was as a covered site to make the concrete shapes required for the new quay, this work has now been completed and the site is now required to be cleared for the new container terminal.

Attached some images of the hanger.

Good bye RNAS Felixstowe, you served your country well.

Not sure if this his how you reply to one of these forum things (never done one before) but here goes:

Great photos - and a very sad day. I have sailed out and back past the hangar for the last 15 years and it has always had a kind of sentimental attraction to me: my grandfather was at Felixstowe for about 9 months in 1917 and having tried to discover a bit about some of the places he was stationed it is almost the only one where there was anything left. We took the boat out yesterday afternoon and it seems everything has gone now, with a shipload of enormous new cranes arriving - great for the port, which really is impressive - but a little sad for those of us who will miss that landmark of another age. If there's any chance of a bit of scrap iron as a souvenir (even a rivet) I'd certainly be interested - though I'd imagine it is all probably on its way to China by now.

 

[michael davies]

Not sure if this his how you reply to one of these forum things (never done one before) but here goes:

Great photos - and a very sad day. I have sailed out and back past the hangar for the last 15 years and it has always had a kind of sentimental attraction to me: my grandfather was at Felixstowe for about 9 months in 1917 and having tried to discover a bit about some of the places he was stationed it is almost the only one where there was anything left. We took the boat out yesterday afternoon and it seems everything has gone now, with a shipload of enormous new cranes arriving - great for the port, which really is impressive - but a little sad for those of us who will miss that landmark of another age. If there's any chance of a bit of scrap iron as a souvenir (even a rivet) I'd certainly be interested - though I'd imagine it is all probably on its way to China by now.

If you'd posted a week ago then the answer would have probably been yes, but I'm off shift now and not back until later in the week so highly unlikely I'll be able to source a piece for you, but I'll try, the best time will be when I'm on nights next weekend but I fear by then it'll all be gone. There may be some small pieces lodged into a corner some where, I did manage to procur a couple of small pieces myself. I will try for you, but can promise nothing I'm afraid.

There has been a massive clear up going on, the new terminal sits right on top of the old oil and gas jetty so that had to be removed, what wasnt so obvious was the removal of the tank farm in land, several tanks, some very large had to be removed and the area is being cleaned up, also gone is the old mill, one of the very first buildings to be built there, long before the seaplane base was conceived, ironically it was only during demolition that the scars from a plane crash became visable, a returning RAF Hampden flew too low up the river and hit one of our own barrage balloons and crashed into the mill, tragically killing the crew and one mill worker.

Images show mill complete, mill with main building removed and repaired area on adjacent building and old control tower.

 

[James Maskell]

If you'd posted a week ago then the answer would have probably been yes, but I'm off shift now and not back until later in the week so highly unlikely I'll be able to source a piece for you, but I'll try, the best time will be when I'm on nights next weekend but I fear by then it'll all be gone. There may be some small pieces lodged into a corner some where, I did manage to procur a couple of small pieces myself. I will try for you, but can promise nothing I'm afraid.

There has been a massive clear up going on, the new terminal sits right on top of the old oil and gas jetty so that had to be removed, what wasnt so obvious was the removal of the tank farm in land, several tanks, some very large had to be removed and the area is being cleaned up, also gone is the old mill, one of the very first buildings to be built there, long before the seaplane base was conceived, ironically it was only during demolition that the scars from a plane crash became visable, a returning RAF Hampden flew too low up the river and hit one of our own barrage balloons and crashed into the mill, tragically killing the crew and one mill worker.

Images show mill complete, mill with main building removed and repaired area on adjacent building and old control tower.

Thanks very much (sad to see all that history go) and please do keep me posted if anything shows up. I'm still kicking myself for not trying to blag my way past security to have a look around a couple of years ago. We bottled it at the last minute because we thought we might be mistaken for terrorists or smugglers or something.