It wasn’t just Handley Paige Hampdens and Avro Lancasters that got scrapped at RAF Tollerton.
Aerial pictures from Historic England, taken in 1944, show the range of aircraft which were scrapped, and just some of the locations where the burning, bashing (and burying?) took place.
These locations include the land that Vistry want to build on and the land that Taylor Wimpey have the option on in the northern section of the wartime airfield.
Expanded sections of some of the Historic England images clearly show dispersals around that northern part where you can see many aircraft in various stages of dismemberment.
The identifiable ones shown here include an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, a Short Stirling and several single engines aircraft including a Westland Lysander and some Miles Magisters.
Every one of these dismantled aircraft on the grass and on the dispersals (you can clearly see the burn marks) would have contained a whole raft of compounds that are harmful to health. And – as yet – no one has undertaken a comprehensive contamination survey of the airfield to cover all of these harmful compounds.
Bash, burn and bury has left a legacy in this land.
We need to make sure this legacy cannot be ignored!
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