Another location that’s been on the list of places to visit for the last few years checked off and completed! Explored with the one and only RelictaSpiritus, and bumping into Tiny Urban Exploration and some new explorers.
Making this the second location of the day with rapidly deteriorating weather and light conditions, we made our way through the various live fire and warning signs to find one of the largest collections of rusted machinery I had ever set upon exploring.
Interestingly, I always had this place down as a military vehicle dump given its ex RAF location, however despite the odd military vehicle I would have said it’s more of a digger dump than anything.
Making our way through the dismal wind and rain, trying to dry my camera lens on any last remaining dry part of my t-shirt and spotting who later turned out to be Tiny Urban Exploration in the distance the far opposite end of the runway, the time came to vacate the site and dry off.
That’s where I would say things became interesting, after opting for the quick route out back towards the main gate.
Just as we approach the gates, a car comes flying towards us with the passenger door already open in some sort of dramatic attempt to appear intimidating. The car comes to a stop and out comes a rather angry short farmer type claiming we had set of numerous alarms and he had calls from the police saying he had a “break in”.
Not feeling the mood for a debate, we simply apologised and were about to leave when he continues asking us what we were doing, to which we responded simply with “we went for a walk”, still clearly with camera tripods and all sorts on show. He continued pointing at his private sign and stating how we can’t simply walk where we want and how he doesn’t just walk around our back gardens, blatantly fishing for an argument.
Feeling quite amused I took my phone out of my pocket and began recording, expecting things to escalate, however he took this as his cue to pipe down after a very long awkward 10 seconds of silence. I debate giving this a share or not! *insert amused emoji*
The site is well worth a mooch about, perhaps in better weather conditions and if you’re prepared for a hilarious short farmer type.
History as per, pinched from Wikipedia.
Royal Air Force Station Folkingham or RAF Folkingham is a former Royal Air Force station located south west of Folkingham, Lincolnshire and about 29 miles (47 km) due south of county town Lincoln and 112 miles (180 km) north of London, England.
Opened in 1940, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as a troop carrier airfield for airborne units and as a subsidiary training depot of the newly formed Royal Air Force Regiment. After the war it was placed on care and maintenance during 1947 when the RAF Regiment relocated to RAF Catterick.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the RAF Bomber Command used Folkingham as a PGM-17 Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) base.
Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields, with the main north-south runway acting as hardstanding for hundreds of scrapped vehicles.
