Digger crew's thrilling find recalls town's wartime past

Jan 15 2008 By The Journal

The building of 15 new apartments in Thornaby has also lead to an exciting historic discovery, as Sarah Judd discovered.

IT was always going to be a prestigious development. A new housing project to build 15 apartments on the former site of Thornaby Aerodrome – which was a base for Hudson bombers during the Second World War – had to be something special. But as it turned out, there was even more to the site’s heritage than first met the eye.

So much so that Maineside Developments, the Middlesbrough-based construction company behind the scheme, is now recognising the historic importance of the site by naming it Lancaster Lodge.

Building work on the site, off Martinet Road, was temporarily halted when engineers found an enormous concrete block buried there.

Initially, it was thought to be an unchartered bunker or gun turret, and the developers put out an appeal for old records of buildings on the airfield.

But investigations, which included the checking of Luftwaffe photographs from 1940 and Russian spy satellite images from the Cold War, along with the help of local war historians, proved it to be an underground operations centre in case of air raids.

After looking at the photos and Russian spy maps, one image showing a command centre was found, and experts believe this to be an old picture of the site.

To reflect the discovery, Maineside Developments took the decision to dedicate the new homes to the town’s role during the Second World War, by naming the site Lancaster Lodge.

And the different styles of apartments also have names on a war theme.

Homeowners can buy one-bedroom apartments called Hudson or Mountbatten, and two-bedroom apartments called Montgomery or Churchill.

Showhomes and a sales office recently opened on the site.

Kevin Slade, commercial manager at Maineside, said: “Thanks to the airbase, Thornaby still has strong associations with the war and, thanks to actions like ours to record those links in new developments, we are helping to ensure that heritage is kept alive for generations to come.”

Thornaby Aerodrome came into existence in 1930, when the Auxiliary Airforce 608 Bomber Squadron was formed.

Early in the war, the station transferred to RAF Coastal Command and, famously, a Lockheed Hudson aircraft flying from Thornaby discovered the German prison ship Altmark, off Norway, enabling the Royal Navy to capture the vessel and release all the prisoners.

Aircraft of 608 squadron also took part in the hunt for German battleships Bismark and Tirpitz.

They found the Tirpitz hiding in Tromso Fjord, which resulted in her bombing by RAF Lancasters.

The 401 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force flew Spitfires from the aerodrome – now home to Lancaster Lodge – in the spring of 1943 during coastal patrols to defend convoys against raiding Luftwaffe bombers targeting Teesside industries and coastal towns.

The Thornaby Bag, an early development for dropping supplies to ditched aircrew, was named after RAF Thornaby, where it was developed. It consisted of a container of food and first-aid supplies.

The aerodrome finally closed in 1958.

A lifesize replica of a spitfire fighter plane also stands proudly in the centre of Thornaby, to commemorate the town’s wartime history.

The Spitfire – made famous during the Battle of Britain– is installed on the Thornaby Road/Bader Avenue roundabout.

The letters on the side of the fibreglass replica are the codes of two squadrons which flew Spitfires from RAF Thornaby.