Wig Bay Flying Boat apron/hangar area ?

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19 years 1 month

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Just sorting through old pics,I am fairly sure this was part of the wig bay RAF base nr Stranrear,pics taken in 1987 during tour of scotland in tastefully coloured VW camper :D
looks like location is just on south side of the wig bay holiday park.
Just a little further north was the main parking area

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/volvosmoker/OldSarum015.jpg

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/volvosmoker/OldSarum014.jpg

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/volvosmoker/OldSarum013.jpg

regards baz

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18 years 11 months

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Unless they have trains with four wheels in parallel in Scotland, that is the remains of a hangar!:)

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19 years 1 month

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Unless they have trains with four wheels in parallel in Scotland, that is the remains of a hangar!:)

Absolutely agree,the area i photographed is outlined in light blue on the GE image and i assume was the servicing area,further north outlined in darker blue was the main parking area,with other bays in between.
Anybody got any photos of wig bay during ww2 ??

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/volvosmoker/wigbay1.jpg

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24 years 2 months

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A view of Wig Bay taken July 1955, a scan of a snap shot from my collection....Check out all those moth-balled Sunderlands..oh for a time machine!

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Thanks chumpy...got any more ??:D
Might be worth putting these type of pics on photobucket or similar,because you can post bigger images on here.
Do you know roughly where that shot was taken ??

cheers baz

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24 years 2 months

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Hi Baz...OK here's another one, alas I have never been to Wig Bay so no real idea of the layout of the place. The photos only small snapshots so not exactly high-res.

They were taken by an old boy I knew (now sadly passed away), he was a keen spotter back in the 50s. The photos taken during a Scotland 'bash' in July 1955. I have his spotting log for the trip though strangely no entry for Wig Bay.
Not sure what the status of the place was back then, presumably still 'active' what with all the aircraft lying about. So perhaps a bit of sneaky visit, no written notes etc, the collecting of military serials / photography of air bases viewed with suspicion back then!

Chumpy.

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19 years 1 month

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Thanks again chumpy...sorry just assumed you had been there :D
still might be worth putting some of these shots on photobucket,you can post larger images on here and i dont think there is a limit on the number of pics you can post.

some nice pics on here...

http://www.rhaywood.karoo.net/personal/raf/raf.html

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Chumpy...I think when your 'old boy' took the photos at wig bay...the place was pretty much running down...possibly closed in oct 1957

cheers baz

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and an aerial photo ...

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19 years 1 month

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nice pic of the main parking area,showing two of the slips as well

cheers baz

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19 years 1 month

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Done a bit more digging this morning...some aerial pics

1 Luftwaffe recconnaissance feb 1941
2+3 RAF survey 1947
4 from RCAHMS

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/volvosmoker/canmore_image_797388.jpg

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/volvosmoker/canmore_image_802944.jpg

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/volvosmoker/canmore_image_682530.jpg

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/volvosmoker/canmore_image_DP052017.jpg

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http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/sunderlandnut/EX78PP163.jpg

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Nice shot Sunderlandnut...do you have any more or a link to any more

thanks Baz

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24 years 2 months

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Baz,
I checked out the notes again today, the first shot shows a view of the southern perimeter road, edge of Loch Ryan to the right. The Sunderlands are SZ566, RN282, ML881, VB888, PP154.

The second shot view of Northern perimeter ML763 visible.

Also came across a vintage newspaper clipping from March 1960..everything must go!

Chumpy.

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16 years 2 months

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Hello Baz

The shot of PP163 above was from Ken Delve’s book “Short Sunderland” Crowood 2000.
The following are from FlyPast mag July 2000 “Wig Bay Days” by Les Still.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/sunderlandnut/DC88NJ200.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/sunderlandnut/DC89PP161.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/sunderlandnut/DC87B.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/sunderlandnut/DC88B.jpg

Contact me by PM if you would like a scan of the article.

Cheers
Richard

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17 years 5 months

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Interesting thread. I've seen a few photos of the rows of aircraft on a local TV documentary, but it seems you have some very similar ones above. Can I ask where you found them? Wig Bay is on my list of places to do more research on.

There's a couple of nice pics on this page which show a view from the water to the open fronted sheds on shore.
http://www.rhaywood.karoo.net/personal/raf/raf.html(scroll about halfway down)

I went through the unit ORB quite a while ago on another project. In July 1951, Short and Harland (beating three others) got the contract to continue the Sunderland servicing and and the RAF handed the site over from Sept 51. As a result, there is nothing in the ORB after that date.
The Sunderland went out of service in the UK in 1957 so many of the stored boats were scrapped at that time - the Singapore Sunderlands continuing until 1959.

Allan

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17 years 7 months

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Just sorting through old pics,I am fairly sure this was part of the wig bay RAF base nr Stranrear,pics taken in 1987 during tour of scotland in tastefully coloured VW camper :D
looks like location is just on south side of the wig bay holiday park.
Just a little further north was the main parking area

regards baz

Guess it's this place

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19 years 1 month

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Thanks for all the input so far everybody,was a bit tied up yesterday,but will catch up properly during the week.
Nobody has commented on pic 2 in my first post...I thought it might be part of some beaching gear but also that the wheels looked a wee bit small for anything relevant to a large flying boat...any ideas anybody ??

regards baz

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

I'm sure that is only a dinghy trailer and does not have any aviation connection!