Little mechanized winter trip

[housil]

Yesterday we had a beautiful day around 0°C and sun. So I met a friend and we drove into a former US installation that was already a German Airfield in WW2.

Remains of WW2 anti aircraft shelter

One out of three buildings

Close up of stairs

Using our cold war era military radios to communicate

Had a break...

...with MRE cakes, coffee and cocoa

[Norton]

I like the photos looks like you had a great day in the field. There is something special about hot coffee in the field.
That old airfield looks very interesting. One of my co-worker lived on a US/West German airfield in the late 1950's
He said one of their favorite pastimes was exploring the woods and WW 2 era concrete buildings for any relics.

[housil]

Many former German Wehrmacht installations where taken over by the US after WW2 and kept on duty, like the airfield I´m working next to. "We" had the famous ME262 flying there.

[rationtin440]

Very cool pics housil! One of my hobbies as many of the board members probly know by now, is finding and touring cold war communications sites (AT&T, Western Union) that are abandoned and other cold war stuff. I'm curious, did you notice any kind of nuclear-hardened stuff there or any air vents/hatches in the ground? Near where I live there is a "sensitive communications site" which was once part of AT&Ts AUTOVON communications system. It is accessible by a long winding road up a hill in the middle of nowhere. A friend of mine does plowing for the town it is in and every time "they" need it plowed, he has to call ahead and have "an employee" meet him at the gate for the 2 mile drive to the site itself. With all of the snow that western Massachusetts has been getting lately, my friend is pretty busy. One day he even asked about the place and was politely told he had to prove that he needed the information, Another thing I recall reading about is the Germans during WW2 would paint concrete buildings to resemble wood structures as a means of camouflage, just like the British did.

[rationtin440]

Looks like you guys were well prepped for the field housil! Back when my national guard unit was still issued MCIs, I'd sometimes save any extra poundcake, vanilla fudge disks, and toffee disks that may have "accumulated" in my ambulance on sunday after we got back from the field. Those with a canteen cup of coffee powder, cocoa powder, dry creamer (and of course boiling water ) would keep my cousins and I energized for long hikes in the winter time. Ah the 1980s, lol! Also I was wondering if you have had any opportunities to take pics of the interiors of these places.

[rationtin440]

I'm sorry tthat this did not post as part of my previous posting housil, but the 3rd pic you posted reminds me alot of this place about 90 minutes drive from me here in western MA. http://coldwar-ma.com/ATT_Chesterfield.html The place is now a factory which makes vinyl filing systems, here is what it looks like now. http://chesterfieldcustom.com

[elandil]

awesome pics, would love to have a day out like that.