Researcher Stuart Hayman visits the former RAF Culmhead site

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00:00 Good morning everybody, welcome to a new video.

00:13 This is going to be a bit of a short video, so just bear with me.

00:18 We are up at site number two, RAF site number two.

00:24 This one was pointed out by Julian who recently joined, well recently rejoined, and he said

00:34 to me, he said "have you seen this site, can you tell me what this picture is?"

00:39 And I'm like, well okay, he sent it to me, and it was this big tall looking chimney and

00:45 I thought, what?

00:47 And so I looked on, you know, the ColMed and I thought, no, I can't figure, and he eventually

00:52 pointed this site out to me, and I thought to myself, the amount of times I've passed

00:59 this site and I've never ever noticed it.

01:02 And so yeah, so big thanks to Julian, we're going to go and have a look, and we'll see

01:07 you in a minute.

01:14 So here we are at RAF site number two, so we've just come along that road there, and

01:21 if I turn the camera around, see a bunker.

01:26 Bunker, shower, whatever you want to call it.

01:28 I could be put wrong, I just call it a bunker.

01:33 When we came up here the other day, unfortunately, the bad news is, they're flooded.

01:40 Julian did warn me about this in the comments, he did say that they were flooded, so we can

01:47 basically just go and have a look, and yeah, unfortunately they're flooded so we can't

01:52 go in there.

01:53 So I'll show you what it's like.

01:57 So this is what this one's like.

02:00 I daren't go into there.

02:04 And it goes all the way around the back.

02:10 The problem is with this around here, it's all prickly, it's all grown over, so you can

02:17 probably just imagine what it was like during World War II, that this area was quite big.

02:24 Yeah, as you can see it's overgrown there.

02:28 The problem is, it's like a city.

02:32 Everything's overgrown since the 1940s when it was, at the end of 1946 when it was shut

02:38 down, everything just is literally overgrown and it's just like it's...

02:43 I don't know.

02:47 Right, let's go and have a look inside.

02:53 There's nothing really much to see except all the way up there and all the way down

02:58 there.

03:00 I think David said something about there was a water tower or... but let's go and have

03:10 a look.

03:13 Pork pies, I guess that was written by somebody.

03:17 I did pick up on some writing there, but I'm not too sure whether that matches up to war.

03:26 I don't know, but I always look for writing.

03:30 Yeah, there's really not much to see in the way of this one, unfortunately.

03:41 But we did pass something over there.

03:45 I think it could be part of a bath or something, but we're not 100% sure.

03:53 So you know, if you can find out, if anybody can find out what it used to be, then drop

03:59 us a line.

04:00 So let's go over there and have a look.

04:03 So here we are.

04:05 This as far as I know is the only surviving thing from Colmed that's white.

04:14 We've had a look around the airfields.

04:16 There's just nothing there.

04:18 David did put a picture on something he found in another piece, but I'm not too sure where

04:25 it is.

04:26 I'm going to have to ask him.

04:27 So yeah, so there's that.

04:28 And we're going to head on down to that one there.

04:31 That's going to be exactly the same one as the previous one because it's flooded.

04:38 But we can go and have a look.

04:41 A lot of these woods are just literally overgrown.

04:47 Yeah so, you know, I know it's only a short video and, but hopefully during the summer

04:52 months we can spend a bit more time up here because now we know that this is here.

04:59 You'll have to excuse me while I'm just going through all the bushes.

05:07 Now we know this is here.

05:08 We can look more into it and what it used to look like during the second world war,

05:13 what was there, what was here.

05:15 Yet again, flooded.

05:20 So there's nothing really much to see.

05:23 Oh, get out of the way.

05:25 Yeah, not much to see of buildings.

05:31 There is, you know, something that still surrounds us like that.

05:38 That could be anything.

05:39 I mean, that could be anything.

05:43 Maybe it could, I don't know, without looking at the map, I'm not a hundred percent sure

05:50 on what it could be.

05:53 I think Phil did say there's one more shelter, I think, that's down there.

05:59 So let's go and have a look.

06:00 So we arrived at the last shelter.

06:03 Yeah, again, it's about the same.

06:07 It's flooded, which is a shame.

06:11 You know, we would love to see what was in there, but I don't go in there.

06:18 See a piece there and that's really it.

06:23 That's all that's surviving on this site.

06:29 There is two other sites that are worth visiting, but again, private property.

06:38 And that's where, unless you know the owner, that's where it could get a bit difficult.

06:44 Oh, hang on.

06:45 No, it's all right.

06:46 I thought I found something else.

06:49 Yeah, that's where it could get a bit more difficult because a lot of the farmers or

06:56 whoever owns the site doesn't want people.

06:58 Oh, yes, bear with me.

07:02 Oh, yeah, you don't.

07:04 People don't just want people walking on the site.

07:08 So the best thing I've always done is gain permission.

07:13 Now you might say, well, hang on.

07:16 Did you gain permission on this one?

07:18 Well, no, because we went up here, we looked at it, we found it's like a set of woods.

07:26 We don't know who owns it.

07:28 Oh, you have to bear with me while I get out in the open.

07:34 We don't know who owns it.

07:36 So it's just one of those things.

07:41 But I always ask permission, even when we got the cold med to film in the summer months.

07:48 Still going to ask permission because you never know when something might change.

07:54 And we walk on there and suddenly we get asked to leave, like a certain site, which I'm not

08:02 going into detail.

08:03 But yeah, we're going to head back now.

08:09 There is just one other thing.

08:14 I've been contacted by a French magazine that deals with artifacts and archaeological things

08:24 over in France.

08:25 A few back in 1988, a fisherman's trawler picked up a wing from a Spitfire.

08:36 Now at that time, when I read it, I thought, nah, this can't be it.

08:44 So yeah, so I thought to myself, nah, this can't be it.

08:48 This is not right.

08:50 And I contacted the French.

08:53 I tried to contact anybody that I could get my hands on to think, is this the wing from

08:58 the Spitfire that I'm investigating the crash from?

09:02 Now, he was a gentleman called William James Atkinson.

09:07 He took off from cold med on June the 1st, 1944.

09:12 And unfortunately, when the other three Spitfires went down to attack this train that's got

09:22 a gun on it, he must have peeled off and saw something else that he could attack.

09:28 But unfortunately, they tried to radio him and they got no response.

09:33 So I guess that he went down or he got hit and he went down.

09:38 And that's when the fishing trawler back in 1998 picked up this wing.

09:44 And unfortunately, it's in French water.

09:46 So the French got a hold of it.

09:49 And ever since I've been investigating this crash, I've been wanting to find out what

09:53 really went on.

09:55 Why did he peel off?

09:57 So this French person contacted me and said, I hear you're looking for this wing.

10:05 I explained what we do, what I'm investigating.

10:09 And he went, I know where it's to.

10:10 And I thought, brilliant.

10:12 Is it in Britain?

10:13 No, it's in France.

10:14 The French have got it.

10:16 And he sent me pictures of this newsletter.

10:19 And it is yeah, it's William James Atkinson wing.

10:23 And so he, you know, we talked via email.

10:29 And I said, look, I'll tell you what, I've got William James Atkinson's service records.

10:36 And I've got the ORB, which is the operations record books.

10:40 I'm quite happy to send them to you.

10:42 You know, it's to give people information, what he was like, what went on with that mission.

10:49 And he said, this really I feel pleased for, is that we will be featured.

10:57 We might not have had a big piece.

10:59 We will be featured in the next French newsletter.

11:04 So that is another bit of good news.

11:07 Even if it says thanks to RF Common Research Group for the information, that means we got

11:13 mentioned.

11:14 So big thanks to everyone.

11:17 You know, we're still working hard.

11:21 You know, the research is still going strong.

11:24 We're starting to find more bits.

11:26 So hopefully during some hours, we're going to try and get hold of these owners of these

11:30 sites.

11:32 And yeah, and hopefully we'll see you soon.

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