Just got several packs of photos from my mate in Portsmouth. Last month, he surveyed the old Heavy AA practise camp at Burrowhead in Dunfries & Galloway in the Scottish Borders.
This is now a picturesque holiday camp, but in WW2 they used to launch De Havilland Queen Bees (the radio-controlled version of the Tiger Moth) into the air for target practise. The War Diary of 36 AA Brigade is full of accounts of units being sent there for "rest". Lots of original buildings survive, so it's another place I'm going to have to get around to visiting.
The day before my mate went there, he and a few other hardy souls visited the island of Inchkeith, in the Firth of Forth. This place has defences going back to the 16th century, but was most heavily fortified in WW2. Its not for the faint hearted; apart from the difficulty of getting on (and off!) the island, a lot of the old buildings are death traps. Plus, the unmanned lighthouse on the island is powered by depleted Uranium. Bet Greenpeace don't know about THAT! [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]
Maybe I won't volunteer to go next summer after all.
Regards,
Gordon