Cricket grounds used in WW2 Battle of Britain

[SEAN_K]

Hi All

 

Newbie here.

 

I have a used Corgi 1:72 Lancaster with a missing landing gear under the left wing. I was looking to create a diorama of that getting repaired but on a cricket ground with Peco/Model scene 5400 Cricket pavilion in the background.

 

1: Were cricket grounds used during the battle of Britain for any aircraft maintenance/repairs?

2: Any photos of an aircraft lifting jack used on the Lancaster or similar?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers

[Graham Boak]

Cricket grounds were still in use in the Battle of Britain for sport, but aircraft maintenance/repairs require workshops, hangars etc.  Sadly the Lancaster was too late for this period anyway.   For a one-legged Lancaster (perhaps a collapse on a dispersal site at an operational airfield?)  I think they would use inflatable bags to raise it then introduce the jacks.  Sorry I don't recall seeing any pictures of them but perhaps one of the museums with Lancasters can help? 

[Werdna]

Leaving aside the 'cricket ground' angle, I think the main issue with using a Lancaster in a BoB diorama would be that the Lanc did not enter service until 1942..?

[dcrfan]

There are pictures around of the Home Guard using cricket clubhouses as their HQ in that era but as pointed out above definitely not Lancasters.   

[FG2Si]

Don't know if these are of any use but here's VR-A when she was getting serviced a couple years ago. They had her jacked up and off the landing gear. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Longbow]

Pretty sure a cricket pitch is nowhere near big enough for a Lanc to take off or land. 

[AWFK10]

This photo shows a belly-landed Lancaster having its starboard wing hoisted by a crane so a salvage trolley can be positioned under it. 

[FatFlyHalf]

A take off run of 22 yards (the length of a cricket pitch) is way too short for a Lancaster - which first flew 9th January 1941 - somwhat after the Battle of Britain finished, or any other RAF aircraft of the day.  (Okay - amend that - maybe an Autogiro ?).

A cricket field is genreally circular or slightly oval with a diameter of 400 to 500 feet.

So it would be very unlikely to be used as a landing ground for any aircraft bigger and faster / slower than a Gladiator or Lysander.

Maybe you could still do the cricket pitch diorama  but with a force-landed Blenheim ?

Whatever you do, have fun with it !

[Black Knight]

1. I remember seeing a photo of a Coles crane being used to lift the tail of a Lancaster whilst the ground crew changed the tail wheel. A large very wide sling was used around the fuselage. This method must have been common as it was used to put the cylindrical mine aka the 'bouncing bomb' into the 617 sqd Lancasters

 

2. There was one incident during the Battle of Britain when a Hurricane made an emergency landing on a cricket pitch, during a game. The pilot avoided the crease and ended up crashed into the sight-screens with his tail up and nose down. Allegedly, after rescuing the pilot and sitting him down at the club house with some refreshment the cricketers returned to play and finished their match.

 

3. Usually when not being played on cricket pitches, football fields and golf courses had old wrecked cars towed on to them and/or 8 to 10 ft sharpened wood poles stuck into the ground to make a landing on them hazardous for both aircraft and paratroops

 

4. I'm trying to remember where I read it, but during the height of the Battle of Britain, when the RAF airfields were under severe attack, some Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons were dispersed to cricket grounds. Ground crew then lived in bell tents and pilots had the club house

[dnl42]

5 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

2. There was one incident during the Battle of Britain when a Hurricane made an emergency landing on a cricket pitch, during a game. The pilot avoided the crease and ended up crashed into the sight-screens with his tail up and nose down. Allegedly, after rescuing the pilot and sitting him down at the club house with some refreshment the cricketers returned to play and finished their match.

That reads somewhat similar to this event https://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/Bromley

 

[Black Knight]

To get back to the OPs idea.

He's thinking of a 'repair' diorama. 

But if he changed it slightly to being a crashed diorama;

A Lancaster coming back from a raid, in trouble with hydraulics shot out, injured crew, engine not running, maybe some flames is looking for any clear place to land. Maybe it can't reach the satellite airfield, but look, there is a clear piece of land there, put it down quickly - oops its the local cricket ground we just gouged up.

Same elements really just a different meaning to the scene

[AltcarBoB]

From a thousand feet up a cricket ground looks tiny and they are usually surrounded by buildings or big trees.

[iainpeden]

A lot of grounds were dug up to grow crops - cue the idea of a few landgirls watching the proceedings?

[SEAN_K]

Thank you very much all for your input. I will ditch the cricket pavilion idea and just go for a crash landed scenario which will make it more historically accurate.

 

Thanks again & cheers!