[In Development] RAF Kenley 1940

Interesting. I grew up a mile from Kenley, as kids we played in the woods to the South - full of bomb craters. In the 70’s we did a sponsored walk around the perimeter for school funds! Normally I do not add historic scenery, but in this case I would definitely be interested.

There was also a Canadian airfield towards Chelsham at the same time - all gone now. (My best friend’s mum used to go to dances with them!)

Good luck with the project.

Keith

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Thanks, we are not too far off release now.

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And for something slightly different, @RendermanL travelled to Kenley yesterday to meet the Kenley Revival team whose help has been invaluable, check some specific details and get their feedback on the work so far (they were described as “ecstatic”!)

Poring over plans and photos

Inspecting one of the AA posts built on top of a blast pen.

And the interior of a blast pen shelter

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Good afternoon from the Kenley Ops Room.

We have a work in progress update to share with you, starting with a short fly through of the current build

And then some screenshots

Coupled Arcraft Sheds (aka Belfast Hangars)

Technical area

Officers Mess and Operations Room (under camouflage netting)

Barrack blocks

Blast pens, static aircraft and vehicles

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Brilliant, Mr. Pips! And how wonderful to see the Kenley Revival team, and to hear of their approval of your team’s work!

Out of curiosity, how many trees did you place manually, and how many total structures have you replicated?

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Thanks! We need to do a proper count but is over 800 trees and over 100 custom structures and vehicles plus ground textures, fencing, kerbs and the ubiquitous whitewashed stones, three types of static aircraft, deck chairs, dart boards and telephones, and the Parachute and Cable anti aircraft system.

Within the airfield perimeter, I do not believe there are any remaining default items left at EGKN!

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You really should warn people if you’re going to post rabbit holes like kenleyrevival.org :wink: What a treasure trove of information! I’d never heard of the parachute and cable system, so there went my evening. It’s certainly an interesting kludge!
 

— PW

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Haha, yes sorry about that - they have hours of content on there.

And yes the parachute and cable system was definitely an emergency bodge job. We are still trying confirm exactly where on the north side of the airfield it was installed and what the rockets were fired from.

The only references describe them as sitting in rows in “tea chests”. The bloke responsible then had to time the firing of a row by eye.

If anyone out there has more information I would love to hear from you.

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We now have all but three buildings in place and a first pass at the distinctive creosote and engine oil camouflage pattern applied Kenley’s grass and runways.

Below are an aerial photo taken on 8 September 1940 and our current version…

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