Pickett-Hamilton Fort

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Pickett-Hamilton Fort now on display at the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum above ground

The Pickett-Hamilton Fort is a type of British bunker from WWII . When not in use, it could be sunk into the ground so that it would not be detected prematurely by the enemy and so that it would not get in the way of air traffic on the ground and in the air. It could, if needed, be raised about 75 cm (2½ feet ) to prevent aircraft from landing and to fire upon enemy parachutists or aircraft and their crew that had already landed.

development

“By reason of its forming no obstacle to use
of ground for flying or traffic, the post can
be sited in places where not even a rifleman
or small post can be put, and can bring fire
on to ground which otherwise could not be
covered at all or only at extreme ranges. "

“Without creating an obstacle to ground or air
traffic, the post can be
placed in places where not even a shooter
or a small post can be stationed,
and can shoot at the surroundings that would otherwise
not be possible or only over long distances
could be shot at. "

- Pickett-Hamilton Fort Advisory Committee (1940)

The open areas of military airfields were a potential target for attacks by enemy airborne troops and it was therefore found important to be able to defend them effectively. Conventional protective devices such as trenches or so-called pillboxes were not suitable for this because they would have hindered their own aircraft. Therefore, several private companies contacted the government with their ideas.

The Pickett-Hamilton Fort was invented and constructed by Francis Norman Pickett and Donald St Aubyn Hamilton. Pickett (1887-1957) was an engineer. He graduated from London University in 1907 and was the owner of FN Pickett et Fils from 1918 to 1931 , which dealt with the destruction of ammunition. This company was in various difficulties, but Pickett made quite a lot of money from it, pp. 201-206 before the company finally had to close. Pickett spent the early 1920s mainly in motorsport. He then became Managing Director of Kaycee Ltd (1931-1935), Consolidated Rubber Manufacturers Ltd (1935-1938) and Ocean Salts (Products) Ltd (1938). Hamilton (1907–1956) was an architect in London. He later designed several buildings in London and the south of England for Donald Hamilton, Wakeford & Partners .

A friend of Norman Pickett, racing driver Donald Campbell , made his workshops available for creating prototypes. He was also present at the first tests in early 1940 at RAF Andover airfield .

Winston Churchill wrote a letter to General Ismay on July 12, 1940, reporting: “I first saw these pillboxes when I was visiting Langley last week . They seem to be an admirable way of defending against parachute troops and should certainly be used in many places. Give me a plan. ”This pillbox was then used by the Air Ministry and was called the Pickett-Hamilton Fort or, more colloquially, the Pop Up Pillbox .

design

lili rere
The sunk and completely raised tower of a Pickett-Hamilton retractable fort on an airfield in southern England

Most of the time, the Pickett-Hamilton Fort consisted of two concrete cylinders, each with a closed bottom. The slightly smaller cylinder was guided in the larger cylinder via small guide rollers attached to the smaller cylinder in the guide grooves of the larger cylinder. The pillbox was 9 feet (2.7 m) in diameter and 9 to 10 inches (22 to 25 cm) thick. The structure was sunk into the ground so that the top of the lid of the larger cylinder was positioned at ground level. When closed, the pillbox was inconspicuous like a large manhole cover and could be driven over by airplanes and other vehicles.

The interior was accessible from above through a small hatch. A mechanism was used to raise the inner cylinder approximately 2½ feet, revealing three loopholes . A crew of two could then use the fort like a pillbox .

Initially, the lifting mechanism consisted of a standardized 8-ton aircraft jack, so it took three minutes to fully extend the fort. The jack was soon replaced by a pneumatic cylinder originally intended for agricultural use. The pneumatic cylinder was operated using compressed air stored in tanks. This allowed the fort to be raised and lowered quickly when needed. A hand pump was supplied as an emergency solution or for maintenance work.

One design variant was equipped with counterweights to raise the fort. This enabled the fort to be operated by two men. This variant had two entrance hatches and offered space for a crew of four soldiers in a somewhat larger underground chamber and because the centrally attached pneumatic cylinder was omitted. It was developed in late 1940 and only about a dozen of these forts were installed nationwide.

The cost to manufacture was around £ 240, which is around £ 11,800 adjusted for inflation today (2017) .

Received forts

A Pickett Hamilton Fort in Southsea

The forts were frequently flooded and were not sufficiently stable for the heavy aircraft that were developed during World War II. As a result, most of them have been relocated to the periphery of the airfields and are no longer in their original place. In the post-war period, some forts were removed when the airfields were designed for modern aircraft. Records show that there were around 335 buildings. 48 of them still exist today. P. 21

Since the forts could be sunk inconspicuously in the ground, many specimens were forgotten and only rediscovered several years later. Some forts are exhibited in museums: Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, Lashenden Air Warfare Museum , D-Day Museum, Southsea (no longer in its original location) and only the inner cylinder in the Imperial War Museum Duxford .

The management of Kent International Airport (formerly RAF Manston ) bequeathed a Pickett-Hamilton fort to the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum . Although most of the forts were flooded, Manston's was dry and in excellent condition. The fort was excavated and restored to working order within 18 months. Although it was supposed to be buried again at the airfield, concerns have been expressed that this could damage the concrete over time. So it was placed at ground level and surrounded by a mound of earth and sandbags. The window in the cylinder was added later for exhibition purposes so that the lifting mechanism could be seen from the outside. The lifting mechanism is ready for use and can be operated by visitors by inserting a coin. It is the only properly restored Pickett-Hamilton fort.

Web links

Commons : Pickett-Hamilton Fort  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henry Wills : Pillboxes: A Study of UK Defenses . Leo Cooper, 1985, ISBN 0-436-57360-1 .
  2. ^ A b c d e Francis Norman Pickett, Donald St Aubyn Hamilton: An improved means for the protection of aerodromes, aircraft landing fields and other situations (patent) . In: Espacenet . July 12, 1940. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  3. ↑ Pickett-Hamilton continued . In: Thesaurus . English Heritage. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  4. ↑ A Rare Find . In: uk.rec.subterranea . Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  5. ^ William Foot: Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940 . Council for British Archeology, 2006, ISBN 1-902771-53-2 .
  6. ↑ Mike Osborne: Defending Britain… twentieth century military structures in the landscape . Tempus Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7524-3134-X .
  7. ↑ a b c d WO 199/2527 - Pillboxes . In: The Catalog . The National Archives . November 1940.
  8. ^ A b Francis Norman Pickett (obituary) . In: Grace's Guide . Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  9. ↑ Manure From TNT . July 1, 1920. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  10. ^ Jean Pascal Zanders: The destruction of old chemical munitions in Belgium . In: The Trench . Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  11. ↑ Mr. FN Pickett's Failure . In: The Times , October 19, 1932, p. 16, column e. 
  12. ↑ Counting the Akelas . March 1997.
  13. ^ Belling-Lee Radio Factory
  14. ↑ a b c The Pickett Hamilton Fort . In: Tangmere Military Aviation Museum . Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  15. ↑ a b c Rare war-time 'disappearing pillbox' found at Evanton . In: BBC News . December 17, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  16. ↑ a b c d e f g Pickett Hamilton Fort . In: Lashenden Air Warfare Museum . Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  17. ^ A b c d e Paul Francis: Pickett-Hamilton Fort . In: Pillbox study group . Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  18. ↑ Cecil Edgar Goldup: Improvements relating to the raising and lowering of agricultural implements . In: Espacenet . August 26, 1938. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  19. ↑ Pickett Hamilton Pillbox Worthy Down . In: Derelict Places . Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  20. ↑ World War II Pickett-Hamilton Fort SU 4681 3512 (NO.1), Worthy Down Airfield . In: Historic England . Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  21. ↑ UK Consumer Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Gregory Clark (2016), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)", MeasuringWorth.com.
  22. ↑ Austin Ruddy: British Anti-Invasion Defenses 1940-1945  (= Official Handbook of the Pillbox Study Group). Historic Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-901313-20-4 .
  23. ↑ Hidden WWII secrets unearthed at RAF Coltishall . In: North Norfolk News . Retrieved September 21, 2016.