USAF Museum: 8th AAF Control Tower and Nissan Huts

[gwb123]

You see them in every movie about the 8th Air Force in World War II...

 

The two or three story control tower, where ground personnel stand on the balconies anxiously scanning the skies for returning aircraft.

 

The low, rounded Nissan huts that served every function from barracks to briefing room to service club.

 

You simply cannot tell the story of bomber and fighter missions without these as a backdrop.

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For those of us who cannot make the trip to England to see what remains of these airfields, a trip to the National Museum of the United States Air Force will give you an idea of what they were like.

To my surprise, the pair of Nissan huts actually were used by Americans during WWII and later recovered from a decommissioned RAF airbase.

The control tower is a reconstruction of a typical design from the period. However, one of the special features is a wall containing a brick from every surviving tower located in England. In a way, their spirit lives on in this exhibit.

The exhibit can be thought of as three separate displays:

The control tower, both with it's operations sections and weather ops.

A WWII mission briefing, complete with "the big board" operations map;

And the "Belly Tank" enlisted club, which was actually contained in one of the Nissan Huts.

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We'll start with the Nissan Huts...

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As mentioned, the Nissan huts were used for just about everything..

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If the walls could only talk...

 

The original bar was recovered along with the Nissan hut, and period photos attest to how it actually looked.

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The bar area as you see it today... Roosevelt's picture still hanging over it. (And yes, there is a belly tank centered over the bar which somehow managed to escape being photographed!).

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The bar is populated with typical off duty airmen, with a voice track playing in the background providing typical conversations about leave time, home and missions.

 

Scattered around are various simple pleasures to enjoyed in off time... beer, cards, checkers, dart board, well worn editions of Life and Yank. Probably the most valuable item in the room was the stand up record player.

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In the scenario, the NCO at the bar is not really angry... he is simply relaying the news that a tough mission is on the board for early the next morning. He is "encouraging" the men to have a straight head and be ready for it.

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Along with the bar display, there are others about GI recreational time... Many airfields were close enough to a rail line that the troops could visit London or other cities on a 48 hour pass. For those who could not get away, there were activities on base as well. Notice in the photo of the dance, the variety of expressions on both the men and women.

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For those who did venture into London, it was at the peril of also getting caught in the enemy's bombing and V-1 attacks. Shown here is recovered V-1 sections of an exploded Buzz Bomb.

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There were sweethearts both at home and abroad, as well as mothers, wives, daughters and sisters to be remembered...

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The more serious side of war is shown in the Mission Briefing display... staff officers map out the next day's mission, plotting out the route of the bombers as well as the available escort support on the big map. Enlisted troops arrange the room. Blackout curtains are in place to insure that security is maintained and rumors are not spread.

 

On this day, the target is Berlin.

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The mission will be of course controlled from the base tower.

 

Assuming the layout that was displayed was typical, weather ops took up a good portion of the lower level, while flight and field operations took up the second level.

 

The weather operations sections consisted of endlessly detailed charts about present and predicted weather patterns. Apparently every base in the ETO served as a weather station, with data shared and recorded by all of them. It was fascinating to see the level of detail that was captured.. all by ink and pencil, well before today's computer and data technology. Monitoring the weather was vital to these missions, but obviously consumed a great deal of manpower.

 

The control tower is very straight forward. Windows all around on the second level would have given an obstructed view of the field and of aircraft in the sky. Of course in England, clouds and fog could easily disrupt line of sight.

 

The mission status board dominates the right side of the room as you walk in to the main control room.

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The view to the left as you walk into the control room on the second floor. You see another map roughly outlining the route of the mission of the day.

 

I'd never really thought about it, but this was also the control center for some of the airfield functions, such as the lighting system.

 

I included a detail shot of the desk... it occurred to me that as modest as it looks, this was someone's duty station for months if not years of the war.

Notice the variety of telephones and a field phone in use.

 

 

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Looking outward from the center of the room, there is a main bank of communications and weather equipment.

 

Note that the phones do not have a dial face. This implies that they were a direct line, not to be slowed down by dialing or having to look up the correct number in an emergency.

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On the left side..

 

Note the high intensity signal lamp hanging near the window. This could be used for flashing messages or signals to the aircraft without the use of radio... which apparently was a continuous security concern during the war.

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Another aspect of signal security was this explanation of the "big square" that was found in front of control towers. This was the first time I'd ever seen an explanation of the 40 foot square foot concrete pad that will see in photos.

While I am sure these had some practicality, I can only imagine the challenge of running out in the middle of a gas attack to paint a giant G in the middle of the square!

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One of the interesting displays on the lower level of the control tower is recovered wall fragments with GI graffiti. Apparently blank walls were just an invitation for decoration by bored troops.

 

The entries reflect pride, irony, and a sense of survival. Note the entries below which offered a grading system of mission difficulty from the point of view of the crewman. This mission log continues through 1945.

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And more..

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Nissan huts were also the subject of decoration as well.

 

The full meaning of this one has probably been lost over time.

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One thing the Air Force Museum appears to have striven for is to tell not only the history of aircraft and missions, but also the people who lived this history.

 

The Nissan hut exhibit puts the viewer right into the environment of a WWII airbase somewhere in England.

 

If you have the opportunity to visit, make sure to remember this exhibit outside of the main hangers. These two representative buildings are well worth a half hour or so of your time.

 

(If anyone has additional photos of these exhibits, please feel free to add them on.)

[Garandomatic]

Been meaning to go back for about 2 years. Might make that happen soon.

[RustyCanteen]

Hi Gil,

 

I didn't even know they had outdoor exhibit areas like this, but your recent posts and photos make me want to add this to the 'must see' list! Thanks for taking the time to post all these.

[Bluehawk]

Another wonderful posting start to finish, Gil...

 

"The control tower is a reconstruction of a typical design from the period. However, one of the special features is a wall containing a brick from every surviving tower located in England. In a way, their spirit lives on in this exhibit."

 

Great tribute...