Pickett-Hamilton Fort
Vorlage:Infobox Military Structure
The Pickett-Hamilton fort is a type of hardened field fortification built in Britain during the invasion crisis of 1940–1941.
The open spaces of airfields were very vulnerable to attack by airborne troops and it was felt that it was particularly important to defend the effectively. However, conventional defences such as pillboxes and trenches could not be installed without danger to friendly aircraft. At this time a number of private companies contacted the government with their own design ideas. This pillbox was adopted by the Air Ministry and became known as the Pickett-Hamilton Fort.Vorlage:Sfn
Winston Churchill wrote to General Ismay on July 12, 1940 saying: “I saw these pillboxes for the first time when I visited Langley last week. This appears to afford an admirable means of anti-parachute defence and it should surely be widely adopted. Let me have a plan.”Vorlage:Sfn
Design
The Pickett-Hamilton fort consists of two cylinders of pre-cast concrete each with one end closed. The slightly smaller of the two cylinders slides into larger one. The structure is buried so that the overhanging top of the smaller cylinder lays flush with the ground. Closed in this position the pillbox is inconspicuous and allows aircraft to safely drive straight over it. When brought into action the interior is accessed via a small hatch and a lifting mechanism is used to raise the inner cylinder by about Vorlage:Convert which can then operate as a pillbox with three embrasures.Vorlage:SfnDie Verwendung dieser Vorlage ist in der deutschsprachigen Wikipedia unerwünscht.
The lifting mechanism consisted initially of a standard 8-ton aeroplane jack, but as this took 3 minutes for the head to rise, it was replaced by a compressed air system (which was much quicker) supplemented by a hand pump for emergency use.Vorlage:Sfn
The cost of construction was about £240 [equivalent to £139,500 in Vorlage:CURRENTISOYEARVorlage:Inflation-fn]
The forts were prone to flooding and they were not sufficiently strong to bear the weight of the heavy aircraft developed during the war.Vorlage:Sfn Consequently, many forts were moved to the periphery of airfields and are not in their original location. More recently, some forts have been moved as airfields have been developed for modern aircraft. Forty eight examples of this type remain extant.Vorlage:Sfn Because they retract into the ground inconspicuously, many examples have been lost and rediscovered many years later.Vorlage:SfnVorlage:Sfn
The interior of the fort was cramped. Estimates of the number of personel vary from two
See also
References
- Footnotes
- Notes
- Bibliography
- William Foot: Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940. Council for British Archaeology, 2006, ISBN 1-902771-53-2.
- Paul Francis: Pickett-Hamilton Fort. In: Pillbox study group. Abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- William Foot: Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940. Council for British Archaeology, 2006, ISBN 1-902771-53-2.
- Mike Osborne: Defending Britain ... twentieth century military structures in the landscape. Tempus Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7524-3134-X.
- Austin Ruddy: British Anti-Invasion Defences 1940–1945 (= Official Handbook of the Pillbox Study Group). Historic Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-901313-20-4.
- Henry Wills: Pillboxes: A Study of UK Defences. Leo Cooper, 1985, ISBN 0-436-57360-1.
- Pickett-Hamilton fort. In: Thesaurus. English Heritage, abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- THE PICKETT HAMILTON FORT. In: Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- Rare war-time 'disappearing pillbox' found at Evanton. In: BBC News. 17. Dezember 2013, abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- PICKETT HAMILTON FORT. In: LASHENDEN AIR WARFARE MUSEUM. Abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- Hidden WWII secrets unearthed at RAF Coltishall. In: North Norfolk News. Abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- A RARE FIND. In: uk.rec.subterranea. Abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- Abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- Abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- Abgerufen am 21. September 2016.
- WO 199/2527 - Pillboxes. In: The Catalogue. The National Archives, November 1940.
External links
- The National Archives. In: Repository of UK government records. Abgerufen am 2. August 2010.
Vorlage:Use dmy dates Vorlage:Use British English
