Allens West
ALLENS WEST: Relief Landing Ground (Aka EGGLESCLIFFE or EAGLESCLIFFE)
Operated by: Royal Air Force (?)
Location: About 4nm WSW of THORNABY, roughly 4nm SW of Stockton-on-Tees town centre
Period of operation: Unknown? Perhaps WW2 only?
Runway: Roughly SW/NE
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Note: The area view with EGGLESCLIFFE marked is from my Google Earth © derived database.
NOTES: In July 2022 I was kindly contacted by Mr Jonathan Horswell with a query: "From the 1940s there was a MoD base at a place called Allens West. (My note: The Royal Navy took over in 1948). This became Metal Reclamation Unit No.2 and was used to dismantle scrap aircraft after the war. It was rail-served and apparently had a runway. It then became a Royal Navy Spare Parts Distribution Centre (RNSPDC), (aircraft parts?), and later Royal Navy Supply Depot (RNSD), Eaglescliffe until its closure in January 1997. My question is this. Did planes actually fly into the site for scrapping? Or was the runway little more than an urban myth."
Initially my idea was that this should be easy enough to resolve - but, I was badly mistaken. Very little could be found, which seemed rather odd. Putting the idea out to a couple of very good friend's of this 'Guide' also produced no concrete proof.
All we could find was circumstantial evidence that this site was a RLG (Relief Landing Ground) for RAF THORNABY. This Station being operational from 1928 to 1958. This in itself being enough to warrant making a listing in this 'Guide'. Which of course is intended, in a small part at least, to raise unresolved questions such as this.
So, dear reader, can you help to shine more light on this apparent mystery?
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
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