These eerie images reveal the abandoned remains of a former RAF airfield that was set to be an immigration centre.
RAF High Ercall is a former Royal Air Force station situated near the village of High Ercall, seven miles northeast of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. During the war it was used by both the RAf and the American Air Force but it closed in 1962.
It was set to become an immigration centre but when plans fell through it became abandoned once more
Complete with a swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi, these haunting pictures also show the large hangar with an RAF vehicle left behind, an old mess hall with rows of tables and chairs and the bedrooms where aircraft servicemen would have slept.
Other striking shots show a room filled with bags of rubbish and rotting petrol pumps that would have once fuelled the military vehicles.
These eerie images revealed the abandoned remains of a former RAF airfield that was set to be an immigration centre
RAF High Ercall is a former Royal Air Force station situated near the village of High Ercall, seven miles north of Shrewsbury
Complete with a swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi, these haunting pictures also show the large hangar with an RAF vehicle left behind, an old mess hall with rows of tables and chairs and the bedrooms where aircraft servicemen would have slept
Between the 1960s and 1990s, the site was a Multi-Occupational Training and Education Centre (MOTEC) which provided training for workers including HGV drivers and mechanics. In 2004 the site was sold to Angel Group, who planned to house asylum seekers there. After local opposition these plans came to nothing, and eventually the site was sold again in 2004
The photographs were taken at RAF High Ercall by an urban explorer known only as The Elusive.
They said: ‘This is a mish-mash of old buildings that have had multiple uses throughout history; RAF Airfield and accommodation, mechanics training workshop, removal company, police training unit and BT Centre.
‘It was even a proposed immigration site at one time but, everything has been left in the condition you can see for at least 10 years when I visited.
‘I just love the way nature has taken everything back. I loved the old prices of beer and the items left around the place like with other sites has a feeling of folks just being here despite it being left for such a long time.
The accommodation blocks were partly stripped in the summer of 2007, but ground to a halt for some reason
The photographs were taken at RAF High Ercall by an urban explorer known only as The Elusive
The Elusive said: ‘This is a mish-mash of old buildings that have had multiple uses throughout history; RAF Airfield and accommodation, mechanics training workshop, removal company, police training unit and BT Centre’
The majority of the runways have been removed leaving only small tracks however nine hangars still are present spread out over the site and near a local village. A local Wartime Aircraft Recovery Group also occupies a section of the site
‘Most people are surprised the amount of things to photograph that is still in there the state of the accommodations.
‘I’ve been in worse hotels over the years. It looks very post apocalyptic in places and I wouldn’t fancy a swim in the pool.’
From 1942 the airfield was also used by the United States Army 8th Air Force’s 309 Fighter Squadron.
The airfield has since returned mostly to agriculture, with the runways largely broken up. Pictured: The mess hall
From 1942 the airfield was also used by the United States Army 8th Air Force’s 309 Fighter Squadron
Occupied by the RAF from October 1940, it was allocated to the Eighth Air Force as a fighter base in June 1942, although the site was shared with No. 29 Maintenance Unit. Occupied by the 309th Fighter Squadron of the 31st Fighter Group, equipped with Spitfire Vs, during June to August 1942, the station changed role to fighter training base in August 1942, with the arrival of the 27th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Group, equipped with P-38s
The 309th Fighter Squadron departed in September 1942, and was replaced for a short period in October 1942 by the 92nd Fighter Squadron, equipped with P-39s, en route to join the 12th Air Force in North Africa
Handed back to the RAF in April 1943, High Ercall remained the home of No. 29 Maintenance Unit until closed in 1962. Several hangars and other wartime buildings remain in use. The Headquarters site became the Road Transport Industry Training Board MOTEC 1 (Multi Occupational Training and Educational Centre), later Centrex and then owned by the Angel group. The sub sites with hangars became warehousing
Built during 1939-41 for the RAF, as a combined fighter station and Maintenance Unit base, High Ercall had three tarmac runways, 23 hardstandings, two T2 hangars and 24 other hangars of various types