Laying the 24" gas main across Kenley airfield
Michael Tinkler, former CFI (Chief Flying Instructor) for 615 Gliding School, took this aerial photo of Kenley airfield from RF4 Motor Glider, G-AWGN, in May 1971.
At the bottom of the picture you can see the gap in the trees through the woods , where a 24″ gas main was entrenched in the mid-sixties.
Local residents still remember the pipes being stored on the airfield for weeks, before the pipeline was laid across the airfield, and through Coulsdon Common towards Old Coulsdon. John Morris has let us know that it was Turriff Pipelines who built the line.
Michael remembers:
The lengths of pipeline were laid on tressles above ground and then welded together. With large sophisticated machinery the pipeline was then rolled into the trench and then covered. There were parts on the airfield where the soil sunk above the pipeline but these depressions were soon sorted by the contractors, It is still possible to see the gap in the trees on Kenley Common where the trees were removed prior to digging the trench. Nobody was reported missing (climbing inside gas pipe) when it was all finished!
Derek Jenkins, whilst in the Royal Air Force Police, was stationed at Air Ministry Headquarters Unit, RAF Kenley 1963 – 1966 and living in a married quarters house there. He remembers the gas pipe installation. With permission, he gathered timber felled for the pipeline which he cut up for use in their fireplace.
It seems that the depressions in the ground caused by the pipeline weren’t entirely eradicated by the contractors. Anthony Yeoell recalls:
During my glider training l managed to end my landing on the soft soil above the pipeline. The glider sank down quite deep and needed a lot of effort to lift clear. I had been told not to land by the line of soft soil so it was my mistake. Sorry Mr Tinkler. He was probably my instructor at that time.
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