Kenley's Bellman Hangar

Kenley's Bellman hangar circled. Victor Beamish Avenue curves around to the right of the Bellman. It stood on the empty land next to where people park now. You can also see the Spitfire gate guardian, the last of the original Belfast Truss hangars and the building that is now One School Global campus, but appears on the RAF plans as NAAFI stores.

Peter Skinner / Alistair White

This photo was taken during the filming of "Reach For The Sky," which was released in 1956, so the photo was probably taken 1955.

East Surrey Museum

A Chipmunk outside RAF Kenley's Bellman hangar.

East Surrey Museum

Bellman hangars were first designed in 1936. They were intended to be temporary structures, easily assembled and dismantled by unskilled labour. There is one still standing at Brooklands Museum.

The one at RAF Kenley was constructed on the site of the old No.5 Belfast truss hangar, which had been destroyed during the Battle of Britain, on 18/8/1940. It was officially condemned as being unsafe and dismantled in February, 1983.

Sources:

RAF Kenley by Peter Flint

Peter Skinner collection

Many thanks to Alix Chalky White and East Surrey Museum