Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
"Disaster Underground" tells the complete story of the events that led up the this incident and of all the subsequent investigations. It is a story of ineptitude and incompetence in every aspect of the RAF’s wartime administration.
To set the scene the early chapters describe in some detail the birth of No.42 Group, the arm of RAF maintenance command responsible for supply of ammunition and explosives to the fighting units. The development, design and construction of all the surface ammunition depots constructed in the inter-war years is described in some detail. A major portion of the book is dedicated to the development of the five huge underground reserve depots at Chilmark, Fauld, Harpur Hill, Llanberis and Linley, and subsequently to the disasters that overtook all of them except one.
Briefly: the Fauld depot blew up, Llanberis fell down, Harpur Hill was evacuated before it could fall down and Linley was abandoned before it collapsed completely. Only Chilmark lived out the war comparatively unscathed.
Every aspect of the Fauld disaster is investigated in great detail based upon the official Court of Inquiry papers and other documents only recently released into the public domain. Similarly, this book’s examination of the collapse of the Llanberis depot is based upon evidence never before published.
Until now the extensive but long abandoned underground depot at Linley has been something of a mystery but "Disasters Underground" throws new light on it and provides, for the first time, detailed plans of the site.
The penultimate section of the book looks at the RAF’s (and the British government’s) disastrous foray into chemical weapons during the Second World War and its post-war consequences. Subjects touched upon in this section include the mustard gas factory and underground storage site at Rhydymwyn in north Wales, the sinister ICI poison gas factories in the Runcorn area, and the Forward Filling Depots with their huge underground bulk storage tanks for poison gas, strategically sited near the bomber bases. All of these were subject to mishaps, great or small.
The final section deals with the farcical methods used to dispose of the vast redundant stockpiles of mustard gas and captured German ‘Tabun’ nerve agent left at the end of the war, and of the role of the Bowes Moor depot and the ports of Siloth and Cairnryan in this disposal.
The book is illustrated with over sixty photographs including numerous, previously unpublished, photo’s of the underground depot at Fauld immediately after the explosion.
Detailed plans of all the underground sites are included, along with aerial photographs and plans of many surface depots.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
an intriguing read...,
By D. Ackerley (Chester, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Disasters Underground (Hardcover)
Surprisingly up-beat for an otherwise unhappy topic.Primarily concerned with the British Governments obsession of storing high explosives underground. It gives detailed attention to the massive WWII explosion at the Fauld Mine in the Midlands and has accurate descriptions of policies and the history of munitions storage in the UK. The writer conveys a well researched approach to his subject and takes us on from WWII with the difficult area of chemical weapons storage and disposal...
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Inter-war Period 1919-1938
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Ireland
- Books > History > Military History > Armed Forces > Air Forces
- Books > History > Military History > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional
- Books > History > World History > World War II 1939-1945 > Battles & Campaigns
- Books > History > World History > World War II 1939-1945 > Origins
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Warfare & Defence > Weapons & Equipment
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
