Wednesday, 18 July 2012

A is for...

Anderson Shelter (or Air Raid Shelter)

It has been quite a while since I last joined ABC Wednesday, but I do love that meme and since I now have a completely new set of photos to pick from, I thought it was time to join again.

Anyway, this Anderson Shelter. Back in April I went to London with this school and one visit they always make is to the Duxford Imperial War Museum, which houses a lot of planes and some assorted other bits of World War II. This Anderson Shelter was part of the assorted other bits. They were used during WWII during any air raid by the Germans. 'Made from six curved sheets bolted together at the top, with steel plates at either end, and measuring 6ft 6in by 4ft 6in (1.95m by 1.35m) the shelter could accommodate six people. These shelters were half buried in the ground with earth heaped on top. The entrance was protected by a steel shield and an earthen blast wall.' (text taken from www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk)

People didn't particularly like using them: they were crowded, dark and damp and prone to flooding if built in a low area. In the end most people used other air raid shelters that were bigger and/or deeper underground.

This was the letter A for ABC Wednesday. Why not join?

9 comments:

  1. welcome back
    I remember those shelters. Scary times (as opposed to now...?)
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  2. Glad to have you back with us. I'm sure glad I didn't have to endure anything like that.

    Leslie
    abcw team

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  3. Interesting. Good A choice♫♪

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  4. Very interesting. I always wanted a bomb shelter. Kinda funny that at school they would tell us to go under our desks, like that would have saved us!

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  5. Dark times, not so much for me, but for my parents.

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  6. Glad to have you back. Such an interesting thing to start the round 11.


    Aero 360's Arrows
    Rose, ABC Wednesday Team.

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  7. Welcome back...I remember my mom telling us about cellars that were somewhat like raid shelters, only from storms and tornados,

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  8. So glad you joined again, Mara. I've been in two or three of those Anderson Shelters in my younger life -- for the real thing. Dark, damp and subject to flooding is the truth! We started using the cupboard under the stairs for our shelter.

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Any weighty (and not so weighty) comments are welcome!