Thanks for your interest. Unfortunately no more pictures from Croft that I can lay my hands on. It was a bit like living in a 50's holiday camp. There were usually 4 families per H block. Each had a wing of the H with their own bedrooms and living room, meals were provided in the canteen.Three meals a day and before bed there was cocoa and weetabix spread with butter. The rooms were very well heated, but the toilets and washing facilities were communal and in the centre of the H and exceptionally cold and badly lit. I was only 16 at the time, so still at school, there wasn't much to do in Croft except go to the cinema when there was a new film then pester the kitchen staff for some food afterwards. I imagine the airmen cooks were quiet young and bored, I remember them hurling eggs at each other for fun. Apart from that we just got up to mischief exploring the place, many of the rooms were empty.

The only other place I can remember in the north west was the USAF base at Burtonwood(mentioned elsewhere on this site). We had a school trip to the USAF children's school on the base while I was at Croft(1954). I was amazed at the size of the place, but what surprised us most as children was that it was like going to another country. Everything was totally american, the way everyone dressed, the food etc. This was before the days of foreign holidays so not many of us had experience of anything outside the UK.

After Croft we stayed for a short while at the smallest military establishment I've ever lived at, it consisted of 4 radio masts, a hut with old radio equipment and two houses, at Canewdon in Essex. I only learned later that this was one of the first World War 2 Radar stations. The houses are still lived in but the masts have gone.

http://flickr.com/photos/dbullock/se...7603575700247/

Although I've lived at plenty more RAF establishments between 1945-1958, I can't think of any others that are disused. I was only doing some research on places where I've lived when I found your site, now you've got me hooked on looking out for deserted buildings, particularly the industrial and victorian ones.