Hethel, Then and Now (1946-2022)

[Porter]

As many of you know, the Lotus site at Hethel was formerly an RAF airfield and was used as an Allied bomber wing headquarters during World War II.

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at how the site has changed, and what remains of the original military airfield when viewed from above.

Here is Hethel as it exists today, the home of Lotus Cars:

And here is RAF Hethel, as it appeared in an aerial survey on 16 April, 1946.

More in post 2....

 

[Porter]

I took the liberty of creating an animation that overlays the scaled and rotated historic survey image, so that we can see exactly how the present day is influenced by the site's former use.

Click to get the full size image, which is 1172 x 888. You can also right-click and open image in new tab.

It's amazing how many features of the original airfield are still visible in both the Lotus site and in the farm areas that are adjacent. Even the compaction of the ground by former heavy use is visible in the way the crops grow.


If you have any trouble viewing the above embedded GIF, here's a link where you can view and download my original on Google Drive. It's 21mb. I also have a smaller filesize version at 7.5mb if it's useful.

 

[Speedluvver]

So here is a nod to the wildlife that exists on the Hethel site from a track day there some years ago.... I am the s2 Exige....



The pheasant btw was fine.. just lost a few feathers