Explorer Finds Striking Portraits in Air Raid Shelter

I love the way everything even remotely connected to WW2 is a "bunker".
"An urban explorer has uncovered portraits he believes date back to the Second World War sketched over the walls of a secret wartime bunker.
Chris Halliwell, 31, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, had heard rumours about the existence of the drawings and decided he needed to see them for himself, dedicating three days of research to finding the entrance to the bomb shelter.
The father-of-four was stunned when he wandered through a mile of haunting tunnels to find the walls were plastered with coal portraits of characters from an era long past.
Factory worker Chris believes the sketches of soldiers and women with glamorous 1940s pin curls were created by workers at a nearby coal plant, as they took shelter during bomb attacks.
While this is a 'dream discovery' for history lover Chris, he is adamant not to share the location of the bunker as he fears a wider knowledge of the tunnels would see the portraits vandalised and a piece of history ruined.
Chris said: 'I had heard about the portraits and done loads of research online but I never expected there to be so many.
'There were a lot of portraits of women and a few men - one that had a pipe in his mouth and another with a rifle on his back. It was amazing. They're portraits from people who were down there during the bombings. From the quality of them it looks like they could be drawn from life.
'Most of them were drawn in black coal and back in the day there was a coal plant nearby so the portraits are possibly by the workers who took shelter in the bunker.
'It might have been a way for the people to keep themselves occupied during the tedious wait for the 'all clear'. This is the dream really to make a discovery like this, this is probably the best find I've made.
'I thought I knew what to expect and I'd seen a few photos but once I got down there it was a whole different story. I'm determined to keep the location secret. If more people find out about it, the portraits will end up getting rubbed off the walls or vandalised.
'I want to protect it, it's a piece of history.'"
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6188489/Explorer-31-discovers-striking-World-War-Two-portraits-secret-wartime-bunker.html

 

Pretty cool and pretty good.

 

Thanks for sharing this, Gordon.

It reminds me of the murals of aircraft painted on to the walls of hangars at the former Burtonwood Airbase.

One of the murals of a Boeing B-17

The murals were painted on the inside walls of K type hangars by the Americans who were stationed at Burtonwood during WW2. Sadly the paintings were never preserved and the buildings were unceremoniously pulled down a number of years ago to make way for a business park.

 

The brick cammo may have worked...in the pacific theatre anyway...

 

Nice mural. There's a mural on the wall of the Officer's Mess at the former Donibristle airfield in Fife, now an industrial estate. Done in an ancient Egyptian style, some of the characters are based on people who were actually stationed there during the war. and are supposedly recognizable.
Unfortunately, when I was over a couple of years ago that building was lying derelict and was steadily getting vandalised. The six foot fence might have kept me out, but not the local neds so God only knows if it still exists. At least I have photos of it in a book done by one of the heritage organizations years ago.

 

Would be nice to see those Gordon...

 

Nowhere near a scanner at present, but found these photos-
Donibristle Airfield, Officers' Mess | ScotlandsPlaces