AM Drawing needed quickly... Can anyone help?

I only ask as I was looking at a pic showing Mawgan's officers mess complex which seemed to comprise of three large Nissans (30' span at a guess) all in parallel to each other and joined by corridors, but nearby was a complex that looks just like your drawing, I'm wondering if it was the sgts mess.

These are the two most common layouts for 30' Nissen Sgts' Messes I've seen:



Usually close by would be the Dining Hall, in this case 30' span Nissen once again:



All these various basic types had various detail differences as required at individual stations, corridor and window placement, bay lengths etc.
Types that were normally built to 24' span have also been noted in 30' span, like the surviving Officers' Mess at Melton Mowbray.

All the best,
PB

Fantastic, yes what I am absolutely sure is Mawgan's officers mess is the one in your last illustration, and what I' was guessing to be the sgts mess is the one shown upper right.
So basically it could be the officers mess and its dining hall arrangement that I'm looking at?

This is very helpful Paul as I only have blurry photographs to go off and your illustrations really clarify the layouts for me.

edit, Here's a pic showing what I mean, the off mess is the upper right complex of Nissens, and the second set appears just below them.
Across the road to the left is the SSQs and other Nissens complex.

Best guess from the image, as I don't have a map showing them clearly...



Left side from top.
Yellow: Officers' Mess
Green: Gym and Chancel
Purple: Institute (with a number of extensions)

Right side from top.
Red: Dining Hall (originally for OAs and Cpls, but often used for all ranks)
Blue: Sgts' Mess

All the best,
PB

Hi Paul, many thanks for putting in the effort there. However the red area was definitely the officers mess or area (and is the site of the current offs mess), this is anotated on a very basic station location plan and also backed up by people that served there in the early 1950s, I wondered if the blue might be the dining area or even vice versa? Would the sgts mess be that close to the officers mess?
I suppose that the offs & sgts mess could have even swapped around between build time and early 1950s.
The officers hutting is seen to the extreme right.
the sgts hutting starts bottom left and follows the road down until you come to the airmens accomodation.

Sorry to drag your thread out like this, but it is fascinating for me!

Never forget: What buildings were designed for, and what they were actually used for, are often very different things...

PB

Yes very true.
wouldn't the offs mess have had hutting around it though? The Nissens in yellow are solitary where as the building in red has huts nearby.
I had thought that all the accomodation was all on the right side of the road, with the admin etc on the left, ie the SSQs as mentioned, gym, and admin & offices being the yellow Nissens.

The problem from my point of view is my own pre-conceived ideas, much of the info is early 1950s as there is very little build period (c.'43) info about.

P wrote:

As we were discussing the other day, removing individual panels or sections intact from BCF huts is tricky without the structure being dismantled or seperated.
If there is a possibility of being able to be on site during the demolition and being allowed to salvage useful parts for restoration/repair of other examples elsewhere then that woud be great, but I don't know who to talk to on that.

There are several BCF types on the old WAAF site at Strubby that are just being left to 'rot' ??

buccaneer66;70145 wrote:

Dietmar may be able to help you with that one Paul

I can indeed Paul. I have contacts with the developers and I am sure they would be glad for someone to clear the old buildings to save some demolition time! I'll dig them out at the weekend and get back to you if you are interested that is!

Dietmar

Cheers Deitmar,

I'm not exactly sure what the status of the possible BCF hut restoration project is at the moment, it seems to have gone very quiet.

All the best,
PB