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View Full Version : Archived: THE TOMB OF "BUNKER 77" January 2011



Tankman
10-01-2011, 06:36 PM
The first of this year's explorations saw myself and BK heading over to my favourite haunt!
We had a busy day ahead, with lots planned! As it worked out it was to be one of highs and lows!

Located on a desolate part of the airfield away from prying eyes, in what was known as "Alpha Sector". "Bunker 77" stood out against a perfect blue sky. Located nearby was the Squadron HQ, of the 77th Tactical Fighter Wing, from which the Bunker gets its name.
The bunker was the Wings's private HQ. In case of Nuclear War, it was capable of acting on its own merits, and was full NBC proof and could withstand a nearby 2 Megaton burst.
Outside it was protected by a series of pillboxes, although these in reality only covered the airfield in case of Spetsnaz paratroop assaults, of which they were expected!
The 77th, pulled out in December 1994, since then the place has been abandoned and peaceful:snore

http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/25592/2385359440033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2385359440033241453ElBgPH)

The fading and crumbling remains of part of the 77th's HQ.

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Inside time and indeed nature has taken its toll:( The only birds that fly out of here now are the feathered variety!

We quickly moved on as we had a lot of ground to cover today, least of all was Bunker 77!
We quickly came across one of the base pillboxes that defended this sector.

http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/38634/2912128320033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2912128320033241453vZshYP)

Alpha Sector circa 1990. Note the neatly cut grass, hedgerows etc.:thumb

http://inlinethumb28.webshots.com/46619/2060819830033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2060819830033241453rHqZPU)

The same location, 21 years later! The sandbags are gone, the only thing that uses the pillbox now are field mice, who I disturbed having a Sunday lay in:lol:

Just past the pillbox "Bunker 77" came into view an ominous black shadow against a blue sky.

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The bunker was severly overgrown, if it was not for winter time, the foilage would have stopped us from most of this explore. First we had to find the entrance!

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The NBC shower gave us the entrance! But the door was heavily boarded up! Another way would have to be found.

Walking around the outside we came across several blast walls covering various entrances, but around the back an extension to a blast wall had been added out of old ammunition cases:confused:

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The ammo cases had all been welded together and must have been added in the 1970's, judging by the details on most of the cases:confused:

http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/29524/2210836090033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2210836090033241453PvHfvD)

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Rear of the blast wall, the pole to the left is the base of the radio mast.

http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/18371/2529203850033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2529203850033241453TFIuJR)

NBC intake filters slowly crumbling away. Note the tree growing up between the vents, hard to imagine it would have been originally a seed on the wind that got wedged in the concrete.


http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/6301/2921749490033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2921749490033241453sYYrao)

Access seemed to be alluding us:( Perhaps there was another way in? Nearby was the derelict 77th Squadron, pilots building. (BK will be posting a report on this building) We quickly made our way along the corridors, along the way remnants, of the former residents were found and investigated.

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Pilots briefing/debriefing room, mission map boards were still in place, albeit devoid of maps:(

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Further along the corridor we came across various empty rooms and then the pilots equipment/helmet room.

http://inlinethumb46.webshots.com/46765/2585086150033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2585086150033241453piwsID)

We then made our way along this dark corridor. At the end a cypher door, this looked promising!
The cypher lock had been smashed off as we entered through the door we went through a "Dog Leg" in the corridor (Tell tale signs of a bunker entrance, radiation does not turn corners, apparently!)
This was turning into an Indiana Jones Adventure:lol:
We were now in darkness with only our torches for company. We stumbled over some broken cypher doors that were laying in the hall way, BK was starting to get the willies:lol: and complained of getting cold.
Then it hoved into view!

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The outer Blast door to the tomb of "Bunker 77"
It was locked and hermetically sealed:fail
We were gutted to say the least:( But like Indiana Jones, this means one thing:idea No one has been inside "Bunker 77" since it was sealed back in 1994. What lays behind the blast door, certainly stale air!
Will the bunker be complete and untouched or will it be empty. WATCH THIS SPACE AS WE ENTER "BUNKER/VAULT 77":lol:

http://images.wikia.com/fallout/images/0/08/Fo2_Seal-n-safe_Vault_door_343.png

BK's interpretation of the inner Blast door.

Tankman
31-01-2011, 12:16 AM
We returned yesterday. Where we had left off, the sealed door that is "Bunker 77":thumb
This was real "Indiana Jones" type exploration. What lay behind the blast door??

We had the key and the padlock came off after a bit of a struggle, but the locking lever was firmly stuck. With a crowbar to help the proceedings it eventually gave way, and we lifted the locking lever and opened the blast door.
The smell of stale air assaulted us stright away! For 17 years the bunker has remained sealed, now we were about to enter it.

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Lets enter the "Tomb of Bunker 77":thumb Unknown territory lay beyond!

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As we entered through the blast door, we encountered an air lock. The brown door ahead leads into the bunker. This door was still locked by cypher code. On both sides of the wall however were two small doors that lead into two small "S" shaped de-contamination chambers. They were not very wide, about 4 foot in diameter.
The Spooky feeling of this place was already begining to get a grip of us, and we had just come through the door:ohmy

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As we opened the door into the de-con room we were greeted with this stark reminder of why the building was here:w00t BK was about to take a photo of the sign, when his camera started indicating that eye movement had been detected inside the room! But there was nothing there?? Just darkness!
Had we invaded the "privacy of Ghosts".

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The De-con showers looked as spotless as the day they had been installed. The one thing that was begining to show up was that this bunker was very clean, unlike the other bunkers on the base.
As we exited the showers through another door at the end:-

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We entered into the pilots changing room, the coat hooks still had the names of the pilots above them, as if waiting for them to return from a mission! One of the weirdest things about the de-con rooms was that all the windows in the doors and wall were covered in a heavy gauge wire:confused: Note the massive locking bar on the door as well? It was as if an assault was expected on the building! Very strange.
Once through the Decon chambers we entered the reception area of the Bunker.

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Ahead through the heavy safe type door was where Mission Intelligence use to be. The reception desk to the left was where the control of the bunker and Flight control was handled. There are few remains of the Comms control left as the USAF took everything that was there's out!

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The brown door is the locked cypher control door. Bunker intercom system was still intact, along with the De-con chamber control panel. Note: the heavy gauge grill over the window that looks into the de-con chambers:confused: The ladder goes up into a void in the roof which is connected to the air filtration system.

Along a long corridor are various rooms which served as flight mission planning rooms, these were all empty apart from various shelves and boards which would have had maps etc. on them.

http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/44449/2438272240033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2438272240033241453mNzoRX)

To the right of the reception desk was the firearms room where small arms were kept and issued to pilots when on missions. From this room a door leads into the plant room: -

http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/46312/2929303060033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2929303060033241453mYRHOv)

And Yes the power was still on! Someone had forgot to turn it off back in 1993:D

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The control panel for the pressurising of the bunker.
We soon had this panel all lite up as I started to throw some switches on the main control panel.
We was all laughing at getting it working, when we heard a mighty big motor start up and massive fans kicked in, before we knew it! alarm lights began to light up on panels in the reception area and we heard the main bunker door close as the pressure started to build up in the bunker.
To say we "shit ourselves" was an understatement:lol:
The pressure gauge was already showing 5 PSI difference with the outside pressure and this was within two minutes of the motors kicking in:panic Enough to seal the bunker.....PANIC!
Bk came running in from the reception area saying that it was snowing! 19 years of accumulated dust was now being recycled throughout the bunker, along with the stale air.

ACTION REQUIRED:
Immediate shutdown! As I threw the switches back off on the control panel the fan motors calmed down and the over pressure stabilized with the outside world. We left fast, as the now polluted air inside the bunker was giving us headaches! Quick egress from the bunker:thumb
We resealed the bunker door and left it back in the capable hands of the Ghosts of "Bunker 77"

After such excitement where to now?

http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/763/2327144740033241453S600x600Q85.jpg (http://news.webshots.com/photo/2327144740033241453oLDpgQ)

Well another Bunker awaits "Quadrant 2":thumb Hope you can join me again soon as we explore the Cold War Bunkers of *****:secret

Thanks for looking! And have not bored you to much:)