raf wyton | photograping the photography | then and now
18|05|02 & 18|10|07

"Often spied from the road as I drove past, I had no idea what these small groups of lonely buildings, squatting near the front gates of RAF Wyton, were for. They had some connection with the airfield, but appeared dark and disused."

"Then the "For Sale" sign appeared, announcing the disposal of the "Former Photographic Works". This heightened my interest."

"With "Sold" now plastered over the board, and with two buildings reduced to a pile of rubble, it was now or never to walk down the drive and have a quick look."

"With OffKilter for company, we spent a couple of hours looking around. What cold war secrets would be strewn about its interior?" - Simon Cornwell, 2002.



In late 2007 and early 2008 I revisited the Photographic Factory to take new photographs. I’d discovered the building was a unique cold war relic, and decided my early photographic record didn’t do the building justice.

When reviewing my pictures for a brand new write-up, I found myself always trying to compare them with the original pictures I took in 2002. It was interesting to see what had changed and what hadn’t. Therefore I decided to put together this little tour: it’s the original write-up and pictures from 2002 with new pictures and text from my two recent visits.

It was never my intention to produce a Then And Now section, so I didn’t visit the site to take an exact set of duplicate photographs. Therefore some of the following pages are missing corresponding modern pictures, or the photograph is taken from a different angle.

A proper new write-up of the Photographic Factory will appear soon. - Simon Cornwell, 2008.




  Part of: RAF Wyton Photographic Factory