Aerial pictures reveal Hucknall from the skies in 1952

A former RAF photographer from Hucknall has unearthed these pictures which reveal how the town looked from the skies in 1952.
aerial pic hucknall 1952aerial pic hucknall 1952
aerial pic hucknall 1952

Granville Chauntry took these images as part of a survey study over Great Britain whilst working with the RAF at Newland Park in Oxford.

Mr Chauntry, of Christine Close, followed his father into the coalmines at 14 but on a particulary pleasant day decided to turn his back on the mining industry and join the RAF.

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“A group of us were preparing to go down the pit for our shift and it was a lovely day and we made a pact to leave the pit and join the armed forces,” said the 81 year-old. “And many of us did just that.”

Mr Chauntry made some copies of the prints of his home town to keep and years later, his wife resurrected them as a teaching aid in her role at Leen Mills School.

“My wife used them to show the children in the 1970s how much the town had changed and I thought now in 2015, the Dispatch readers would be interested to see them and make comparisons.”

The pictures show Hucknall Colliery and the town centre with many of the roads leading out of the town.