| Summary : RAF air gunnery range, Stert Flats, in use from 1927. Bomb craters on a 20th century bombing range, visible as earthworks, were mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1947. Stert Flats Air Gunnery and Bombing Range was active prior to and during the Second World War. The area covered at least 425 metres E-W by 320 metres N-S. However, the two large range marker arrows on Wall Common, which identify the target area to the aircraft passing overhead, seem to be partially destroyed by coastal erosion by 1958, suggesting the area was no longer active by this date. Aerial photographs of the mudflats taken in 1958 and 1963 showed no indication of recent bombing activity having taken place and all evidence of the extensive area of bomb craters visible in 1947 had been completely removed by the sea. |
More information : ST26504700 The earliest records to date, of military activity on Stert Flats is from the 1886 edition of Chart 1157 corrected to 1927.
This shows a large irregular shaped area marked by 5 bouys. These are shown as cone shaped and annotated B Y with the identification number bracketed. The area is 2.5 NM (4.63km) N-S and 2.75 NM (5.09km) E-W and annotated "AIR GUNNERY DANGER AREA". A small circular symbol is annotated "target" (1926) and lies 8 cables (1.48km) from Steart chapel 331 (T). The transfer of this bearing and distance onto the OS 1:10000 gives ST26354709. (1)
On the 1931 edition of 1157, corrected to 1943, only the no 2 and 3 bougs against the southern edge of the intertidal Parrett remains. There is also a new location for the "target" which now lies 1.12 NM (2.07km) from Steart Chapel 325 30' (T). This gives ST25924751. Less than a cable to the N is charted a spherical bouy; the target symbol, a small circle is annotated "Y". (2)
Stert Flats were reassessed in June 1941 by Sqd Ld D Walker and selected as a bombing range which was used widely from that time on (3)
Two large arrows were recorded from the aerial photographic evidence apparently cut into the ground surface at the E end of wall common. The smaller of the two lies to the W, was a triangular mark at its base, as well as four small square marks, and is oriented to the N. The second, larger arrow has two parallel strips at its base and two small square features, it points slightly E of N. A building shown nearby, on the OS 1:10560, 1962, is possibly associated. (4)
ST 2620 4727 Bomb craters on a 20th century bombing range, visible as earthworks, were mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1947. The area covered at least 425 metres E-W by 320 metres N-S. Stert Flats Air Gunnery and Bombing Range was active prior to and during the Second World War. It is documented that, on 25th February 1942, Wellington bombers from 22 Operational Training Unit from RAF Wellesbourne Mountford airfield at Stratford-Upon-Avon in Warwickshire dropped 80 high explosive bombs on Stert Flats. However, the two large range marker arrows on Wall Common, which identify the target area to the aircraft passing overhead, seem to be partially destroyed by coastal erosion by 1958, suggesting the area was no longer active by this date. Also, aerial photographs of the mudflats taken in 1958 and 1963 showed no indication of recent bombing activity having taken place and the extensive area of bomb craters visible in 1947 had been completely removed by the sea. (5-8)
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