RAF munitions storage during WWII
Encyclopedia
The logistics organizations of the Royal Air Force
in World War II
were No. 42 Group RAF and RAF Maintenance Command
. As a result of a serious shortage of funds during the inter-war period and a weakness of policy the RAF was singularly ill-equipped to deal with the requirements of air warfare with regard to the protected storage of explosives. In 1935 the RAF had only two ammunition dump
s, one at Sinderland, Cheshire
, and the other in Norfolk
, at Pulham
. Both sites' storage consisted of metal sheds connected by standard gauge
rail tracks. In 1935 the standard bomb of the RAF was a 250 lb (113.4 kg) device containing high explosives, the largest bomb being 500 lb (226.8 kg).
, although these were more general purpose than specifically for the RAF. Chislehurst Cave was bought in October 1914 and a small portion of the twenty miles (32 km) of tunnels was prepared for storing up to 1,000 tons of explosives and raw materials for the Royal Arsenal
, Woolwich
, nine miles (14 km) away. Similarly, at the Chilwell Ordnance Factory a nearby hillside was bored out with a T-shaped storage area in 1915 as part of a total £2.5 million spent on the site, but this could hold barely 300 tons of matériel. Other sites were also acquired but with the end of the conflict all fell into disuse.
The Air Ministry
estimated in 1936 that a war reserve would contain 98,000 tons of bombs, 82,000 as 250 lb (113.4 kg) and 500 lb (226.8 kg) bombs and the balance as incendiaries
; to save money only 48,000 tons was purchased. The RAF decided to store these weapons in a number of underground depots, each holding 10-30,000 tons. The decision to expend the extra money to store the matérial underground was taken because the thin-walled bombs and inflammable incendiaries were extremely vulnerable to blast, much more so than artillery shells.
The planning of the pre-war storage was finalized in 1938, with three underground depots (one each in northern, central and southern England), each of around 25,000 tons capacity serving eight surface forward depots, termed Air Ammunition Parks (renamed Forward Ammunition Depots in 1941). Each surface depot would have a capacity of around 1,000 tons and would supply armaments to the individual airfields, being positioned within 25 miles (40.2 km) of its recipients.
and the War Office
. A survey in 1929-30 by the Army had found few sites to be satisfactory with regard to capacity, accessibility, locality and safety. Eventually the Army had a shortlist of five (Chislehurst Caves, certain mines near Blaenau, Scout Quarry in Rossendale
, the Meadowbank salt mine in Cheshire, and Ridge Quarry near Corsham
) which was reduced to one: Ridge Quarry. The War Office bought Ridge and nearby Tunnel and Eastlays quarries in mid-1936 for a little under £50,000. The Army went on to spend £4.4 million to create the Central Ammunition Depot at Corsham
, Wiltshire (later to become Hawthorn
).
In the summer of 1936 the RAF acquired a quarry at Chilmark
in Wiltshire for its southern depot and an alabaster
mine at Fauld in Staffordshire for its northern depot. Making Fauld suitable for use, including surface buildings, cost around £635,000. For the central depot the RAF was forced to create a store: in 1938 it bought a quarry at Harpur Hill
in Derbyshire; it built concrete storage structures within the quarry and then backfilled the hole with waste stone. Difficulties with construction and the weather prevented Harpur Hill from opening until mid-1940. An additional pre-war site for underground storage was later created: a slate quarry at Llanberis
was turned into another artificial cavern system with a large two-storey structure built for around £500,000 and opened in June 1941. In May 1941 Linley Caverns in Staffordshire was purchased, but, despite having over £1 million spent on it, Linley was never made useful and was relegated to the storage of obsolete munitions when it finally opened, in January, 1943.
The poor quality of the RAF stores led to the War Office's providing them with Ridge Quarry and later part of Eastlays Quarry at the Central Ammunition Depot. Both were rather poor quality: 96,000 tons of waste stone had to be moved out of Ridge to make it usable and it took over two years to make Eastlays satisfactory for use. The War Office also allowed 4,000 tons of incendiaries to be stored at the nearby Monkton Farleigh Mine.
The pre-war Air Ammunition Parks were all constructed to a similar pattern. Close to main railway lines with their own sidings, the sites had one fully enclosed component store, four enclosed stores for incendiaries and usually two groups of paired open-topped concrete storage magazines, each seventy two feet square. All the storage buildings were widely dispersed and had additional shielding with earthworks (termed blast barriers or traverses). Each open magazine was designed to hold 56 tons of bombs. There were additional buildings for the site staff and their needs.
(serving RAF Bomber Command
), Brafferton, North Yorkshire
(serving 4 Group North), Earsham
(serving OTUs), Lords Bridge (serving 2 and 3 Groups), Mawcarse (serving Scotland), Norton Disney
(serving 5 Group), Snodland
(actually at Hailing, serving 11 Group F), Southburn
(serving 4 Group South), and Staple Halt (serving 11 Group F). All were completed in 1939-40; Staple Halt was closed in July, 1940 and its role was taken over by Snodland, which was itself replaced by a new park at Newdigate
in May 1942. Two more were built during the war: South Witham
(serving 1 Group F) was completed in July 1942 and Hockering
(2 Group) in January 1943 some five months late. When the USAAF arrived new Forward Ammunition Supply depots were built for its needs at Braybrooke
, Melchbourne Park, and Sharnbrook
. Where it was rational the USAAF was given sub-sites at existing depots as well.
After the outbreak of hostilities the demands on the Air Ammunition Parks grew far beyond the planned limits. Total site limits were raised from 1,000 tons to 10,000 tons, and the individual stores designed to hold 56 tons of bombs were each, by 1943, holding some 600 tons of matériel. When the parks were renamed Forward Ammunition Depots in 1941 they became central depots with a number of nearby satellite sites, Advanced Ammunition Parks, to increase holding capacity further. Staple Halt became an Advanced Ammunition Park.
The two wartime Forward Ammunition Depots were markedly different from the pre-war designs, relying on concealment by woodland (South Witham was actually within Morkery Woods) rather than toughness. The munitions were held in standard Nissen hut
s dispersed to increase safety, with transport on standard nine-foot metalled roads. Each had a stated capacity of 8,400 tons of bombs, 840 tons of incendiaries and 40000 square feet (3,716.1 m²) for small arms ammunition.
, Redbrook
/Newland, Ruislip
and RAF Worthy Down
. Fauld had sub-sites at Bagot's Wood
, Flax Mill
and nearby Hilton
. The main site was also expanded.
The depots were a dangerous example of obsolescence for two main reasons. During the war, RAF bombs became much larger, 4000 lb (1,814.4 kg) quickly became the new large bomb and the vast production of the 250 lb (113.4 kg) and 500 lb (226.8 kg) devices was assigned to 'long term' storage. This meant the depots had little existing space to store new, bigger bombs, nor had they the equipment, training or ability to handle larger bombs safely. Secondly, the bases had been located on the assumption that the majority of fighting would be in support of France with active units in the south and east with support and training units in the south-west and west. There was no thought that France would collapse in early 1940. The new requirements for RAF fighter and bomber operations from the south-west needed a matching supply structure, which had not been built.
As an example of the pace of change, the 1936 estimate of 98,000 tonnes can be compared to an October 1941 estimated requirement of 632,000 tons within the following year. In 1941 the RAF had a total storage capacity of 158,000 tons. This inadequate capacity was reduced after the depot at Llanberis partially collapsed on 25 January 1942 and the Harpur Hill depot was closed soon afterwards as a precaution against a similar structural failure. A total of 23,906 tons of matériel was removed from these two sites by May 1942. Llanberis was effectively abandoned (decommissioned in 1956 the site would cause problems later when, in 1969, it was discovered that terrorists were exploring the site for explosives) but Harpur Hill was reinforced and re-opened, although the storage of potentially sensitive explosives was prohibited.
There was a hurried examination of even more marginal storage sites, but the situation was overtaken by actual events. By early 1942 German raids were markedly less threatening than anticipated - the need for the additional protection of underground storage was no longer paramount, indeed the sites came to be regarded as expensive white elephants. The supply of ammunition was soon changed, with supplies moving directly from the factories to the Forward Ammunition Depots, cutting the underground stores out of the system and relegating them to stores for obsolete stock and chemical weapons, holding points for very large cargoes, and repair centres. Three large new surface sites were also established at Gisburn
and Wortley
in Yorkshire, and Longparish
/Harewood Forest in Hampshire. Longparish was designed to hold 40,000 tons of ammunition and the other sites 25,000 tons each.
The collapse of Llanberis also lead to the decision to remove chemical weapons from subterranean storage, mainly a large number of bombs containing the unstable and corrosive mustard gas. Harpur Hill had been designated the central store for such devices in April 1940, receiving its first load in June of that year of mustard gas bombs evacuated from France. In June 1942 it was decided to move the bombs to a remote site at Bowes Moor
in County Durham. As an aside, the War Office chemical weapons store was at Russell's Enclosure in the Forest of Dean
, post-war disclosures of the mismanagement there are a little disquietening. The move of RAF bombs to Bowes Moor began in December 1941 with the bombs initially stored in the open under tarps or in wooden sheds. It was founding that the sheep on the moorland would consume the tarpaulins and disturb the bombs, resulting in the addition of sheep-proof fences and gates for the entire site. Fifty new buildings were late added to store the larger bombs. To ease distribution of mustard gas, five Forward Filling Stations were built at or near existing bomb storage sites.
Another blow to the underground stores came on 27 November 1944 when there was an explosion at Fauld
involving approximately 4,000 tons of high explosive bombs killing seventy people. The Court of Enquiry concluded that the explosion had been initiated by a mistake in the handling of a damaged bomb by RAF personnel.
Many chemical weapons were either disposed of in situ at Maintenance Units but Bowes Moor and Harpur Hill became the centres for destruction. Bulk mustard gas was graded and shipped to Rhydymwyn where any sub-standard product was loaded into 52 gallon drums and dumped either in the Hurd Deep or in Beaufort's Dyke
in the Irish Sea
. Almost 71,000 bombs containing tabun
had been seized in Germany, these were stored in the open at RAF Llandwrog
, near Caernarfon
, until 1955/56 when, in Operation Sandcastle
, they were transported to Cairnryan and scuttled at sea in three ships 120 miles (193.1 km) north-west of Ireland
.
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were No. 42 Group RAF and RAF Maintenance Command
RAF Maintenance Command
RAF Maintenance Command was the Royal Air Force command which was responsible for controlling maintenance for all the United Kingdom-based units from formation on 1 April 1938 until being renamed RAF Support Command on 31 August 1973.- History :...
. As a result of a serious shortage of funds during the inter-war period and a weakness of policy the RAF was singularly ill-equipped to deal with the requirements of air warfare with regard to the protected storage of explosives. In 1935 the RAF had only two ammunition dump
Ammunition dump
An ammunition dump, ammunition compound, ammunition depot, bomb dump, ammunition supply point or ammo dump, is a military storage facility for live ammunition and explosives....
s, one at Sinderland, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, and the other in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, at Pulham
Pulham
Pulham is a village in north Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale seven miles south east of Sherborne. The village has a population of 211 .-External links:*...
. Both sites' storage consisted of metal sheds connected by standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
rail tracks. In 1935 the standard bomb of the RAF was a 250 lb (113.4 kg) device containing high explosives, the largest bomb being 500 lb (226.8 kg).
Development of storage
There had been some small-scale use of underground munitions stores in Britain during the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, although these were more general purpose than specifically for the RAF. Chislehurst Cave was bought in October 1914 and a small portion of the twenty miles (32 km) of tunnels was prepared for storing up to 1,000 tons of explosives and raw materials for the Royal Arsenal
Royal Arsenal
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, originally known as the Woolwich Warren, carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing and explosives research for the British armed forces. It was sited on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England.-Early history:The Warren...
, Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
, nine miles (14 km) away. Similarly, at the Chilwell Ordnance Factory a nearby hillside was bored out with a T-shaped storage area in 1915 as part of a total £2.5 million spent on the site, but this could hold barely 300 tons of matériel. Other sites were also acquired but with the end of the conflict all fell into disuse.
The Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
estimated in 1936 that a war reserve would contain 98,000 tons of bombs, 82,000 as 250 lb (113.4 kg) and 500 lb (226.8 kg) bombs and the balance as incendiaries
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
; to save money only 48,000 tons was purchased. The RAF decided to store these weapons in a number of underground depots, each holding 10-30,000 tons. The decision to expend the extra money to store the matérial underground was taken because the thin-walled bombs and inflammable incendiaries were extremely vulnerable to blast, much more so than artillery shells.
The planning of the pre-war storage was finalized in 1938, with three underground depots (one each in northern, central and southern England), each of around 25,000 tons capacity serving eight surface forward depots, termed Air Ammunition Parks (renamed Forward Ammunition Depots in 1941). Each surface depot would have a capacity of around 1,000 tons and would supply armaments to the individual airfields, being positioned within 25 miles (40.2 km) of its recipients.
Underground storage
Over a hundred sites were considered and rejected for the RAF's underground storage. They had been pre-empted by the British ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
. A survey in 1929-30 by the Army had found few sites to be satisfactory with regard to capacity, accessibility, locality and safety. Eventually the Army had a shortlist of five (Chislehurst Caves, certain mines near Blaenau, Scout Quarry in Rossendale
Rossendale
Rossendale is a local government district with borough status. It is made up of a number of small former mill towns in Lancashire, England centered around the valley of the River Irwell in the industrial North West...
, the Meadowbank salt mine in Cheshire, and Ridge Quarry near Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
) which was reduced to one: Ridge Quarry. The War Office bought Ridge and nearby Tunnel and Eastlays quarries in mid-1936 for a little under £50,000. The Army went on to spend £4.4 million to create the Central Ammunition Depot at Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
, Wiltshire (later to become Hawthorn
Hawthorn, Wiltshire
Hawthorn is the location of a number of defence related underground facilities in the vicinity of Corsham, Wiltshire. Specifically the Hawthorn site was the location of an above-ground bunker used for the planning of satellite communications support to the United Kingdom's armed forces worldwide. ...
).
In the summer of 1936 the RAF acquired a quarry at Chilmark
Chilmark Quarries
Chilmark Quarries is a 9.65 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, in the ravine south of the village of Chilmark in Wiltshire, notified in 1977....
in Wiltshire for its southern depot and an alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
mine at Fauld in Staffordshire for its northern depot. Making Fauld suitable for use, including surface buildings, cost around £635,000. For the central depot the RAF was forced to create a store: in 1938 it bought a quarry at Harpur Hill
Harpur Hill
Harpur Hill is a small village on the outskirts of Buxton, Derbyshire. It has a primary school, a park, a pub, a working men's club and a Methodist Church, and contains parts of the University of Derby. It also has 3 football pitches which are homes to Harpur Club & Harpur Hill FC, A person that...
in Derbyshire; it built concrete storage structures within the quarry and then backfilled the hole with waste stone. Difficulties with construction and the weather prevented Harpur Hill from opening until mid-1940. An additional pre-war site for underground storage was later created: a slate quarry at Llanberis
Llanberis
Llanberis is a village in Gwynedd, North Wales, lying on the southern banks of Llyn Padarn in Snowdonia. It takes its name from Saint Peris, an early Welsh saint.According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llanberis was 1,954...
was turned into another artificial cavern system with a large two-storey structure built for around £500,000 and opened in June 1941. In May 1941 Linley Caverns in Staffordshire was purchased, but, despite having over £1 million spent on it, Linley was never made useful and was relegated to the storage of obsolete munitions when it finally opened, in January, 1943.
The poor quality of the RAF stores led to the War Office's providing them with Ridge Quarry and later part of Eastlays Quarry at the Central Ammunition Depot. Both were rather poor quality: 96,000 tons of waste stone had to be moved out of Ridge to make it usable and it took over two years to make Eastlays satisfactory for use. The War Office also allowed 4,000 tons of incendiaries to be stored at the nearby Monkton Farleigh Mine.
The pre-war Air Ammunition Parks were all constructed to a similar pattern. Close to main railway lines with their own sidings, the sites had one fully enclosed component store, four enclosed stores for incendiaries and usually two groups of paired open-topped concrete storage magazines, each seventy two feet square. All the storage buildings were widely dispersed and had additional shielding with earthworks (termed blast barriers or traverses). Each open magazine was designed to hold 56 tons of bombs. There were additional buildings for the site staff and their needs.
Ammunition parks
The main Air Ammunition Parks were: Barnham, SuffolkBarnham, Suffolk
Barnham is a village and civil parish in the St Edmundsbury district of Suffolk, England. It is about south of Thetford. According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name is "Beorn's homestead"...
(serving RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
), Brafferton, North Yorkshire
Brafferton, North Yorkshire
Brafferton is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 257.The village is situated about ten miles south of Thirsk, on the River Swale....
(serving 4 Group North), Earsham
Earsham
Earsham is a small village in Norfolk, England. Its postal town is the nearby Bungay, Suffolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 907 in 357 households as of the 2001 census.Earsham has a number of local attractions, including:...
(serving OTUs), Lords Bridge (serving 2 and 3 Groups), Mawcarse (serving Scotland), Norton Disney
Norton Disney
Norton Disney is a small village on the western boundary of Lincolnshire. Situated between Lincoln and Newark, it is the seat of the Disney family , from whom American Walt Disney's family is descended.The Village has one pub, The Green Man, which was formally the St Vincent...
(serving 5 Group), Snodland
Snodland
Snodland is a small town in the county of Kent, England, located on the River Medway between Rochester and Maidstone. It has a population of about 12,000 people....
(actually at Hailing, serving 11 Group F), Southburn
Southburn
Southburn is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, it forms part of the civil parish of Kirkburn. It is situated in the Yorkshire Wolds just south of the A164 road, approximately south west of Driffield and north west of Hutton Cranswick....
(serving 4 Group South), and Staple Halt (serving 11 Group F). All were completed in 1939-40; Staple Halt was closed in July, 1940 and its role was taken over by Snodland, which was itself replaced by a new park at Newdigate
Newdigate
Newdigate is a village and civil parish in Surrey lying to the east of the A24 road running between Dorking and Horsham. Neighbouring villages include Charlwood, Capel and Coldharbour...
in May 1942. Two more were built during the war: South Witham
South Witham
South Witham is a village in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, situated close to the Leicestershire and Rutland borders.-Geography:It is bisected by the young River Witham, about three miles to the east of its source. It is the point on the A1 where it enters Lincolnshire from the south, near ...
(serving 1 Group F) was completed in July 1942 and Hockering
Hockering
Hockering is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 628. By 2007 the district estimated that this had risen to 665.-Geography:...
(2 Group) in January 1943 some five months late. When the USAAF arrived new Forward Ammunition Supply depots were built for its needs at Braybrooke
Braybrooke
Braybrooke is a small village in north west Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about halfway between Market Harborough and Desborough. It lies in a valley between two ridges one of which is surmounted by the A6 trunk road...
, Melchbourne Park, and Sharnbrook
Sharnbrook
Sharnbrook is a village and civil parish located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a parish within the Hundred of Willey but was probably first developed in Saxon times. The oldest surviving building, St Peter's Church, is...
. Where it was rational the USAAF was given sub-sites at existing depots as well.
After the outbreak of hostilities the demands on the Air Ammunition Parks grew far beyond the planned limits. Total site limits were raised from 1,000 tons to 10,000 tons, and the individual stores designed to hold 56 tons of bombs were each, by 1943, holding some 600 tons of matériel. When the parks were renamed Forward Ammunition Depots in 1941 they became central depots with a number of nearby satellite sites, Advanced Ammunition Parks, to increase holding capacity further. Staple Halt became an Advanced Ammunition Park.
The two wartime Forward Ammunition Depots were markedly different from the pre-war designs, relying on concealment by woodland (South Witham was actually within Morkery Woods) rather than toughness. The munitions were held in standard Nissen hut
Nissen hut
A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated steel, a variant of which was used extensively during World War II.-Description:...
s dispersed to increase safety, with transport on standard nine-foot metalled roads. Each had a stated capacity of 8,400 tons of bombs, 840 tons of incendiaries and 40000 square feet (3,716.1 m²) for small arms ammunition.
Satellite sites
The underground depots also gained satellite sites. Chilmark, which as the most southerly store had been often targeted by the Luftwaffe, still gained a surface presence of over thirty buildings as well as control over extensive 'semi-underground' sub-sites at Dinton and Grovelley Wood, with smaller sub-sites also founded at HawkingeHawkinge
Hawkinge is a village and civil parish in the Shepway District of Kent, England. The original village of Hawkinge is actually just less than a mile due east of the present village centre ; the modern, much larger, village of Hawkinge was formed by the merging of Hawkinge and Uphill...
, Redbrook
Redbrook
Redbrook is a village in Gloucestershire, England, adjoining the border with Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located on the River Wye and is within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.- History :...
/Newland, Ruislip
Ruislip
Ruislip is a suburban area, centred on an old village in Greater London, and is part of the London Borough of Hillingdon.It was formerly also a parish covering the neighbouring areas of Eastcote, Northwood, Ruislip Manor and South Ruislip in the area. The parish appears in the Domesday Book, and...
and RAF Worthy Down
RAF Worthy Down
Worthy Down Barracks is a British Army barracks near Winchester, Hampshire. It is the headquarters and depot of the Adjutant General's Corps and is part of the Winchester Garrison...
. Fauld had sub-sites at Bagot's Wood
Bagot's Wood
Bagot's Wood is the largest extant piece of the ancient Needwood Forest, located near to Abbots Bromley, in Staffordshire, England. The forest derives its name from the Bagot family, seated for centuries at Blithfield Hall in Staffordshire....
, Flax Mill
Flax mill
Flax mills are mills concerned with the manufacture of flax. The earliest mills were ones for spinning yarn for the linen industry.John Kendrew and Thomas Porthouse , both of Darlington developed the process from Richard Arkwright's water frame, and patented it in 1787...
and nearby Hilton
Hilton, Staffordshire
Hilton is a village in Staffordshire, England....
. The main site was also expanded.
The depots were a dangerous example of obsolescence for two main reasons. During the war, RAF bombs became much larger, 4000 lb (1,814.4 kg) quickly became the new large bomb and the vast production of the 250 lb (113.4 kg) and 500 lb (226.8 kg) devices was assigned to 'long term' storage. This meant the depots had little existing space to store new, bigger bombs, nor had they the equipment, training or ability to handle larger bombs safely. Secondly, the bases had been located on the assumption that the majority of fighting would be in support of France with active units in the south and east with support and training units in the south-west and west. There was no thought that France would collapse in early 1940. The new requirements for RAF fighter and bomber operations from the south-west needed a matching supply structure, which had not been built.
As an example of the pace of change, the 1936 estimate of 98,000 tonnes can be compared to an October 1941 estimated requirement of 632,000 tons within the following year. In 1941 the RAF had a total storage capacity of 158,000 tons. This inadequate capacity was reduced after the depot at Llanberis partially collapsed on 25 January 1942 and the Harpur Hill depot was closed soon afterwards as a precaution against a similar structural failure. A total of 23,906 tons of matériel was removed from these two sites by May 1942. Llanberis was effectively abandoned (decommissioned in 1956 the site would cause problems later when, in 1969, it was discovered that terrorists were exploring the site for explosives) but Harpur Hill was reinforced and re-opened, although the storage of potentially sensitive explosives was prohibited.
There was a hurried examination of even more marginal storage sites, but the situation was overtaken by actual events. By early 1942 German raids were markedly less threatening than anticipated - the need for the additional protection of underground storage was no longer paramount, indeed the sites came to be regarded as expensive white elephants. The supply of ammunition was soon changed, with supplies moving directly from the factories to the Forward Ammunition Depots, cutting the underground stores out of the system and relegating them to stores for obsolete stock and chemical weapons, holding points for very large cargoes, and repair centres. Three large new surface sites were also established at Gisburn
Gisburn
Gisburn is a village, civil parish and ward within the Ribble Valley borough of Lancashire, England. It lies northeast of Clitheroe. The parish of Gisburn had a population of 506, and the ward had 1287, recorded in the 2001 census....
and Wortley
Wortley, West Yorkshire
Wortley is a district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins one mile to the west of the city centre.In the 1086 Domesday Book it is mentioned as Wirtlei, also Wirtleie and Wrleia. Later it was known as Wirkelay until about 1700...
in Yorkshire, and Longparish
Longparish
Longparish is a small village in Hampshire, England. It lies on the western bank of the River Test.A Victorian monument, Dead Man's Plack, stands nearby.-External links:* * *...
/Harewood Forest in Hampshire. Longparish was designed to hold 40,000 tons of ammunition and the other sites 25,000 tons each.
The collapse of Llanberis also lead to the decision to remove chemical weapons from subterranean storage, mainly a large number of bombs containing the unstable and corrosive mustard gas. Harpur Hill had been designated the central store for such devices in April 1940, receiving its first load in June of that year of mustard gas bombs evacuated from France. In June 1942 it was decided to move the bombs to a remote site at Bowes Moor
Bowes Moor
Bowes Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Teesdale district in south-west County Durham, England. It is an extensive area of moorland, most of it covered by blanket bog, which supports significant breeding populations of a number of wading birds.The Pennine Way National Trail...
in County Durham. As an aside, the War Office chemical weapons store was at Russell's Enclosure in the Forest of Dean
Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...
, post-war disclosures of the mismanagement there are a little disquietening. The move of RAF bombs to Bowes Moor began in December 1941 with the bombs initially stored in the open under tarps or in wooden sheds. It was founding that the sheep on the moorland would consume the tarpaulins and disturb the bombs, resulting in the addition of sheep-proof fences and gates for the entire site. Fifty new buildings were late added to store the larger bombs. To ease distribution of mustard gas, five Forward Filling Stations were built at or near existing bomb storage sites.
Another blow to the underground stores came on 27 November 1944 when there was an explosion at Fauld
RAF Fauld Explosion
The RAF Fauld explosion was a military accident which occurred at 11:11am on Monday, 27 November 1944 at the RAF Fauld underground munitions storage depot...
involving approximately 4,000 tons of high explosive bombs killing seventy people. The Court of Enquiry concluded that the explosion had been initiated by a mistake in the handling of a damaged bomb by RAF personnel.
Post WWII ammunition disposal
At the end of the war there was, naturally, a sudden and enormous surplus of ammunition. There was little storage difficulty, with no prospect of air attack many of the newly abandoned airfields were turned into open stores for this ammunition prior to its disposal.Many chemical weapons were either disposed of in situ at Maintenance Units but Bowes Moor and Harpur Hill became the centres for destruction. Bulk mustard gas was graded and shipped to Rhydymwyn where any sub-standard product was loaded into 52 gallon drums and dumped either in the Hurd Deep or in Beaufort's Dyke
Beaufort's Dyke
Beaufort's Dyke is the sea trench between Northern Ireland and Scotland within the North Channel. The dyke is 50 km long, 3.5 km wide and 200–300 metres deep....
in the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
. Almost 71,000 bombs containing tabun
Tabun (nerve agent)
Tabun or GA is an extremely toxic chemical substance. It is a clear, colorless, and tasteless liquid with a faint fruity odor. It is classified as a nerve agent because it fatally interferes with normal functioning of the mammalian nervous system...
had been seized in Germany, these were stored in the open at RAF Llandwrog
RAF Llandwrog
RAF Llandwrog was opened in January 1941 as a RAF Bomber Command airfield for training gunners, radio operators and navigators. It was located at Llandwrog, 4 nautical miles southwest of Caernarfon, Gwynedd, Wales, and it remains in civil operation today as Caernarfon Airport.-World War II:It was...
, near Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...
, until 1955/56 when, in Operation Sandcastle
Operation Sandcastle
Operation Sandcastle was a British Ministry of Defence operation conducted in 1955-56 to dispose of chemical weapons at sea. It was the third of four 'phases' to dispose of unwanted chemical ordnance by the British government....
, they were transported to Cairnryan and scuttled at sea in three ships 120 miles (193.1 km) north-west of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.