Wainfleet Bombing Range Lincs

[Brian Farish]

Hello, for more years than I care to remember I have been interested in aviation topics, particularly WW2 history. Between Aug 1953 and Oct 1954 as part or 2 yrs Nat Serv. I served at Wainfleet Bombing range in Lincs. Recently I had an article published in issue No. 30 of "Britain at War" magazine pertinent to the first Luftwaffe raid on UK soil in Oct 1939 at the Forth Bridge near Edinburgh.All proceeds were donated to the proposed Bomber Command memorial being planned for London. Am now finalising article on reminiscences of Wainfleet range in 53/54. I would welcome the following info as memory is slightly faded. 1. Was there a No. 1 quadrant somewhere towards Gibralter point? I know No. 2 was on the sea wall close to the camp buildings. No 3 was on the floor below the ops floor in the old tower at Friskney whilst No. 4 was far to the south towards Wrangle at the ship target.. Does anyone have a photographs of any of the 1950s targets? Cheers Brian.

[WJT]

Brian: Check out this thread - it should answer most of your questions:

http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?t=1304

Welcome to AiX. Look forward to more memories of Wainfleet.

[PNK]

Welcome to the forum. Be interested to read your article. Where and when is it likely to be published?

Wainfleet covers many eras and I also wonder if it has been affected by coastal erosion?

[WJT]

PNK: Ref coastal erosion at Wainfleet, not an issue - entirely the reverse actually. Since the time of the Romans, The Wash has been slowly filling up with sand and silt. On the north shore of The Wash where the Wainfleet Range is located, there has been steady deposition of silt and over the years new sea walls have been built, reclaiming more land from the sea. Since the Second World War there have been two intakes - one in 1948 and the other in 1976. I was not around for the first post-war intake but I well remember the 1976 project - severe gales and high tides at the end of the year demolished the new bank for much of its length (as well as most of Skegness Pier).

The new bank was completed in 1977 and now the former mudflats between the two banks grow their two rich crops a year of potatoes, sugar beet or wheat. The grasses are now expanding on the seaward side of the new bank and I suspect that in another ten or so years there will be another intake, especially as the range closes for good in four weeks time. The last day of bombing is 2nd December and final closure the following day (although I suspect range clearance will take many years).

[PNK]

Must be the stuff from Scarborough. I did notice the Wash area being reclaimed as the marshy looking land in the 1946 photo was now being farmed. Interesting.

[PETERTHEEATER]

Welcome Brian.

Since Wainfleet was a WW2 range - which is what we are exploring - and you were working there in the early '50s not a lot would have changed so you knowledge of details and operation will be most useful and welcome in our range threads.

I worked on an RAF sea range in the Malaya in the early '60s where the set-up was to UK pattern and operation but there were a number of differences there compared to UK.

[Brian Farish]

Hello everyone, many thanks for responses. Once I get the writing knocked into shape I will get back with what are essentially personal reminiscences of the 1950s. Somebody wrote and I quote "Wainfleet was 'loused' with Canberra's. It was but there were also many instances of Vicker's Varsity a/c from, I think, BCBS (Bomber command bombing school) at Bassingbourn who spent long periods over the range dropping twenty four bombs,(25lb smoke/flash) one at a time, these were a real drag. Cheers for the time being. Brian