R.A.F. Practice Camp Sutton Bridge late 1920s. View from west side airfield embankment main entrance. Photograph by Lilian Ream.
On 1 September 1926 the Air Ministry established R.A.F. Practice Camp Sutton Bridge[1][2] on 289 acres of acquired agricultural land next to Sutton Bridge village from Guy's Hospital Agricultural Estates.[3][4][5] It was the responsibility of the first camp commandant, Flight Lieutenant A. Mackenzie, to establish the base camp and its flying ground, to set up, operate and maintain ground and towed targets for practice machine gun firing and bomb dropping by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Armbiplane squadrons. Its principal gunnery range was to be located along the coastal marshland on The Wash in close vicinity to the small village of Gedney Drove End (see Holbeach Marsh Range).[4][5][6] Although an RAF aircraft gunnery practice camp from 1926, from 1 January 1932 it was officially renamed to No. 3 Armament Training Camp[7] Sutton Bridge, subsequently No. 3 Armament Training Station Sutton Bridge,[8] and later simply RAF Sutton Bridge.[2][4][5]
The single most important function of RAF Sutton Bridge was as the home for the RAF's Central Gunnery School (CGS) from April 1942 to March 1944. Here for the first time, fighter pilots of RAF Fighter Command and air gunners of RAF Bomber Command were trained together so as to become Gunnery Instructors who would then be sent to airfields around the country to pass on newly acquired skills. In the words of Group Captain Allan Wright "the Central Gunnery School itself was the first of its kind in the world".[4]
Runway
4,200 ft Grass runway, orientated North-East/South-West (NE/SW).[5]
2,400 ft x 50 ft Sommerfeld Tracking runway, numbered 13/31.[5]
3,450 ft x 150 ft PSP (Pierced steel planking) Marsden Matting runway, numbered 08/26.[5]
Units present at Sutton Bridge
1930s, No. 3 Armament Training Camp, RAF, Sutton Bridge: Airfield west side embankment main entrance. Visible in the far left background is the new Hinaidi type aircraft hangar built during the 1930s replacing two of the airfield's original four Bessonneau type aircraft hangars.
Expecting attacks by the German Luftwaffe on RAF airfields, the Air Ministry implemented a plan for secret decoy airfields in 1939.[5][18] Sites intended to attract night raids were designated "Q" sites, while decoys for day raids were known as "K" sites.[18] RAF Sutton Bridge had a "Q" site, four miles north-east of the airfield (52°46′49.77″N0°18′35.13″E / 52.7804917°N 0.3097583°E / 52.7804917; 0.3097583 (RAF Sutton Bridge decoy "Q" Site)), on cultivated farmland in Norfolk, at Terrington Marsh, near the village of Terrington St Clement.[5][19] The "Q" site consisted of an elaborate lighting system, including adjustable-intensity electric lights, to simulate a runway flare path, and other runway lights. Obstruction lights were also installed, to prevent Allied aircraft from mistakenly landing on the decoy dummy airfield.[5][19]
Air raid attacks
German Luftwaffe target intelligence dossier for RAF Sutton Bridge airfield, dated January 1943
The German Luftwaffe took its first aerial bombing assault on RAF Sutton Bridge on the night of 30–31 August 1940, where the Terrington decoy "Q" site would prove its effectiveness.[5][19] On that night, four High Explosive (HE) bombs were dropped North-West of the detected "Q" site flare-path, with a further fifteen explosions minutes later.[5] Another air raid, on 22 September 1940, saw a single German bomber drop a further seven bombs on the "Q" site.[5][19] The Luftwaffe returned in strength on 14 February 1941, twelve bombers unloaded 47 High Explosive bombs and approximately 1,000 incendiary bombs, once again the decoy "Q" site proved its effectiveness, on the next night the Luftwaffe returned.[5][19]
On 16 February 1941, amidst low cloud and afternoon drizzle, and without warning, a single Heinkel He 111 bomber appeared out of the grey sky, circuited RAF Sutton Bridge airfield, dropped nine bombs and sprayed the area with machine gun fire, before disappearing back into the cloud as quickly as it had appeared.[5] One further air raid followed on the "Q" site when two bombers dropped eight High Explosive bombs shortly after midnight on 17–18 February 1941.[5] No further direct air raid attacks materialized during the Blitz until the early hours of 12 May 1941 when Sutton Bridge was re-visited by the Luftwaffe, as part of a series of countrywide air raids targeting infrastructures and RAF airfields.[5] Between the hours of 1-2 am on 12 May 1941, in addition to attacking the neighbouring town of Spalding, three bombers conducted a separate aerial bombing assault on RAF Sutton Bridge airfield, sixteen bombs fell in total on parked Hawker Hurricanes, setting two on fire and causing severe damage to seven others.[20] On 24 July 1942 during a raid four bombs were dropped, one landing on the armoury. The Fighter Wing office and lecture rooms were destroyed, two hangars, a decontamination centre and the orderly room were damaged. An airman was critically injured.[21]
Central Gunnery School
The Central Gunnery School (CGS) was formed on 6 November 1939 after the RAF recognised the need for both continuing and advanced instruction, initially for air gunners in Bomber Command. Its first base was RAF Warmwell and the CGS ran its first course in April 1940, where the main focus was on turret-gunnery. On 1 April 1942 the CGS moved from RAF Chelveston near Northampton to RAF Sutton Bridge.[4][5]
During the Battle of Britain, it became apparent that while aircrew had acquired essential flying skills, they had received little or no training in aerial gunnery. This was a serious deficiency for inexperienced pilots, meaning such training and the teaching of deflection shooting had largely to be carried out or just picked up during operations, resulting in fewer combat successes. For this reason, and after repeated approaches to senior officers by Wing Commander Adolph Malan widely known as ‘Sailor’ Malan, he finally received authority to set up a Fighter Wing at the CGS. He was a respected leader and high-scoring fighter pilot, whose Ten Rules For Air Fighting were already on many fighter squadron notice boards.[4]
There was mutual advantage for the Bomber and Fighter wings to be based at the same location so that relevant gunnery flying exercises could be carried out together. Thus, the Central Gunnery School transferred to Sutton Bridge on 1 April 1942, with its new wider remit, and remained until February 1944. It comprised the Gunnery Leader (Bomber) Wing and the Pilot Gunnery Instructors Training Wing. Each training course lasted a month and comprised 10 fighter pilots and 32 air gunners; with a 50% overlap of courses there were always twice that number of airmen at the School.[4]
Thus, its purpose was to give advanced training to experienced aircrew to become gunnery Instructors who were then posted to airfields around the country to use their newly acquired instructing skills. Fighter Command and Bomber Command worked together at the airfield.[4] The two principal aircraft used were the Supermarine Spitfire and the Vickers Wellington respectively, although a large number of aircraft types were based at the airfield.
Pilot Gunnery Instructors Training Wing
Spitfire pilots with operational experience were given a month's training to become gunnery Instructors who would then be posted out to APCs (Armament Practice Camps) to teach freshly trained pilots deflection shooting.
Some of the training was undertaken using wing-mounted cine-cameras, simulating attacks with machine guns and cannons. In order to learn how to attack bombers and to learn dogfighting skills, the simulated attacks were made on both Wellingtons and on other Spitfires; for some purposes the School's target towing aircraft were sufficient as targets for these attacks. The gunnery film taken during simulated attacks was subsequently evaluated to assess proficiency.
Training using live ammunition was carried out on drogue targets (similar to a windsock), towed behind a target tug, most commonly Miles Masters or Westland Lysanders. Hawker Henleys were also used briefly at the School - see link for photograph of a drogue. The CGS operated its own Target Towing Flight. The ammunition of various Spitfires was painted in different colours, for example, blue green and red. Three Spitfires made attacks on one drogue, after which the target-towing aircraft dropped the drogue at a dropping zone near the airfield; it would then stream another drogue in readiness for another three pilots to make their attacks. By subsequent examination of the colour of the paint around the holes in the drogue, percentage hit rates of individual pilots could be assessed.
In 1943, the Air Ministry produced a 48-page training book for fighter pilots titled "Bag The Hun". This dealt with the estimation of range and angle off in deflection shooting, with the sub-title "Try This Series Of Exercises & Improve Your Shooting". This formed the basis of the training, and was issued to all instructors and pilots attending fighter gunnery courses. (For modern animation of a gunnery training class, see external links.)
A typical series of pilot's logbook entries for training flights during a course at the School would include:
Ranging and line of flight on Spitfire;
Range estimation on Wellington Bomber (Wimpy);
¼ attack on Wimpy;
Deflection practice on Spitfire 200mph;
Deflection 250mph;
Deflection 300mph;
¼ attack on Spitfire;
Half roll attack on Miles Master;
¼ attack and half roll from above on Wimpy;
Spitfire evading 200mph;
Spitfire evading 300mph;
¼ attack on Miles Master;
¼ attack on Miles Master with patter;
Varied attacks on Wimpy;
Astern shots at Spitfire;
Snap shots at Spitfire;
Attacking Wimpy taking full evasion.
(Wimpy = RAF aircrew nickname for Vickers Wellington bomber).
Gunnery Leader (Bomber) Wing
During the simulated attacks by Spitfires on Wellingtons, the bomber Gunnery Leaders were also trained using cine-film rather than live ammunition. Again, the film was subsequently evaluated to assess proficiency. After passing the course, trainees were posted to Operational Training Units around the country, where they became Instructors to train bomber gunnery crews.
Officers commanding Central Gunnery School 1942 to 1944
^The official naming used and found in official Air Ministry notices, the London Gazette and other publications is "R.A.F. Practice Camp Sutton Bridge". One example publication: FLIGHT, 24 May 1928, Air Ministry Announcements, Page 394: The Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force Intelligence, Appointments, I.W.C. Mackenzie to "R.A.F. Practice Camp, Sutton Bridge", 14.4.28 [1]
^ ab"SUTTON BRIDGE"(JPG). Amarillo, Texas: Amarillo Globe-Times. 6 September 1962. p. 4. Retrieved 17 August 2015. An airfield at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, England, 289 acres of agricultural land has been sold for $110,740.
^ abcPublication: FLIGHT, 8 January 1932, Air Ministry Announcements, Page 43: The Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force Intelligence, Reorganisation of the Armament and Gunnery School, from 1 January 1932, R.A.F. practice camps will be known as armament training camps and numbered as follows...: No. 3 Armament Training Camp, Sutton Bridge [2]
^Publication: FLIGHT, 26 May 1938, Page 516, "A pair of Gloster Gauntlet single-seaters over the ranges at No. 3 Armament Training Station, Sutton Bridge" [3]
^Wright, Neil R (2009). Sutton Bridge - an industrial history. Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology. p. 44. ISBN978-0-903582-37-7.
^The National Archives (The National Archives document reference No.: FY): Records of the Potato Marketing Boards, 1933-1997.
^Publication: FLIGHT, 25 November 1937, Advertisement Notice, between Pages 510-511: "EN-TOUT-CAS have carried out contracts at the following:- AIR MINISTRY AERODROMES... Sutton Bridge Aerodrome, Lincs." [4]
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