Monument record 0225500000 - C.650M SW OF FOLLY FARM

Plan Form - CIRCULAR
WHITE DOUBLE CIRCLE WITH CENTRAL CROSS & N POINT, VISIBLE ON APS. PRESUMABLY A WORLD WAR II TARGET OR INDICATOR. CLEARLY VISIBLE ON 1948 AP; FAINTLY VISIBLE ON 1957 AP (B1).
OUTER RING C.12M IN DIAMETER (JPP).

A Second World War RAF bombing range is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data and was mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located across fields E of Whitesfield Farm and centred at SP 78552 18535, the bombing range comprises a short trackway at Whitesfield Farm that leads to bombing range observation post, a direction arrow pointing ENE and bombing range markers, all immediately adjacent the farm buildings. A trackway then extends about 820 metres SE across fields to a bombing range tower centred at SP 78675 17944. Some 595 metres ENE of the tip of the direction arrow is the bombing range target. On aerial photographs taken in 1944, the bombing range target is centred at SP 78551 18531, visible as a triangular structure of equal sides about 17.5 metre long, with an arrowhead shape extending from the N facing corner of the triangle to indicate slightly NNW, or magnetic north. Within the outer triangle is a further inverted inner triangle with sides about 4.5 metres long. A rectangular structure about 3 x 2 metres is located about 4 metres W of the SW facing triangle corner. By 1947, aerial photographs show that this target has been greatly increased in size and its shape change. The earlier target still appears to be the centre point, but is now surrounded by two concentric circles, one at 30 metres distance and the second at 60 metres distance from the centre, both straddling a nearby stream. Bisecting these on a slightly WSW-ENE and NNW-SSE alignment through the centre of the target are two linear structures, with an arrowhead extending NNW from the top of vertical line. This is again pointing magnetic north, presumably because it aligns with the compass systems and heading indicators used by pilots and their navigators during flight. It is unclear of what material the target is constructed, but it is (painted?) white and may be crushed rock or sandbags. Aerial photographs taken in 1948, 1949 and even in 1961 show that the target material has been broken up and spread by ploughing actions, with the target shape becoming increasing ‘smeared’ over time. By 1969, only half of the target can be seen on aerial photographs, but nothing remains visible by 1976. The operations area of the range starts to de dismantled from about 1948, removing first the bombing range markers variously between 1948 and 1950, then the direction arrow between 1949 and 1950 and finally the observation post, which was extant in 1967, but appears to have been demolished by 1976. The long trackway remains in the field in 1950, but is no longer visible in 1961, whereas the observation tower remains extant in 1961 but have been removed by 1967. To the SW and E of the bombing range target are six circular hollows between 3 and 9 metres in diameter that may represent bomb craters, of which 5 remain as shallow earthworks on recent remote sensing data dated 2019 (2-13).