Name: | Fighter dispersal pen (destroyed), North Weald Airfield |
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SMR Number: | 20644 |
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Type of record: | Monument |
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Grid Reference: | TL 485 037 |
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Map Sheet: | TL40SE |
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Parish: | NORTH WEALD BASSETT, EPPING FOREST, ESSEX |
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Summary
Fighter disposal pen
Full description
North Weald airfield was one of Britain's premier fighter stations during World War Two. A plan of the site dated June 1944 and an aerial photograph taken in June 1947 show that there were 13 pens for the dispersal of the aircraft, known generally from their shape as "E" pens. The plan numbers these from "P.1" to "P.13" clockwise from the administrative offices in the SE corner of the airfield. This pen, a classic "E" type facing northwards, was "P.1". It was sited immediately N of Epping Road, between the road and the perimeter track. An unidentifiable grassy lump now stands at the site probably the pen's bulldozed remains.<1> <2>
One photo taken of the site. <4>
There appears to have been three patterns of pens at North Weald. The most numerous were a regular "E" with two square enclosures. These are P.1 (SMR 20644), P.2 (SMR 20645), P.3 (SMR 20646), P.4 (SMR 20647), P.5 (SMR 20648) and P.6 (SMR 20649). Pens P.5 and P.6 still survive at the time of writing and they have been measured at c.160 feet long and 75 feet wide to the outer limits of the earth banking. Pens P.8 and P.12 (SMRs 20651 and 20655) were the same rectangular shape but slightly larger, measured from the surviving example (SMR 20651) at 214 feet long and 85 feet wide, again to the outer limits of the earth banking. The remaining five pens were of a different shape (SMRs 20650, 20652, 20653, 20654 and 20656). The long straight of the "E" and the two ends formed a rough crescent shape around the straight central arm which meant that the two enclosures in each pen were almost triangular and therefore smaller than either of the other two types. This latter pattern was often shown on wartime plans as a "Blenheim" type, presumably it was originally designed to accommodate a Blenheim bomber. <3>
<1> Air Ministry, 1944, Plan from the Air Ministry of North Weald Airfield (Map). SEX62966.
<2> RAF, 1947, CPE-UK 2135-4159 (AP). SEX62967.
<3> Innes, G, 1995, British airfield buildings of the Second World War, photograph p.46 (DESC TEXT). SEX62968.
<4> Nash, Fred, 2003, unknown (Photograph). SEX62969.
Monument Types
- DISPERSAL PEN (WWII, Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
Associated Events
- Site visit to North Weald Airfield by F Nash and S Tyler (Ref: Nash and Tyler EPF Mar-Apr 2003)
Sources and further reading
<1> | Map: Air Ministry. 1944. Plan from the Air Ministry of North Weald Airfield. |
<2> | AP: RAF. 1947. CPE-UK 2135-4159. |
<3> | DESC TEXT: Innes, G. 1995. British airfield buildings of the Second World War. photograph p.46. |
<4> | Photograph: Nash, Fred. 2003. unknown. |
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