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| HER Number | MWB21033 |
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| Record Type | Building |
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| Name | Turret Trainer at Membury Airfield Dispersed Site 3, Lambourn |
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Summary
Second World War building with a turret gunnery trainer used to train air gunners
Monument Type(s):
Full Description
A building at Lowesdon Works was identified during a site visit on 24/03/2015 as a World War II turret trainer associated with the former Membury Airfield, at the Dispersed Site 3 <1>. It would have contained a hydraulic or electrically operated mock turret with films of attacking aircraft projected onto a curved wall.
A planning application was approved in 2015 for the demolition of the building, but subject to some building recording. There did not appear to be any surviving internal features aside from some electrical wiring. However, the walls, roof and layout were reasonably intact at the time of the visit.
The building recording survey concluded that the roof post-dated the Second World War, implying that it either replaced an earlier roof or that no roof had originally been constructed. The survey concluded that there was a possibility that the building never function as a bomb aimer training facility as with the entrance of the USA into the war, the airfield was handed over to the use of the USAF, who may not have had use for such a facility <3>.
Sources and further reading
| <01> | Air Ministry. 1944. Membury - Record Site Plan, Dispersed Sites. Digital. 1inch to 400ft (approx). [Map / SWB148903] |
| <02> | Brooks, R J. 2000. Thames Valley Airfields in the Second World War - Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Middlesex. ? P112-122. [Monograph / SWB12930] |
| <03> | Oxford Archaeology. 2017. Bombing Teacher Building, Membury Airfield, West Berkshire - Historic Building Investigation and Recording Report. 6677. 2018 WBC Network. [Unpublished document / SWB149417] |
Related Monuments
| MWB17591 | Membury Airfield Dispersed Sites (World War II), Lambourn (Monument) |
Associated Excavations and Fieldwork
| EWB1638 | Bombing Teacher Building, Membury Airfield, West Berkshire - Historic Building Investigation and Recordingment (Ref: 6677) |
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