Bouncing Bombs on Brean Down (1943)

On the tip of Brean Down, a rocky promontory projecting out into the Bristol Channel from the North Somerset coast, there are a large number of derelict military installations and buildings. As one crests the hill on the landward side of the site, the first thing that catches the eye is a Victorian barrack block. This is part of Brean Down Fort, built in the 1860s and  partially destroyed on the 6th July 1900 when a drunken artilleryman fired a ball cartridge down into one of the ventilator shafts serving the main magazine. This reckless act caused a catastrophic explosion which vaporised the shooter and rendered the fort temporarily unusable. 

The second noticeable feature on this dramatic wind-swept headland is the Second World War gun battery which was overlaid onto the original fort in 1939. A control bunker, two 6-inch naval gun positions and a couple of searchlight posts remain - as do the hard-standings for numerous Nissen huts. The guns, of course, are long gone.

Searchlight building and rails - Brean Down

There is one feature that defies immediate identification though. A pair of rails running for a distance of eighty feet with a concrete platform at the western end. On closer examination one can see that the valley in which the tracks sit has been levelled by excavation to the depth of 7'6" at the landward end.

To understand why the rails are on Brean Down and the circumstances of their use, one needs to delve into the records of the Department for Miscellaneous Weapons Development (1941-45) for it was DMWD engineers and scientists (colloquially known as the 'Wheezers and Dodgers') based at HMS Birnbeck in Weston-super-Mare who were responsible for them. Indeed, the rails were installed to test a unique and innovative new weapon - Top Secret Project No. 67 - 'Ricochetting Projectile - Baseball'.

Interestingly DMWD Project 67 has a direct link with one of the most iconic missions flown by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. This was Operation Chastise - the Dambusters Raid  - of 16 / 17th May 1943. Men of the famous 617 Squadron managed to breech a number of German dams using an 'Upkeep bouncing bomb'. 

But what's the connection with the Wheezers and Dodgers of HMS Birnbeck? Well the story starts in a laboratory near Heathrow and finishes on the North Somerset coast. Let me elucidate.

In testing the cylindrical 'Upkeep' bomb, and its' predecessor the 'Highball' the Admiralty had been asked to source suitable sites along the eastern coast of England and manage the retrieval of dropped test bombs. Lieutenant Commander L.H.M. Lane RNVR of the DMWD was appointed as the Royal Navy's man on this RAF programme - a programme which was centred on the repurposed Road Research Laboratory at Harmondsworth. There, a team under the leadership of Barnes Lewis of Vickers (Weybridge) Ltd were working with the Air Ministry on the dams project. Lane would help on 'Highball' and'Upkeep' but would also look for opportunities on behalf of the Admiralty.

The site of the Road Research Laboratory nr Heathrow

It's fair to say that not withstanding the need for Admiralty involvement there was a bit of inter-service rivalry in the very early days. Amongst Barnes Wallace's papers at the National Archives there is a letter dated 9th May 1941 from the Air Ministry to Vice Admiral Tom Phillips bemoaning the fact that the 'Vickers salesman', Barnes Wallace, 'is pushing his wares through naval channels' (I paraphrase).  An interesting aside to what became a very effective collaboration.

Notwithstanding the tensions and scepticism though, the DMWD were keen to tap into Barnes Wallace's fertile bran and hence, amongst others, Project No. 67 was born. The plan was to develop a version of the RAFs 'bouncing bomb' that could be fired from the deck of a ship (initially for M.T.B's) or from a static ramp onshore. A ricochetting bouncing bomb would be much faster that a torpedo and could be highly effective against enemy ships and 'invasion barges'. As the DMWD technical specification stated, 'Baseball' was an 'explosive filled 18' or 12' ball fired from a smooth bore tube at a small angle to the surface of the sea. Under these conditions the ball would progress in long low bounces with a remarkably small deviation from the line of fire'. 

Mosquito dropping 'Highball' - Lane papers, National Archives

Baseball specification - DMWD Technical History #24, National Archives 

The DMWD team on HMS Birnbeck at Weston-super-Mare set to work making prototypes starting with a reduced scale sphere to investigate rotation, size, density, moment of inertia, speed and height of launching. The DMWD Project 67 file in the National Archive tells how a rocket catapult would be used as the means of propulsion as the launching speed could be controlled within wide limit by varying the number of rockets used. In trialling the prototype the rocket fired catapult carriage would be propelled down the track before coming to to a hard stop. The momentum gained during the rocket propelled run-in meant the sphere would be propelled out of the tube, skipping across the water to hit a designated target area. At Brean Down the stop would be achieved through the installation of hydraulic rams held in a solid block of concrete strapped to a steel grill embedded in concrete (the surface of which can be seen in the first image above). 

Baseball carriage specification - DMWD Technical History #24, National Archives

Three trials were undertaken at Brean Down under the control of the DMWD team at HMS Birnbeck. All consisted of an 18' 'Baseball' weighing 250 pounds. The trials involved rotated and unrotated spheres - the former involving both forward-spin and back-spin. The results of the trials, which took place on the 15th Feb 1943 and the 27th Feb 1943 were mixed - to say the least. We have the official reports and an eye-witness account and the two create an entertaining contrast.

From the official reports, the first trial entailed the use of two rockets on the trolley and showed there was insufficient power to project the sphere out across the sea. There was also considerable debris from the starting pit once the rockets were fired. For the second and third experiments which took place on the second specified date, a wall was built at the back of the starting pit. Trial II with four rockets went reasonably well, but Trial III with six rockets was a fiasco. Travelling at 230 ft per second (160 mph), the trolley ploughed through the 'retardation point' taking the hydraulic ram assembly with it and ended up 80 yards out to sea on the rocks below. 

In his book 'The Secret War: 1939-45' Gerald Pawle helpfully provided a much richer description of the third and final Brean Down 'Baseball' trial'.

The stage was set for the launching of the missile. The small party gathered on the ridge behind the trolley, with its twelve (sic) two-inch rockets, waiting tensely for the signal to fire, no one quite knowing what to expect. When the firing key was pressed the trolley, enveloped with flame, hurtled down the track like a meteor. With a shattering roar it drove straight through the buffers and the massive blast wall disintegrated. The air was filled with a whirling mass of sandbags, wite hawsers, and pieces of steel, and the trolley, its rockets still belching tongues of flame, vanished from sight over the cliff!

Later version of Baseball at Middle Hope - Lane Papers, National Archives

The HMS Birnbeck team were not discouraged though. Although the Brean Down site was abandoned on account of retrieval from the water being problematic in that location, the project continued. Subsequently, two sets of tracks were build at Middle Hope further up the coast - one at sea level, the other on a bluff to replicate the height of a ship. Looking at the image above, it seems the later spheres were bigger and that the means of propelling them had evolved. In the immediate aftermath of the Brean down failure though, the rocket trolley was simplified using cheaper and more easily sourced materials 'Woolworths style' in an effort to reduce the cost of replacing lost components. Trials continued until August 1945 at which point the project was closed down.

Did Barnes Wallace visit Birnbeck Pier? Well, he was closely involved in this and other projects but there is no evidence that he did so. Minutes of meetings show that when the senior stakeholders met, it was in Central London or at Weybridge. Who knows though, he might have - but irrespective of whether he did attend the Brean Down trials personally, the link between Wallace and the Wheezers and Dodgers was strong.

Note: The North Somerest Council's  Birnbeck Pier Restoration Project has been made possible thanks to over £44m in external funding secured from the UK Government, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, National Heritage Memorial Fund and Historic England.

 

The research that I’m carrying out for the project has been made possible thanks to funding from the council’s social value agreement with its contractor, Mackley.

The Fall of Singapore (February 1942)

 Earlier this year my wife and I spent a few days in Singapore on the beautiful resort island of Sentosa, which is linked to the mainland by a modern day causeway. Nowadays, it is a magnet for tourists attracted by the pristine beaches, the lush vegetation, the up-market hotels and the ultra modern attractions such as Universal Studios and the Singapore Marina. It was a different story in the late 19th  Century and early 20th Century though - when apart from the swamps and abundant vegetation, four substantial sea-facing gun batteries were in operation on the island - Fort Serapong, Fort Siloso, Fort Connaught and the Imbaih Battery. These batteries originally built to deter Russian intruders gained a new importance in the late 1930s and early 1940s as expectations grew that Japan would invade. When they did come - from the landward north rather than the sea, Sentosa was used by the Imperial Japanese Army as a squalid prisoner-of-war camp until the liberation of the territory in 1945.

One of the guns at Fort Siloso, Singapore

Conveniently, a free open-sided bus shuttle runs along the full length of Sentosa, linking a string of beach resorts and turning around beneath the landward end of a spectacular walkway which leads tourists into the restored Fort Siloso, a heritage area which is now designated as Singapore's 74th National Monument. So off we went!

There are four colour coded walks around the Fort. The red and yellow routes cover 'Singapore during WWII' and 'the Life of a Soldier'. the other routes cover the wider history and include some truly spectacular viewpoints. In post war history the sea facing batteries on the southern side of Singapore are often dismissed as an irrelevance given that when the Japanese did invade, they came in from Malaysia on the mainland to the north. However, as the Japanese moved towards Tengah Airfield to the north-west of the Singapore city area, the Fort's guns were turned 180 degrees and used to try and slow the advance - but to no avail.

Fort Siloso Guards Room (now a Museum)

There is plenty to see and learn. Some of the Second World War era gun batteries and observation posts have been restored and other structures have been converted into exhibition spaces where the story of the unsuccessful defence of Singapore by British and Commonwealth forces in 1942 is told. In particular, General Percival's surrender of the 80,000 strong Allied defenders is depicted in a reconstruction of the actual ceremony which took place at Fort Canning on mainland Singapore. Described by Winston Churchill as the worst disaster and capitulation in British history, as an aside, it was one of two World War II events that angered my father (the other being the the treatment of Bomber Command veterans post 1945).

Fort Canning Hotel, formerly Far East Command

The entrance to the Battle Box Bunker, Fort Canning Hill

The next day we headed across the Sentosa Island Bridge to mainland Singapore and explore a couple of other sites associated with the Second World War. Our first stop was Fort Canning Hill which was the epicentre of British command and control during the 1942 battle. The British and Commonwealth Far East Command was based in what is now a luxury hotel (see picture above) from 1926-41. The hill on which this impressive building sits was a highly secure military zone and as the tide quickly turned in favour of the Japanese, Percival and his headquarters staff, who had since set up a field command centre in the Sime Road area to the north of the island, moved into a nearby bunker complex on Canning Hill in order to avoid enemy bombing sand artillery fire. It was in the Battle Box bunker that the surrender was signed on the 15th Feb 1941 and afterwards the whole of the Canning Hill complex, including the Battle Box (now a museum), was used by the Japanese until the return of British colonial authority over Singapore in 1945.

Then & Now, Japanese Surrender, 12 September 1945

Several years ago I had the privilege of meeting a WWII veteran, Gordon Smith-Gander who was a resident at a care home where my wife worked. Gordon was a real gentleman and it was a pleasure hearing him talk about his service. He had completed a tour with Bomber Command flying Hampdens over Germany before transferring to Coastal Command where he flew Sunderlands on u-boat hunting missions over the Bay of Biscay. At the end of hostilities in Europe, Gordon volunteered for service in the Far East and was present when the Japanese signed their unconditional surrender in Singapore's Municipal building (now City Hall) on the 15th Febriuary 1945. The contemporary photo above is from Gordon's photo album and the image which accompanies it was captured by me during our recent visit.

Kranji CWGC, Singapore

Having visited the spot where the Allied surrender took place, my wife and I made use of Singapore's excellent transit system to travel up to Kranji where a ferocious battle was fought during the first few days of the Japanese incursion. On the 9th February 1941 two Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army under General Yamashita undertook an amphibious attack in this area. The Jurong-Kranji defence line was a natural obstacle which was defended by primarily Indian and Australian troops who fought a strong and effective defence before being ordered to abandon the line and retreat. It's an action which is mired in controversy but that's not a topic I'm going to unpick in this post. Suffice to say a lot of brave men and women are now buried with many others in the beautifully maintained Kranji Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.

The Singapore Memorial, Kranji

Gardeners of Kranji

It was quite a long walk from the bus stop up to the cemetery and we were visiting on a very hot day. Once through the gates my wife and I were delighted to be ushered into an air-conditioned office and offered cold drinks. The custodian was very keen to give me a tour of the cemetery and I grasped the opportunity whilst my wife 'manned the front desk' enjoying a respite from the midday heat. As with every other CWGC site the headstones all have stories to tell, and there were many to be told at Kranji. It's a spectacular site on a hill which is home to over 25,000 fallen service personnel. At the top of the hill stands the striking Singapore Memorial and from the crest one can see the tall buildings of the Malay peninsular on the other side of the Strait of Johor - see the images above. 

My final observation is that the planting at Kranji is spectacular - a fusion of colour and shape which complements the war graves perfectly. It was a pleasure to meet some of the gardeners and to hear from the site custodian about the planning of the gardens and how the planting is designed to meet local conditions and to reflect the culture and homelands of those who are buried nearby. 

My photographs (copyright reserved) of Fort Siloso, Sentosa Island, Singapore - click here

My photographs (copyright reserved) of Kranji Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery - click here

The Pilot Officer Gordon Smith-Gander Collection (copyright reserved) - click here