The flyers of Birnbeck & Locking (1942-49)

Following the requisitioning of Birnbeck Pier by the newly formed Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD), a number of sites along the North Somerset coast were developed by the Royal Navy for weapons testing. Many of these tests were undertaken directly by the DMWD - or Wheezers and Dodgers, as its personnel became known. Others were conducted by the Sea Trials Department of Portsmouth based HMS Vernon. 

Indeed, when the DMWD released Birnbeck Pier in 1945, HMS Vernon's activities along the coastline continued until late 1949. The story of collaboration between the DMWD and HMS Vernon is covered in a previous post as are the trials involving the Squid anti-submarine weapon - linked here. 

This post, however, concentrates on another important aspect of the story: the significant involvement of the Royal Air Force in trials of parachute mines and other stores designed to be dropped from aircraft.

A parachute mine at RAF Locking (Jean Sugar collection)

As the use of aircraft-laid mines increased, the specialist team at HMS Vernon sought a suitable testing area where mines could be dropped and, crucially, recovered easily. The tidal range of up to 40 feet in the Bristol Channel made the area around Weston-super-Mare particularly suitable. At low water, extensive areas of sand and mud are exposed; a few hours later they are covered by the incoming tide.

A proposal to build a large scale West Country base for the HMS Vernon team was eventually abandoned and instead a corner of Weston-super-Mare airport (under the authority of RAF Locking) was made available for the trials. Although the aircraft became a civilian facility, it was under the authority of RAF Locking during the war years. 

A couple of linked huts were allocated to HMS Vernon's Gosport based Air Torpedo Development Unit (ATDU) - suitably close to a large hanger where aircraft could be stored and adapted for use in the trials. 

During a recent visit to the Weston Aviation Heritage Exhibition at the Helicopter Museum situated on the old airfield, I came across a map showing the location of the ATDU (see below).

Naval Torpedo and Mining Establishment - Locking

At the National Archives in London, I found a detailed description of the modus operandi for the trials. They could only be undertaken on the Springs, which usually meant two seven day periods per month. 

At this time the base came alive. A dozen men composing the trials party would arrive by train from London, the mines arrived by road, the airmen flew in from Gosport. The designers - a mix of HMS Vernon and, in the early days, DMWD personnel - arrived by 'devious means'. 

The recovery boat was an adapted landing craft which was moored at the mouth of the River Banwell. It would discharge its cargo on a wooden pier, built for the DMWD, at St Thomas's Head. The boat crews would reach the recovery craft by skiff. 

For each trial an RAF communication van would drive up to the shore at St Thomas's Head. From there, an R/T set would be used to establish communication with the recovery vessel and the aircraft which would be dropping the mine. 

Sources show that the type of aircraft used in the trials included Avro Lincolns, Mosquitoes and Bristol Brigands.

The recovery boat - Banwell Creek (National Archives)

Avro Lincoln at Weston Airfield (National Archives)

The target area was Langford Grounds (the area better known for the Woodspring Wrecks). The target consisted of a catamaran surmounted by a large round marker. 

One eye-witness left a particularly vivid description of what it was like to watch the trials:

At the back of St Thomas's Head the ground rises to a mound and then falls away so that a low flying aircraft approaching on the dropping course is out of sight until it appears from behind the mound at what seems to be less height than one's own. As it then passes over one's head, one realises that its height is in fact a trifle greater. A moment later the mine is dropped, the aircraft circles and the procedure is repeated until all stores have been laid. 

 The observer then goes on to describe the less dramatic part of the operation. Once the aircraft had returned to base there was little more to be done except to return to Locking for dinner and wait for the tide to ebb to allow recovery.

He recalls that in the summer, going out on the mud to look for black cylindrical objects was second only to make and mend, but in Winter there was not much to be said for it!

Target marker, Langford Grounds (National Archives)

Dropped mine (Jean Sugar collection)

The trial parties were well practised in the business of recovery. Once unloaded on the St Thomas's Head pier, the mine was hauled up the foreshore on a trolley along a set of rails. A small power winch provided the muscle. 

Once at the top of the incline, the mines were loaded onto a lorry and returned to RAF Locking. 

The record of the trials shows that a variety of devices were tested in this way - including bombs, smoke markers and sonar buoys - in fact as one contemporary record rather neatly put it, anything designed to be dropped from an aircraft from time to time. 

The official record of the HMS Vernon trials, now held at the National Archives at Kew, ends on an unexpectedly poetic note. The anonymous author quotes Rupert Brooke, suggesting that his words might be re-echoed by sailors making their way across Langford grounds: 

One might not doubt that, somehow, good

Shall come of water and mud;

And, sure, the reverent eye must see a purpose in liquidity.

One of the few remaining original buildings on Weston Airfield

North Somerset 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, which is covering Birnbeck Pier's Second World War history, has been made possible thanks to funding from the council’s social value agreement with its contractor, Mackley.