Woodcott Down Practice Bombing Range
Woodcott Down was a little-known inland bombing range located between the villages of Woodcott and Crux Easton in the Highlands of Hampshire. This was an Air Ministry facility and was given the serial number 1114. There is anecdotal evidence that the target on the range was an old Avro Anson, but this is not substantiated and has come from local knowledge.
Although unconfirmed, as the precise details of the mission are not known, it appears that at least one aircraft crashed in the local vicinity while using the range. On 11 December 1943, de Havilland Mosquito MKVI LR269 of No. 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron (No. 2 Group 2nd Tactical Air Force) took off from RAF Lasham on a low-level practice bombing mission. The aircraft crashed after flying into hills 11 miles northeast of Andover, with the loss of the crew, Fg Off. Geoffrey Rolf and Sgt John Newton. The crash site puts the aircraft in the vicinity of Woodcott, so it's likely the Mosquito was using the bombing range at the time.
No. 613 Squadron was working up for its first missions in late 1943, so the date of the crash ties in with this, with its first bombing attack made on 31 December 1943, to a Noball target near Maintenay.
Today, little remains, but surprisingly, one of the Quadrant Towers stands as a silent sentinel over the former site.
The photos below were taken in November 2017.
Although unconfirmed, as the precise details of the mission are not known, it appears that at least one aircraft crashed in the local vicinity while using the range. On 11 December 1943, de Havilland Mosquito MKVI LR269 of No. 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron (No. 2 Group 2nd Tactical Air Force) took off from RAF Lasham on a low-level practice bombing mission. The aircraft crashed after flying into hills 11 miles northeast of Andover, with the loss of the crew, Fg Off. Geoffrey Rolf and Sgt John Newton. The crash site puts the aircraft in the vicinity of Woodcott, so it's likely the Mosquito was using the bombing range at the time.
No. 613 Squadron was working up for its first missions in late 1943, so the date of the crash ties in with this, with its first bombing attack made on 31 December 1943, to a Noball target near Maintenay.
Today, little remains, but surprisingly, one of the Quadrant Towers stands as a silent sentinel over the former site.
The photos below were taken in November 2017.
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Sources -
- Airfield Research Group
- Bomber Squadrons Of The RAF And Their Aircraft - Philip Moyes - Macdonald
- rafweb.org