Overton Heath RLG
Relief Landing Ground (RLG). The idea of using this part of Clench Common as a RLG came about in 1939, then used by RAF Upavon and Central Flying School (CFS). It was found to be boggy and in 1942 a scheme to upgrade the runways took place and it was used by No.7 Flying Instructors School (FIS). They used Oxfords and Masters here. Several other units were here on and off for training and by 1945 it was not needed and in 1948 it closed and went back to farming.
Overton Heath RLG
Overton Heath RLG
Original Site:
2 x Sommerfeld track runways.
7 x Over Blister hangars.
Domestic buildings for 2 x Officers and 80 men.
Full pillbox defence.
Remaining :
1 - Blister hangar.
3 - Pillbox.
1 - Standby set house.
1 - Nissen hut.
Several TB huts and hut bases.
Sommerfeld airfield tracking.
An American soldier laying Sommerfeld tracking on the top of Hessian.
Remains of Sommerfeld tracking at RAF Southrop.
Overton Heath RLG
Plan of the Blister hangar site.
The only remaining Blister hangar on the airfield. Used by the farmer as storage and drying for corn.
Blister hangar.
Blister hangar.
Makers plate.
Overton Heath RLG
Makers plate at Oatlands Hill Blister hangar.
Plan.
Overton Heath RLG
Over Blister hangar.
Plan.
Foundations.
Ribs.
Overton Heath RLG
Over Blister hangar
Roof section.
Overton Heath RLG
The airfield
details
Airspeed Oxford.
Overton Heath RLG
The view towards the Communal site.
The camp which was large enough to accommodate, about 130 men.
Plan.
Miles Martinet.
Miles Magesters.
Overton Heath RLG
My plan of what is and may have been there.
Barracks.
Overton Heath RLG
Main Entrance into the camp with a Nissen hut on the left, a farm building on the right is built on the base of a hut foundations. There was an officers & sergeants mess/dining room, a cook house, a medical hut (Nissen), five barrack huts, four stores, an ablutions block and a bulk petrol instillation.
Tilly light utility vehicle.
Austin ambulance.
Overton Heath RLG
Medical inspection Nissen hut.
Overton Heath RLG
Medical inspection Nissen hut.
Overton Heath RLG
Temporary brick huts possibly barracks.
Overton Heath RLG
Temporary brick hut.
NAAFI wagon.
Overton Heath RLG
Temporary brick hut possibly one of the four store hut?
Overton Heath RLG
Officers, Sergeants Mess, dining room & cookhouse.
Overton Heath RLG
Officers, Sergeants Mess, dining room & cookhouse.
Overton Heath RLG
Officers, Sergeants Mess, dining room & cookhouse.
Dining hall.
Kitchen.
Overton Heath RLG
Officers, Sergeants Mess, dining room & cookhouse.
Overton Heath RLG
Officers, Sergeants Mess, dining room & cookhouse.
Water tank.
Heating and kitchen chimney and water tank.
details
Overton Heath RLG
Airmens latrine.
Latrine 9026/41.
Overton Heath RLG
Airfield runways. A grass airfield surface that became very boggy after rain. So in February 1942 No.5 Works Squadron laid two Sommerfeld tracking runways to alleviate the problem. Consisted of rolls 10 ft 8 in wide by 75 ft 6 in long. Mild steel rods threaded through at 9 inch intervals gave it strength. The rolls could be joined at the edges by threading flat steel bar through loops in the ends of the rods.
The ground was cleared and, if swampy, a layer of coir (also known as coco peat) or coconut matting laid down. The Sommerfeld tracking was unrolled over the ground, pulled tight by a tractor, bulldozer, or similar vehicle, then fastened to the ground with angle-iron pickets. A typical runway made of Sommerfeld tracking was 3,000 feet by 156 feet.
Sommerfeld tracking.
Overton Heath RLG
This was 2006 and a very wet day, you can see why the airfield surface got very boggy.
Plan.
Overton Heath RLG
E/W runway.
Plan.
Overton Heath RLG
Training to fly?
Overton Heath RLG
I think it is a single standby set house to supply electricity to the airfield if the main grid failed. It would have had a large diesel engine attached to a generator to run all the emergency lighting around the airfield..
Standby set house.
Switching gear.
Generator set.
Overton Heath RLG
Barrack huts hooking along the line of now chicken sheds.
The wooden hut on the left, is a modern chicken shed.
details
Overton Heath RLG
The first of three Pillboxes
Plan.
Overton Heath RLG
Looking into the entrance which turns right down the steps and in front is an ammunition store. This pillbox is the same as the type at New Zealand Farm and Alton Barnes .
Possibly an FW3/26.
Overton Heath RLG
On the left is the anti ricochet wall, right the first embrasure.
Possibly an FW3/26.
Overton Heath RLG
Embrasure for a Turnbull mount and a Bren gun to fit into it.
Turnbull mount for a Bren gun.
Turnbull mount for a Bren gun.
Overton Heath RLG
Even today 2006 it was camouflaged.
Possibly an FW3/26.
Overton Heath RLG
Looking back on the pillbox.
Overton Heath RLG
The second pillbox out in the corn.
Plan.
Overton Heath RLG
They are not dead square but have a sort of flair out in some side walls. Hard to replicate on my plan. These were to defend the airfield if an invasion by German airborne troops. They could bring fire to bare onto the landing ground where paratroops and gliders would try and land.
Possibly an FW3/26.
Overton Heath RLG
And number three on the far western side.
Plan.
Overton Heath RLG
Just down the road is the site of Clench Common WT site. So you Google it and, nothing comes up?
Overton Heath RLG
Transformer on the pole.
Gresham Transformers LTD of Hanworth.
The only thing I could find is a reference in Kew archive for Gresham Transformers Ltd, Hanworth: 23/24 Mar 1944
This is the other item I found with Gresham's name on.
Overton Heath RLG
WT Wireless Telegraphy.
Overton Heath RLG
The hut.
Overton Heath RLG
Whats left inside.
Overton Heath RLG
This looks like an aerial tie down block.
Overton Heath RLG
Just along the A345 past Clench Common is a corrugated cement asbestos Turners hut.
Overton Heath RLG
Looking on Google earth, there seems to be two of them. This could be a dispersal site or even a searchlight site.
The huts were manufactured in 1942 onwards by Turners of Trafford Park, Manchester and cost about £160.
Winterborne Kingston, Dorset
N18 Searchlight Site. Note the white concrete circle for the light to sit on.
Winterborne Kingston, Dorset
N18 Searchlight Site one of four huts.
Overton Heath RLG