Grade II Listed :40mm Bofors AA Gun tower

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by CL1, May 7, 2012.

  1. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    GRADE II LISTED AS OF 13/5/13
     

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  2. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    It looks similar to (although somewhat shorter than) an airfield defence Bofors tower to me Clive. I will look for some pictures.
     
  3. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Nothing listed on Defence of Britain, and a fair few other reasonably local searchlights have been tagged.
     
  4. ARPCDHG

    ARPCDHG Member

    This is a rare 40mm Bofors AA Gun tower, occasionally emplaced near airfields, which as you suggest was probably to defend RAF Northolt. There were two types - a tall tower, on legs, and the low tower - as seen here. It was split level, with a gap between the two platforms. On one platform would be the AA gun and on the other platform would be the gun predictor (range-finding) equipment. The gap was to stop the jolt/recoil from the AA gun affecting the delicate predictor equipment. I was not aware of this tower. These are now rare and other rare survivors are Grade II listed by English Heritage - as this one should be. Hope this helps.
     
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  5. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  6. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    Couldn't find an exact match but these pictures show a few variations on the basic design.
    As ARPCDHG says, most existing examples are now listed.
    What made me think of a Bofors tower are the triangular 'outriggers' that support the outer dges of the platform.
     

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  7. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    The tower in the first three pictures above has apparently now been converted into a house!
     

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  8. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Dear All

    thank you for your help

    I do hope it is listed as you can see if faces into the football ground and is a sound structure.


    regards
    Clive
     
  9. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    Clive, is the tower currently used for anything? Looks like it has a fairly new door fitted. Might be worth getting in touch with Defence of Britain to see if they are aware of it and if it is listed.
     
  10. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Hello Mike
    will investigate further also dropped EH a line to check if they have it listed

    regards
    Clive
     
  11. ww2ni

    ww2ni Senior Member

    Looks very interesting.
     
  12. red ling

    red ling Member

    Thought you might find these pictures interesting. They were taken in 1943 for the publication "Roof Over Britain" and show what it was like at the time.
    Bytheway when looking for Wealdstone, try Harrow and Wealdstone.
    The area that you mention has many RAF bases nearby. Some are Northolt, Uxbridge, Stanmore and there were West Ruislip both RAF and USAF and South Ruislip USAF The Americans are still posted in Eastcote. Also there is a NATO base at Northwood.
     

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  13. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Hello Red ling

    thank you for the info
    The tower is situated in Ruislip (Wealdtone FC took over the ground) Manor

    regards
    Clive.
     
  14. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Have taken a few more photos. Also there is a red brick structure 30 yards from the tower. regards Clive
     

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  15. ARPCDHG

    ARPCDHG Member

    Very nice photos - thank you.

    It looks like all the metal fittings (railings, bannisters etc) were removed by the scrapman at the end of the war when there was still a metal shortage.

    I like the wartime ingenuity of how they have used the utility breezeblocks as windows. I think the sloping roof on the adjoining building may well be a post-war addition.

    The two anti-tank blocks, which originally were probably either side of the approach to the tower, have a metal loop through the top so that a cable can be stretched between them to block off the access road to the tower.

    The separate brick and concrete building in the corner is a bit of a mystery. It matches the pattern of an ARP wardens' post but its proximity to the AA tower indicates it may have had something to do with the tower, such as a communications position/Gun Operations Room. It would be good to see inside it to see if there is any more clues.

    Incidentally, what a great place to watch the footie matches from the top of the AA tower!
     
  16. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    I wonder if the seperate building could be a plant room (eg generator room).
    Would a bofors tower have a generator?
     
  17. red ling

    red ling Member

    Hi,
    Found info about the guns and how they were sited which you might find interesting.
    I forgot RAF West Drayton as being in the vacinity. This station was air traffic control for southern England and Heathrow.
    I don't know where you live but I used to work in and around Ruislip and travelled pass the Polish War Memorial and RAF Northolt daily and was often late for work if I had to wait for a plane to land! My clients mentioned that on the railway line at Ruislip Gardens that crosses West End Road there was a gun that used to run along the rails during an air raid and I don't know if it is true but it was mentioned that they flooded RAF Northolt to make it look like a lake from the air.
     

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  18. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    red ling

    many thanks very interesting


    regards
    clive
     
  19. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    Red Ling, I have seen that picture of a Bofors being loaded on a LCT before somewhere (LCTs a speciality of mine). If you look carefully the port side of the hull has been damaged and the ramp raising wire has been re-routed over a makeshift pulley. Compare it to the starboard side.
     
  20. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Contacted EH
    it does not appear listed.I will contact local council

    a brief overview from English Heritage site ,stating only 81 built for use


    The Bofors gun had three varieties of emplacement: ground level fieldworks, which were the most common; roof mountings; and towers of steel or concrete. These towers were never very numerous, with only 81 concrete examples supplied for use. These static Bofors sites were sometimes provided with on-site magazines, the design being left to local initiative. Remote positions for all types of gun were often provided with a few ancillary structures or domestic buildings, sufficient only to cater for their crew of 12 men, while ground defences were modest. The on-site magazines were often Anderson shelters adapted for the purpose. With few exceptions, sites were therefore small, slight and highly diverse. Nearly 1,250 LAA gunsites are recorded as having been built during World War II and can be accurately located. Around 50 of these have some remains surviving, though at only around 40 sites are these thought sufficient to provide an understanding of their original form and function. Surviving examples are therefore sufficiently rare to suggest that all 40 examples are of national importance.

    Light anti-aircraft (LAA) guns needed to command a good, if not 360 degree, field-of-fire in order to be effective. Many such guns were moveable but some were permanently mounted in ground-level purpose-built emplacements. Roof-top sites were increasingly favoured as they allowed the required clear field-of-fire. In November 1939 it was already apparent that some Vulnerable Points intended to be defended by the new 40mm Bofors LAA guns, lacked the local topography to elevate the guns to maximum effect. This led the War Office to begin to design, from mid-December 1939, an elevated Bofors gun-platform. Early designs included platforms of different heights (from 10 feet to 30 feet with variants at five feet intervals) which could be erected to suit the local topography. This allowed a stepped arrangement whereby the gun predictor could be mounted on a separate platform from the gun and slightly above it, while the gun tower housed the gun and also four ready-ammunition lockers. Dobinson (2001, 179) suggests that prototypes were erected in early 1940 but were soon superseded, by late summer, by a simpler steel-framed design. Historical documents suggest a form of scaffolding-type tower arrangement but where very tall towers were needed concrete continued to be favoured for reasons of stability. In February 1941, 53 Bofors towers had either been built or were under construction (only half with guns) and by January 1942 the number had risen to 81 either complete or under construction (Dobinson, op cit). Although only two designs are known; the concrete version from the Directorate of Fortifications and Works (DFW) 55087, and the steel version (DFW 55463) there may have been other Air Ministry variants (Dobinson 1996, 166).
     
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