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Visited a couple of weeks back on my jack, there were some kids around whose father thanked me for giving them the fright of their lives after I popped my head up into the exit chamber in Plotting room No 2. :lol: ,Now for a bit of history
The four gun, 9.2" battery at South Foreland was officially sited by the War Office Siting Board on September 30th 1940 - consisting of 35 degree elevation mountings supplied by Shoeburyness and Woolwich Arsenal, and veteran 9.2" MkX barrels with a range of over 36,000 yards. The four gun positions were to be camouflaged with the addition of leafy 'hats', situated on a reverse slope to reduce the muzzle flash signature, and with hedgerows and trees placed to provide the impression of domestic use land to Luftwaffe overflights. Guns 1 and 4 were served by individual underground magazines and shell stores feeding directly into the rear of the gun pits, while Guns 2 and 3 were supplied from a huge twin-humped surface magazine protected by a very thick capping of reinforced concrete. (The original design called for underground magazines for Guns 2 and 3, but this was altered at an early stage). Like all reinforced concrete structures designed to house explosives at this time, the reinforcing rods formed a mesh within the concrete that would act as a 'cone burster', i.e. would detonate any incoming projectile before it had succeeded in penetrating the whole depth of the concrete. This surface magazine, along with the huge power houses that provided the electricity supply to the gun positions, was (and still is) the dominating feature of the landscape. The two underground magazines for Guns 1 and 4 were obviously smaller and less visible as the roofs were at ground level, but the construction methods employed ensured that they should, in theory at least, have been able to withstand a direct hit from a bomb or a shell (although an unlucky hit from one of the German guns on the French coast, such as a 16", would probably have been enough to penetrate and destroy the buildings).
The deep shelter I visited (No.2) was intended for the Regimental Headquarters staff, the other one (No.1) further inland near the various battery rooms was for the Battery staff.
On with some pics, excuse the quality as they were all done with my "Point & Shoot" flash camera.
And Finally an "Up top Shot"
Thank you for taking the time to look at my post
:beer:
The four gun, 9.2" battery at South Foreland was officially sited by the War Office Siting Board on September 30th 1940 - consisting of 35 degree elevation mountings supplied by Shoeburyness and Woolwich Arsenal, and veteran 9.2" MkX barrels with a range of over 36,000 yards. The four gun positions were to be camouflaged with the addition of leafy 'hats', situated on a reverse slope to reduce the muzzle flash signature, and with hedgerows and trees placed to provide the impression of domestic use land to Luftwaffe overflights. Guns 1 and 4 were served by individual underground magazines and shell stores feeding directly into the rear of the gun pits, while Guns 2 and 3 were supplied from a huge twin-humped surface magazine protected by a very thick capping of reinforced concrete. (The original design called for underground magazines for Guns 2 and 3, but this was altered at an early stage). Like all reinforced concrete structures designed to house explosives at this time, the reinforcing rods formed a mesh within the concrete that would act as a 'cone burster', i.e. would detonate any incoming projectile before it had succeeded in penetrating the whole depth of the concrete. This surface magazine, along with the huge power houses that provided the electricity supply to the gun positions, was (and still is) the dominating feature of the landscape. The two underground magazines for Guns 1 and 4 were obviously smaller and less visible as the roofs were at ground level, but the construction methods employed ensured that they should, in theory at least, have been able to withstand a direct hit from a bomb or a shell (although an unlucky hit from one of the German guns on the French coast, such as a 16", would probably have been enough to penetrate and destroy the buildings).
The deep shelter I visited (No.2) was intended for the Regimental Headquarters staff, the other one (No.1) further inland near the various battery rooms was for the Battery staff.
On with some pics, excuse the quality as they were all done with my "Point & Shoot" flash camera.
And Finally an "Up top Shot"
Thank you for taking the time to look at my post
:beer:
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