TREVALLEN DOWNS, ST GOVAN'S HEAD, AERIAL BOMBING TARGET FOR RAF BRAWDY

Description

Aerial photograph of an aerial bombing target for RAF Brawdy on Trevallen Downs, St Govan's Head. Taken on 30 July 2007.

Concentric, circular aerial bombing target, part of a range utilised by RAF Brawdy. It comprises of three concentric circles of dry stone marked out on the ground and is mostly intact. The inner, middle and outer circles measure 30m, 60m and 90m in diameter respectively, with a central arrow bisecting the target and pointing almost due south. The RAF bombing target appears to overlay the location of the earlier Trevallen Downs Middle Range Target's pop-up or swivel target.
Aerial photographic evidence suggests that the circular target was constructed between 1946 and 1968. The NW quadrant of the RAF bombing target was built over the round impact zone, suggesting that it was constructed once the army range was disused.

Cadet training range and other structures on Trevallen Downs, St Govans Head. Castlemartin Range were established in 1938 and used until 1945 for tank training by the Royal Armoured Corps. It was briefly returned to agricultural use after the war, but was acquired by the War Department in 1948 and pressed back into service in 1951 with the advent of the Korean War (1950-3). It remained as a specialist tank training range, often hosting German units, until 1995, when training activities were broadened to include infantry and small arms training. The Trevallan Downs complex dates to the Second World War and comprises an inland firing point to the north-west where cadets would fire at coastal targets using tanks. Once this task had been mastered they would progress to firing whilst driving over bumpy terrain and more demanding battle runs.

This range incorporates the later, well-preserved concentric circular bombing target utilised by RAF Brawdy. See documentation relating to the Cadw scheduling (PE533) in September 2008 for comprehensive historical summary and field description by J. Berry of the range.

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