Strange island on RAF Holbeach

I remember when I got a surprise visit to the tower at Holbeach ,after watching various bomb runs I asked the guy whos the best RAF or USAF ,he replied “Oh RAF easily but only because they could not afford more than one or two practice bombs each so they HAD to get it right whereas the Americans would drop a pile and if they missed they just went back and got a load more lol “.

No problem.

Just typed in Google “round island in the wash” and one of the websites came up with this

Brian.

I don’t think you would end up at that circle if you went east at Sutton Bridge.;)

Blimey.. a spare piece of green land. How long before a Tesco’s appears on it??:D

:diablo::D very good…lol

Is it called Areola Island?

Very apt…

Is it called Areola Island?

The Plug

To those that work the range the feature is known as the plug. IIRC there were two built of differing size and construction. My understanding is that they were constructed to trial the material composition for possible use in local sea defences and to understand how they would perform. The link in post no 2 shows the arge plug. If you pan to the east there is a smaller one. The pilots use the large plug to line up their attack run for the seaborne targets.

The plan view gives a very different impression of shape and size compared to how it looks from the control and spotting towers along the range. Somewhere on the MOD website there is an article about the range.

off topic:

Having just checked the MOD site, there is some info but far less than there used to be. The range has an OC (Sqn Ldr) who reports to the OC of RAF Marham. The range is staffed by the RAF and has an air controller and observers. The bombs contain a cartridge which expels smoke on impact. The smoke is cross referenced from the spotting towers and the location plotted on a map of the target. The scores are faxed back to the parent station of ‘attacking’ a/c as well as being communicated to the aircrew. RAF crews ‘pickle’ their bombs manually although the USAF prefer to let their computer choose the time for bomb release.

Blimey.. a spare piece of green land. How long before a Tesco’s appears on it??:D

Its know as the doughnut by the US pilots and used as a visual bombing aid.

Phill
www.outflankeduk.com

From the look of it via Google Earth, it looks like it’s been pulled :eek::eek:

Brian.

It’s the plug for the North Sea:)

John

No problem.

Just typed in Google “round island in the wash” and one of the websites came up with this

Brian.

Fifty minutes to a definitive answer, via being helped to post the correct picture. The knowledge of people here never ceases to astound me. Thank you all very much!

Adrian

Hope this will shed some light Adrian.

In 1972: a feasibility study commissioned by the Government to build a barrage across half of The Wash to capture the freshwater from the four main rivers, to improve navigation through sea locks, to provide recreational facilities and an area of land for a power station, etc. was undertaken. This led to the circular trial bank/bund being built to the east of Sutton Bridge and the Nene. The purpose of which was to act as reservoirs but the report concluded it would be too costly.

Brian.

That certainly is bizzare! Must be something to do with a bombing target?

If I remember correctly, the staff at the range explained the island as a construction experiment dating back to when there was a plan to possibly dam part of the Wash?

More info on Holbeach range can be found HERE

Here is your link –
Strange Island