Ashley Walk Bombing Range: Drone Tour
Discover the remains of a Second World War bombing site in the New Forest National Park from the the air.
5000 acres (equivalent to 2833 football pitches) of New Forest heathland was taken over by the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) in 1940 to become its training and testing range. All types of munitions fired and or dropped from British aircraft during WWII were tested here first, except live incendiaries due to the fire risk.
The range consisted of several different target types including air to ground attack, mock ship targets, aircraft pens, gun emplacement, bomb fragmentation areas and the Ministry of Home Security target (known locally as the Sub Pens) as well as domestic facilities for crew, two small grass airstrips, observation shelters and towers some of which survive today.
On this site the Ashley Range Overview page has links to detailed pages about the targets, activities, archives and stories about the range.