Mousehold Aerodrome and World War Two heavyanti-aircraft battery, Norwich (RAF 106G/UK/776 6184)

Mousehold Aerodrome and World War Two heavy anti-aircraft battery, Norwich photographed by the RAF on 07-SEP-1945. In an area now occupied by houses and schools, wartime aerial photographs taken by the RAF record details of a World War Two heavy anti-aircraft battery to the northeast of Norwich, one of several that protected the city. The four gun emplacements surrounding its command post are clearly visible in the centre of the photograph. The gun-laying radar platform — part of the equipment used to track the position of potential targets — can be seen to the right of the battery on other photographs. Nearby, a grid-pattern of trenches has been mapped. These were dug to prevent enemy aircraft landing at the former aerodrome. The aerial photographs show that some of these were filled in by 1944, when the barbed-wire fence surrounding the battery was extended to the west. Several zig-zag-shaped trenches are also visible in the surrounding area; these were probably dug for practice by troops stationed at the battery. A few ditches and pits, which appear to be earlier than the battery and may relate to medieval or post medieval activity, have also been mapped, close to the anti-landing trenches. English Heritage (NMR) RAF Photography.