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Monument details
| HER Number: | 1535604 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Two landing circles of the Early Twentieth Century Littlestone Airfield are visible on aerial photographs of 1941 |
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Summary
Two landing circles of the Early Twentieth Century Littlestone Airfield are visible on aerial photographs of 1941 in a field to the west of St Marys Bay. The landing circles appear to have been cut into the turf; revealing the lighter coloured subsoil beneath. One of the circles contains the identifying wording Littlestone. These features were mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East RCZAS NMP project.
| Grid Reference: | TR 0862 2809 |
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| Map Sheet: | TR02NE |
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| Parish: | ST MARY IN THE MARSH, SHEPWAY, KENT |
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Monument Types
- LANDING CIRCLE (Modern - 1901 AD to 2000 AD)
Full description
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The largest circle, which contains the wording, is centred at TR 0862 2809 and measures approximately 113m in diameter. The lettering is roughly six metres tall. The smaller circle lies approximately 160m to the ENE, and measures 50m across.
The pre-Second World War Littlestone Airfield is discussed on an internet forum (3) which contains an Early Twentieth Century oblique aerial photograph showing the airfield complete with landing circles, lettering, and aircraft.
The 1941 vertical aerial photograph on which the circles and the lettering can be seen also clearly shows the airfield covered in a gridded network of Second World War anti-landing poles (Monument Number 1535077). A linear anti-aircraft ditch also cuts right across the wording (Monument Number 1535108).
The 1941 photographs also show two rectangular airfield code letter structures to the south (Monument Number 1535610). It is thought that the airfield code letters may have superceded the earlier turf-cut landing circles recorded here.
By the time of the vertical aerial photograph of 2007; the circles and the lettering can no longer be seen in any form (1-3).
<1> RAF, 1941, NMR RAF/GHQ/106 37-8 14-MAY-1941 (Photograph). SWX23915.
<3> World Wide Web page (Unspecified Type). SWX23992.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | <1> | Photograph: RAF. 1941. NMR RAF/GHQ/106 37-8 14-MAY-1941. |
| <3> | (No record type): World Wide Web page. |
Related records
| 1535077 | Parent of: Second World War anti-aircraft landing obstruction poles are visible on aerial photographs of 1941 (Monument) |
| MWX51328 | Parent of: Second World War bomb crater, west of St Marys Bay (Monument) |
| 1535610 | Parent of: Two large rectangular blocks which would have borne airfield code letters for the Early Twentieth Century Littlestone Airfield (Monument) |
| MWX51313 | Part of: Second World War anti-landing ditch, Littlestone (Monument) |
| TR 02 NE 14 | Related to: Circular feature/cropmark (Monument) |
| TR 02 NE 13 | Related to: Circular Surface/Parch feature, St. Mary's Bay (Monument) |
