The Tower at Meppen Range.

each firing. These results, in addition to being radioed to the pilots, were telephoned to their Squadron as soon as each session was complete. I have to say that I was surprised at the way the vortices from the aircraft rippled the grass and by the strange noises that they made. I was surprised, too, at the erratic flight of some of the rockets. Well aimed they probably were, but some would, after leaving the aircraft, veer off or spiral from their intended path. This was probably because of damaged fins which should have been checked by the armourers when fitting them to the aircraft. The pilots, clearly, could not be blamed for this and the matter was the subject of a talk I gave to the Squadron after my return.
On the Tuesday afternoon a firing session was cancelled after we had set up the range. Reluctant to return quickly after the journey, I telephoned my Squadron to see if anyone would be able to pay the range a non-firing visit. Tom Balfour was due to do an air test and, that done, he duly arrived. With my radioed consent (and no entries in the range log book) he did several low passes close to our Tower, at least one of which was below the top of the Tower. It was as thrilling for him as it was for all of us up there watching. I had my movie camera with me and recorded some of the runs. The film, later shown back at Jever, came out well and was most impressive.1 Probably more important was the effect on the morale of the range crew who had never seen such a performance by a Sabre before.



Video showing SEN-020 clip from Ken Senar's film.   TITLE: "Meppen Range".   This final sequence shows the 10ft square targets on the air-ground firing range at Meppen on the heathland that was once used as the Krupp weapon testing ground near the German/Dutch border.   In the sequence are: The range safety tower.   Sabres on target runs.   A Sabre, flown by Fg.Off. Tommy Balfour of 93 Sqn enjoys some particularly low passes for the camera close to, and below the height of, the safety tower.   His aircraft was unarmed!   George Avey wrote on 3Oct09: I was posted from 5 squadron RAF Wunstorf, to RAF Oldenburg, then on to RAF Meppen Range as an Air Wireless mechanic in March 1953 until June 1955.   This was an air to ground firing range which was used for practice by RAF Jever and other airfields.   The range consisted of two towers, one main tower housing the RT equipment and a slave tower to take measurements for when rockets were fired, six eight foot square targets covered with white cloth and individually numbered, were fired at, using 20mm cannons.   After each session the targets were inspected by the german civilian staff, and any cannon holes were marked by sticking a rod in a paint pot, and prodding the holes then counting the number of hits taken, the results given to the safety officer.   Rockets were also fired at a separate target, each tower had a quadrant which was aimed at the point hit by the rocket, and a measurement taken, these two angles were then plotted on a map of the site, and the cross section then gave the distance from the target.   The range was used by Sabres, Venoms and Vampires mainly.   The only buildings were two nissan huts, and a hard standing for a mobile generator, a jap engine was also used to charge the batteries in the RT tower.   The main residence was a twenty minutes drive north.   Situated in a previous Krupps munitions testing ground, surrounded by unexploded munitions, bombs, shells etc, it was wise not to stray too far from the paths."

Rockets spat out unburned cordite from their venturies as they flew. Some quite long lengths, of similar cross-section to that of a car fan belt, could easily be found under the rocket flight paths. It could be ignited at one end and would burn quietly until the length became too short to be held and had to be dropped from the fingers. The range Sergeant and I, quite irresponsibly, decided to fill a spent rocket with this loose cordite, leaving a long tail of the stuff to ignite after having propped up the weapon, pointing it in the down-range position. We set fire to the tail, retired smartly, and waited. We expected the rocket to spit a bit of fire or, at worst, explode. It did neither but took off and disappeared, straight as a die, into the distance to land we know not where. With both of us now somewhat chastened we left the range, he dropped me off at my hotel while he returned to the domestic site, each of us to wonder what might happen. On the way, though, we hastily concocted a cover story which, fortunately, never had to be put to the test.
Apart from these happenings and one evening in the hotel when, in the bar I was getting more than a little lip from an unrepentant Nazi and knocked him out cold with a single punch to the jaw, the rest of my Meppen stay was extremely dull. For much of the time I sat in my office reading the Manual of Air Force Law or Queen's Regulations & Air Council Instructions for want of something better to do.2 In all other respects it was the most boring week of my RAF career. I suppose it did some good because when I later came to take my Promotion Exams I found the questions in the law paper reasonably easy to answer.
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1 These film sequences comprised part of a longer film covering activities at Jever and is now held by the RAF Museum at Hendon.
2 Better known as MAFL and QRs & ACIs.
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