South Witham
Location:
Dates of Operation:
Close to the South Witham to Castle Bytham
road, with off road parking in the Forestry
Commission Morkery Wood car park.
1942 to 1956 – Air Ammunition Park
(AAP)
1956 – Closed and returned to forestry
The ancient Morkery Woods
between South Witham and
Castle Bytham was first
surveyed as a possible
Air Ammunition Park
(AAP) in late 1941.
Such sites were also
officially known
as Ammunition
Depots,
Squadrons / Units:
Explosive
100 Maintenance Unit (MU)
Storage
under the control of 42 Group
Units, and
Maintenance Command
unofficially
Instructors School
as ‘Bomb
93 Maintenance Sub Unit (MSU)
Dumps’.
RAF Mobile Disposal Flight
36
This site was chosen for its
woodland terrain, a natural
camouflage and able to
suppress the effects of any
accidental explosions. Narrow
concrete roadways, still
navigable, were laid throughout
the wood with a range of brick
storage facilities to protect
weapons including ‘Iris’ and
‘Handcraft’ type huts for
incendiary devices.
100 MU officially formed at
RAF South Witham in March
1942. Ordnance deliveries
and dispatches were made
by road, but the railheads at
South Witham and Castle
Bytham then allowed increased
use of the railway network.
Additional capacity was built in
with special sidings at South
Witham, gradual annexation
of other local areas for storage
including on local country
lanes and verges.