York Historic Environment Record

The structures recorded by the survey, namely sections of the runways and perimeter taxi-ways, a bulk petrol installation, a machine gun range and cannon ‘shooting-in’ butts, are associated with an expansion of the RAF airfield in late 1942. The runways and taxi-ways are of sectional concrete construction covered with asphalt, and both preserve parts of a Drem Mk II lighting system, as well as contemporary drainage. The cannon butts incorporate six bays into which machine guns mounted in fighter airplanes would have been fired, having been secured to an area of hardstanding accessed from the airfield perimeter taxi-way. The butts at the machine gun range is a more substantial feature, although little now remains of the actual firing shed - the range would have been used by RAF personnel to maintain their ground defence training. Both sets of butts are relatively well-preserved, and are similar to examples surviving or noted elsewhere at other former RAF airfields. Limited excavation at the bulk petrol installation revealed that, despite extensive disturbance in the post-war period, it was relatively well preserved. The installation lies on the western edge of the airfield, and it is surrounded by an elliptical concrete roadway to facilitate the movement of tankers. The two linear 12,000 gallon petrol tanks had been removed, but they had been housed in aboveground brick chambers. The floor of each chamber contained brick piers to support the tank, and anchor points were used to secure steel cables running over and across the tank. Earlier photographs suggest that the chambers were provided with a reinforced roof, accessed by concrete steps, and each chamber was surrounded by an earth bank for security and protection. Two pump houses were equipped with a pump and motor unit, and associated starter gear; the northern pump house would have received the petrol while the southern pump house incorporated a stand post to supply tankers for dispersal of the petrol to the airfield.