Chapperton Down Artillery School
An intersting film I came across on the Imperial War Musuem collection features the Chapperton Down Artillery School.
"Taken at the school on 9 March 1916, this film shows in detail the firing procedures for the 6-inch 26cwt howitzer, the 8-inch Mk VI howitzer and the 9.2-inch Mk I howitzer with the new Type 106 graze fuse (not shown). It shows the effects of the fall of shot, giving the distance and line of camera to the point of impact with the direction of wind for each firing. In each case the result is a surface burst."
CHAPPERTON DOWN ARTILLERY SCHOOL [Main Title] | IWM Film (iwmcollections.org.uk)
Source: © IWM IWM 108
It is always nice to see the gun detachments in operation to see how the drills that were needed to load, lay and fire the gun.
Chapperton Down Artillery School 6 inch 26 cwt Howitzer
Chapperton Down Artillery School 9.2 inch Mark 1 Howitzer
Chapperton Down Artillery School 8 inch Mark VI Howitzer
Chapperton Down Artillery School 6in 26 cwt Howitzer Battery firing
Having observed many an artillery round landing on Salisbury Plain, the views of the shells exploding are timeless.
Chapperton Down Artillery School obsering Fall of Shot - 9.2 inch Howitzer shell exploding
A little research into where Chapperton Down is located on Salisbury Plain (not near Aldershot as detailed by IWM), I found that I have been there. Head north on the A360 from Tilshead, tank cross F, turn left, through the vedette and head for Imber.
An archelogical report militaryarchaeology2.pdf (multibriefs.com) provides information about the Chapperton Down Artillery School.
The Overseas Artillery School (later called the Chapperton Down Artillery School) was set up west of the A360 in 1915 and in operation by 1916 with a mission to standardise methods of use, of terminology, of data acquisition, of air observation of fall of shot, and of the effects of weather on trajectory and gas dispersal (the latter likely to have been by use of visible smoke rather than by use of gas).
The Chapperton Down School had an establishment of staff and technical officers and its students were brigade artillery officers, battery commanders and battery captains, most of whom appear to have been accommodated in Salisbury and motored out daily to Chapperton Down.
The school was of minimal infrastructure, with trenches, tents, a few huts and observation towers on Chapperton Down itself. It was a technical school rather than a tactical school and in 1919 it moved to Larkhill as was collocated with the staffs of other dispersed artillery schools to be renamed in 1920 as The School of Artillery, Larkhill.
The layout of the Chapperton Down School was linear, firing along fixed lines to facilitate the scientific monitoring by close observation and filming of impact and influence of weather and munition from towers and posts. Thus it centred on trench systems on the west (reverse) slopes of the high ground on Chapperton Down, east of the Berrill Valley, with two impact areas to its west and south of Imber Firs and Tinkers Firs (The Kite and the Diamond) and mock gun positions (Tinker’s Bottom, Well Bottom and Fore Down Batteries) with concrete features. To its east and across the A360 were seven battery positions at different ranges, using different calibres, including 18 pounder guns up to 9.2-inch howitzers etc. firing westwards over Chapperton Down (Berrill, Barrow, Rings, Peels and Field Barn Batteries).
Target features included a ‘dressing station’, two dug-outs, concrete targets and many trench systems. Especially constructed for the School was a meteorological station at Butlers Cross about 4 km east of Chapperton Down, and landing grounds for use by the Royal Flying Corps observer aircraft on any suitable flat and mown strips in the area.
A GWF Forum post by @Moonraker details the experience of those living near the range in the village of Imber recounted by the vicar, Charles Watling;
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/297325-imber-open-a-nice-day/?do=findComment&comment=3111397
"We daily, and often nightly, suffered from the effects of concussion, our walls buckled, our glass cracked, so that we present to the world a shell shocked village … our population has dwindled, one shop remains and instead of our continuing to be a self-supporting community we have become dependent upon neighbouring villages for our thrice weekly supply of food."
Imber Village - Charles Watling's Vicarge to left of the picture
Edited by ianjonesncl
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