PORT MEADOW AERODROME, OXFORD - WW1 ROYAL FLYING CORPS - Target structure

Having recently moved to live near Oxford I have been looking at local aviation history.

Of immediate interest was the site of the WW1 RFC airfield on Port Meadow on the north western side of Oxford city.

A contact told me of a structure referred to by local residents as 'The Target' claiming that it was used for training by WW2 bombers. Intrigued I located it here:

wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm?lat=5...grat=None&rgrat=None

NGR SP 49237 09212

and a search of the web found this:

en-gb.facebook.com/pg/wolvercoteww1memorial/posts/


Scroll down half way to see mention of the eature with hhotograohs. Please note that I am NOT a Facebook user.

A book titled 'Oxford's Lost Aerodrome' by Peter Smith includes a Chapter relating that the structure was built during the RFC occupation for air to ground gunnery practices. Wooden targets were erected in the natural ditch known as Shiplake Ditch meandering north to south on the eastern side of Wolvercote Common and ground crew sheltered in the structure.

'The Target' appears to be a Marker Shelter built from reinforced concrete, roughly square in plan-form and with a flat slab concrete roof. A floor to ceiling 'door' is centered in one elevation with a 'window' aperture in the wall to the left. No actual door or window evident and no evidence that the structure was revetted or earth mounded.

The meadow being low-lying is frequently flooded in this location hence the drainage ditches. The book refers also to a makeshift bombing target made from lumps of chalk 'laid on the ground near the River Thames'

Does anyone know more?

I am unable to post this in the appropriate sub-forum because the system tells me that I have not paid my subscription

It would seem most likely that it is a Marker Shelter used for scoring and refuge by air to ground target maintainers. Perhaps it was used also as a bombing target proof against, say, sand filled Cooper and Hale bombs and,certainly, bags of flour!

www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205215723

No, I doubt that actual bags of flour were used in official practice bombing but certainly a device filled with a white powder to cause a visible 'puff' on impact. Civilians observing from distance finding impact marks after the event might think that edible flour was used.