Wartime bombs to be detonated on Goswick Sands, near Holy Island

Sep 18 2009 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

WARTIME explosives beneath the surface of a Northumberland beach are to be detonated next week.

A Royal Air Force bomb disposal team is to carry out a number of controlled explosions of war time munitions on Goswick Sands, near Holy Island, on Tuesday.

The story of the unexploded bombs dates back to the early 1940s when the planning and training of military personnel for the forthcoming allied invasion of north western Europe, Operation Overlord, was beginning.

In late 1941 or early 1942, an air weapons range was established at Goswick Sands to support the training of allied aircrew.

Predominantly flying from RAF Milfield near Wooler, air crews flying Hurricane, Spitfire, Typhoon and Tempest aircraft were trained in the tactics of live bombing, rocketry, gunnery and fighter leadership over Goswick.

This was to prepare crews for the assault on the coast of Normandy and its formidable German defences, which was to become the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944.

Bomb disposal squadron leader Nick Haygarth last night said: “Talking to some of the guys who have been employed up there for some time, they know the history and they can tell us what went on and the part it played in preparations for D-Day.

“It was obviously a key place at the time, in the 1940s whenever it was, it played a significant part in the military planning that was going on.”

With the cessation of hostilities in 1945 the air weapons range at Goswick was decommissioned.

Between 1945 and the mid 1990s, bomb disposal personnel periodically visited Goswick to carry out searches of the beach and dispose of any items of live ordnance found.

In 1995, a permanent RAF bomb disposal presence was set up at Goswick.

It was tasked with utilising modern electronic location technology to systematically detect, locate and dispose of live items of legacy ordnance from Goswick beach, the shoreline and surrounding farmland.

Squadron leader Haygarth said the team at Goswick can sometimes go weeks without finding anything and other times can find several items in a short space of time.

Their work, he added, is dependent on the Holy Island tides. Most of the explosives found are deep below the surface and could not be stumbled upon by the public on a daily basis.

The team which currently numbers seven has drafted in extra manpower from the squadron’s base at RAF Wittering to help with Tuesday’s disposal.

During the explosions, access to and from Holy Island via the causeway and associated public footpaths will be subject to disruption between 12pm and 3pm.

Members of the public are requested to follow and comply with instructions and advice from members of the Northumbria Police and Royal Air Force personnel on the day.

Goswick was significant in Second World War terms even before the creation of an air weapons range.

In 1939, during the UK’s preparations for war, the North East coast and Northumberland was highlighted as a potential landing ground for invasion by German enemy airborne and land or water assault troops.

With its large flat expanse of comparably hard sand at low tide, it was foreseen that Goswick Sands had the potential to be an ideal target which could be readily utilised by German forces.

To deter and repel this threat, the beach and coastline at Goswick was reinforced and protected by land mines, concrete tank traps, vehicle obstacles, “pill boxes”, machine gun revetments and anti-glider poles.

At the end of the war, all land mines and the majority of the anti invasion obstacles and targets were removed to ensure public safety.