Site of Second World War light anti-aircraft gun, south of Ricketts (EHER 21517)

Now destroyed. A light anti-aircraft gun site. The gun emplacement was possibly for a Bofors Gun.

Three light anti-aircraft gun sites can be clearly seen on 1943, 1946 and 1948 aerial photographs (EHER 21524, 21530, and 21533) around the south-east, north, and north-west of Debden Airfield. A fourth is now reported by the current owner of Ricketts, who remembers it as a child. It lay on the top of the hill 600 to 700 yards to the south of Ricketts, thus continuing a circle of such defences around the airfield. Aerial photographs dated July 1946 and May 1948 show the site. Several areas of rough ground are accessed by a long track, laid by the military leading from Ricketts to the site. In 1946, the bases of three huts show up clearly together with an irregular emplacement, probably for a Bofors gun. In 1948, the bases remain but the emplacement has been bull-dozed leaving just a large soil mark. <1> - <3> 2013. Field survey. In January 2013, the area is light woodland. Nothing was found at the time of the site visit although the bases may still be there, beneath the leaf mould and undergrowth. Interestingly, the 1946 aerial photograph shows faint, circular soil marks on the other side of the track, a few yards north-east of the rough ground. This may well have been an earlier site, much like the other three, for Lewis machine-guns, although this is only conjecture. <4>