Camera Obscura Building, Old Sarum, Wiltshire

Summary

A building constructed in 1932 for the use of a camera obscura to train airmen on the former RAF Old Sarum airfield.

Description

Camera Obscura Building constructed between 1927-1931 for the Air Ministry’s School of Army Co-Operation at RAF Old Sarum.

MATERIALS: of brick construction in stretcher bond with a pre-cast concrete roof covered in felt and a concrete floor. There are concrete lintels to the openings and the windows have metal casements and concrete cills. The door and window shutters are timber.

PLAN: rectangular on plan, approximately 4.5m x 3.7m, and of single storey.

DESCRIPTION: the principal elevation (north-west) has a door to the right and casement to the centre. The north-east and south-east (rear) elevations each have a central window, and the south-west elevation has a fixed metal ladder to the roof. The former aperture to the roof is sealed with boarding. The interior has a step up from the door to a single room with a central boarded aperture to the ceiling, which is lined by a metal casing. The three casements have timber shutters and there are light fittings to the ceiling and wall.

History

In 1917 the War Office bought land at Ford Farm for airfield development and shortly afterwards the base opened as Old Sarum (named after the nearby hillfort), and by September 1918 a series of seven hangars, motor transport sheds and various workshops had been built; personnel at that time were accommodated in tents. Used at first as a Training Depot Station for day bombing, Old Sarum’s position close to the army training areas on Salisbury Plain ensured its retention after 1919 for the School of Army Co-Operation. This ran courses primarily for Army and RAF observers and pilots, and the Camera Obscura building for their use was constructed between 1927 and 1931; it is first shown on Air Ministry Plan 608/32. It was built to the south of the First World War hangars (listed at Grade II*) and is similar in design to Air Ministry AM 3391/35. A camera obscura was a device for assessing a pilot’s ability to fly straight courses, find wind speed and direction and for the simulation of level bombing. An image of an aircraft passing overhead was projected onto a table via a roof aperture through a lens. Bombing accuracy would be determined from the image.

The Camera Obscura Building was in use for pilot training throughout the 1930s alongside new technologies as they were introduced, such as Link trainers in 1937. Air Ministry training became more formalised by the outbreak of the Second World War, and the principal activity at RAF Old Sarum became the formation and training of Air Observation Units. The improved designs of the Air Ministry Laboratory Bombing Teacher in 1942 led to the use of the camera obscura being surpassed and from around this time the building would have ceased to be operational. In February 1944 the hangars were converted into use for housing vehicles being specially prepared for D-Day and after 1947 Old Sarum had become the School of Land/Air Warfare. It was closed as a military base in 1979 and has since been redeveloped as an industrial estate. The most westerly of the 3 paired hangars was destroyed by fire in 1986 and the Camera Obscura Building remains disused in 2021. The camera equipment has been removed but lighting and shutters remain in situ.

Despite the destruction of one of the original three paired hangars, Old Sarum has one of the most complete hangar groupings of the period up to 1918 in Britain, uniquely relating to an airfield that has been less altered than any other pre-1918 airfield.

Reasons for Listing

The Camera Obscura Building at Old Sarum Airfield is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the building is a rare example of an interwar military structure used for pilot training and survives remarkably well;
* the specific military training function of the building is embodied in its fabric, notably in the aperture with metal hood to the roof and its shuttered windows and light fittings, and it is relatively unaltered compared with the other contemporary buildings on the site.

Historic interest:

* it has historic interest as a building associated with a pre-1918 airfield and as the subsequent home of the School of Army Co-operation, which trained pilots who were to be instrumental in action during the Second World War.

Group value:

* the building has group value as part of Old Sarum Airfield, which has one of the most complete hangar groupings (listed at Grade II*) of the period up to 1918 in Britain and an airfield that has been less altered than any other of the period;
* it also has group value with the surviving interwar School of Army Co-operation buildings and structures including the TA Headquarters (Grade II).

External Links

Historic England Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.