In what was then a remote part of the northern New Forest, two major Second World War military facilities were present - the Ashley Walk Bombing Range and, just across the Fordingbridge road, the Armaments Research Department, Millersford.

Established in mid-1940, the Ashley Walk Bombing Range was the larger of the two, covering more than 2,025 hectares (5,000 acres) enclosed by 14.5 kilometres (9 miles) of supposedly impenetrable 1.8 metres (6 feet) high chain link fencing.

Shattering the peace and quiet of this idyllic landscape, Mosquitos, Lancaster Bombers and American, Flying Fortresses unleashed deadly cargoes of explosives. Bombs were tested, and so were bombing techniques and methods of delivery, paving the way for drops on German cities and other installations.

Just about every type of bomb available for delivery from the air was tested, with the exception of incendiary devices that would have risked starting heathland fires. Bombs ranged in size from small anti-personnel bombs up to wartime’s heaviest bomb, an almost 10,000 kilos (22,000 lbs) beast known as the ‘Grand Slam’ that left a crater 40 metres (130 feet) across and over 21 metres (70 feet) deep.

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