THE TOP SECRET TO A FUN FAMILY OUTING

From atomic bomb testing along a remote stretch of the Suffolk coast, to listening in on enemy radio and clandestine map-making, many highly-classified former wartime sites are now open for a glorious National Trust visitor experience

- 

BY MATT NIXSON TOP-SECRET Orford Ness, Suffolk Immediately before the First World War in 1913, Orford Ness was purchased by the War Department. It was subsequently used as a military test site and closely guarded to prevent public access. Top secret experiments continued into the Second World War and the later nuclear age.

The Bomb Ballistics building was built in 1933 to house equipment used to record the flight of bombs and improve their aerodynamics. The data was used to refine aiming and accuracy with the equipment steadily improved over the years.

Other testing helped determine the vulnerability of aircraft and their components to attack by various projectiles. Crashed German and allied planes were tested at Orford Ness. Individual parts such as fuel tanks, oxygen tanks or running engines were subjected to carefully controlled simulations of attack and led to new developments such as self-sealing fuel tanks. Scientists also experimented on armour plate - firing various projectiles into plates mounted inside a testing building to establish their effectiveness.

Later still, giant concrete pagodas were used to test atomic weapon parts.

Orford was also used by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to carry out trials ahead of D-Day, including the Mulberry Harbours.

From the 1970s, the Ness was home to RAF Explosive Ordnance Disposal but the last military personnel left in 1987 and the site was sold to the Trust in 1993 as the importance of its landscape and wildlife became apparent.

Orford Ness is open to visitors on Saturdays and Sundays but tickets must be booked in advance.

EXERCISE SMASH

Studland, Dorset

Today Studland Bay is mainly a leisure destination boasting four miles of unspoiled beach, but often overlooked is its historical significance in military operations during the Second World War.