Raf Tangmere: Barrack Block (Building 116) To The Former Raf Airbase

This barrack block at the former RAF Tangmere airbase was built in 1938 with minor late 20th-century modifications. It is constructed of red brick with a tiled roof and Crittall windows throughout.

The building has an H-shaped plan arranged over two storeys with a partial basement containing a bomb shelter. It conforms to Air Ministry design 8/84, specifically the hipped roof variant.

Exterior

Both entrance elevations, facing west and east, are in the Art Deco style and feature curved canopies; the western entrance has rounded piers. The brickwork is laid in Flemish bond with air bricks positioned at ground level, between the ground and first floors, and in the eaves. The eaves are decorated with a header course of brick. Some panels of writing are painted onto the exterior walls at low level, such as 'O C Squadron 4'.

The Crittall windows on the west and east elevations have a four-over-six pane configuration with shallow cills. Fenestration in the main north and south elevations follows a horizontal pattern, except for the elongated corner stair windows on the south side. Many windows were boarded up at the time of inspection in 2006.

Interior

The plan is broadly similar on both floors. Each of the four wings—northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast—contains a large dormitory, with the exception of the northwest room which was allocated as a sitting room on the original plan. The central west-east range has a central corridor with borrow-light windows, flanked by ablutions, non-commissioned officer accommodation, and other domestic rooms such as laundry rooms.

The ablutions retain toilet and shower doors with painted signage. The first-floor laundry room retains a laundry cupboard with a fold-down ironing board. Two open-well staircases with wooden banisters and Art Deco metal balustrades provide access to the first floor, located to the south of the central corridor. A narrow basement staircase lies beneath the eastern staircase.

Floor treatments include linoleum, concrete, and tile in the ablutions, with polished narrow boards in the dormitories. Original panelled doors are present throughout, some half-glazed. Other original features include cast iron radiators, Bakelite switches, cleaning bends, and moulded dado rails in the main corridors. A surviving original paint scheme uses pale yellow or white for the walls and pale green for doors and balustrades.

The small basement-level air raid shelter has a blast door to the stairs and an escape hatch leading out of the building to the east. The shelter contains original benches, lighting, space for a water closet, an escape tunnel with a vertical ladder to a hatch outside the building, and graffiti including squadron numbers, names, and ranks such as 'RAF Squad 43' and 'LAC [Leading Aircraftsmen] Webb'.

History

Land for an airfield at Tangmere was requisitioned in September 1917 under the Defence of the Realm Act. Work was well advanced by February 1918 and the field was used for training by the Royal Flying Corps. In September 1918 it was briefly handed over to the United States Air Service before being used as a holding station for squadrons returning from the continent. In common with many airfields after World War I, Tangmere was considered surplus to requirements and closed in 1920.

During the early 1920s, plans for proposed war stations for the Home Defence Force led to the reacquisition or reactivation of many sites including Tangmere, which with Kenley near Croydon was one of the first bases to be occupied. It initially reopened as a Coastal Area Storage Unit for Fleet Air Arm aircraft in June 1925, and the airfield was reactivated, becoming RAF Tangmere, on 23rd November 1926. It was initially occupied by numbers 1 and 43 Squadrons flying Gamecock and Siskin aircraft. Barrack blocks, married quarters, and mess buildings were constructed here in the late 1920s. Tangmere saw further expansion in the late 1930s when it was modified to form a permanent station with an extra squadron. This included the construction of more barrack blocks, including Building 116, workshop and training buildings, as well as the extension of the airfield to the east to elongate the runway.

During World War II, Tangmere was a key fighter station with a number of different squadrons stationed there. The station was attacked by German aircraft on 16th August 1940 and was very badly damaged, including the destruction of two hangars and severe damage to a further three. Workshops, the water pumping station, Officers' Mess, and the sick quarters were destroyed and thirteen people were killed. The airfield was the home of Douglas Bader and a number of other flying aces and was a key airfield of the Battle of Britain. It was also involved in the clandestine 'Black Lysander' operations whereby Special Operations Executive agents were flown in and out of occupied France. Violet Szabo, who was the only woman to receive the George Cross for outstanding service, left from Tangmere on the mission for which she won her medal. Both Bader and Szabo had films made about them, both directed by Lewis Gilbert: the 1956 film Reach For The Sky starring Kenneth More, and Carve Her Name With Pride in 1958, starring Virginia McKenna.

After the war, the airfield was home to the RAF's High Speed Flight and the world airspeed record was broken here in September 1946 and August 1953. The field was also modified for use by Meteor jet aircraft in the 1950s. The base closed in 1970 although the airfield continued to be used by a gliding school until 1975. In 1982 a museum was founded by volunteers to tell the story of the airfield and the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, as it is known, is currently located on the edge of the former airfield.

Building 116 provided accommodation for three non-commissioned officers and seventy-two other ranks with eighteen to a room. At the time of inspection it was in use as a furniture and file store.

Building 116 is an H-block two-storey barrack building built to Air Ministry design 8/84 in 1938 as part of the late 1930s expansion of RAF Tangmere, when the base was modified and improved to form a permanent station with accommodation for an additional squadron. Originally one of three H-blocks on the base, Building 116 is now the only remaining example and is believed to be the only surviving accommodation block from the former airbase. It is remarkably complete both externally and internally where its plan-form, fixtures, and fittings provide insight into accommodation for airmen at this Battle of Britain fighter station. The building is a good and intact example of an Air Ministry H-block with additional historic interest as a surviving barrack block from RAF Tangmere, providing insights into the accommodation provision for airmen here during World War II.