RAF Langham Dome Trainer

This reinforced concrete hemisphere is known as the Dome Trainer. Built in 1943, it was one of about 40 built around the country, of which, it is thought, only 6 survive.

It was designed and built as a Ground-to-Air gunnery trainer. Projection equipment inside the Dome displayed film of dive bombers and other aircraft making attacks from various positions within a 180 degree arc. The image was moved around the Dome using a complicated system of cams and mirrors. Films were projected in colour, with full sound, creating a realistic experience for the trainees sitting in the middle at a replicated anti-aircraft gun. On firing at the attacking aircraft the instructor could gauge whether the gunner was on target by viewing the yellow light flashes projected onto the wall of the dome as he pulled the trigger; the gunner himself could not see this because he was observing through a yellow filter.

For its time, it was a very sophisticated training simulator. Trainee gunners, once competent in this would then go to Weybourne or Stiffkey for live firing at target drones towed behind aircraft.

It is believed the Dome was also used as an Air-to-Air gunnery trainer. The films would have been slightly different and the trainee would have been sitting in a mock up of a turret such as that seen on a Wellington bomber. It is possible it was also used for navigational training purposes by projecting star groups onto the walls/ceiling.

In 1961 the Ministry of Defence sold off the Airfield and its sundry buildings, a large part of which, including the Dome was acquired by Bernard Matthews pic. The Dome is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, probably Norfolk's youngest such monument! It has since been donated to the North Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust (NNHBT). It is the Trust's intention, together with the Friends of Langham Dome (FoLD) to repair and restore this building incorporating its wartime use as a trainer for Anti-Aircraft Gunners. It is hoped that if enough funds can be raised and the Dome renovated, that it will be managed by the Friends and made available to the public and schools, telling not only the story of the Dome but also the important contribution made by Langham, and other East Anglian airfields, to the defence of the country in World War 2.