Airfield gyms

Middle Wallop (in its RAF days) had a gym in the local village of Middle Wallop, about 1/2 a mile away from the camp. This s now the village hall. I have been given a rumour that there was a decree that gyms should be placed away from the camp domestic area, after one with many airmen inside, was bombed during WW2. Can anyone confirm?

Ahh! Maybe this explains why Hemswell's gym is so far removed from the rest of the airfield buildings. Newton too. It was at the far end of the OMQ near the A46. But both are pre-war builds. Ossington, a war-build site, had its gym on the main communal site. Balderton and Wigsley has them dispersed, but not specifically built to have a post-war use as a village hall, say.

Many Expansion period airfields had a standard WWII-design Gymnasium with Chancel added when dispersed sites were added or planned to be added, in order to bring the station up to the revised standards. Coltishall is a good example where only the gym was actually built on a planned but otherwise uncompleted dispersed communal site. Hemswell's example was part of a completed standard dispersed communal site, with an Institute, Sgts Mess and Officers Mess standing to the south of the road where Canberra Crescent is now.

On other sites such as Bassingbourn and Newton the gym was added in the pre-war married quarters areas, which had been turned over to additional billets during WWII and the families relocated off station.

I suspect, in the case of Middle Wallop, the gym was intended to be centrally located to serve not just Middle Wallop's additional dispersed sites in the village but also those for the Sector Ops complex in Over Wallop.

Kidlington's gymnasium was also away from the main sites and is till going strong as a structure after refurbishment:

wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm?lat=5...grat=None&rgrat=None

Exactly the same as RAF Benson, the old gym is outside the domestic and technical sites:- www.google.com/maps/@51.6194886,-1.08060...g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Sorry for the delay, but many thanks for the responses.

RAF Dumfries gym is the same distance away from the domestic site. Can be seen on Google maps across Catherinefield road and now Barr’s DIY Building supplies Store.

Solway wrote:

RAF Dumfries gym is the same distance away from the domestic site. Can be seen on Google maps across Catherinefield road and now Barr’s DIY Building supplies Store.

Yes. Unusually the Gymnasium is located at the entrance of the former Bomb Store access road.

Map snip courtesy of Old Maps website: