No 81 Maintenance Unit, RAF Bowes Moor

 arsenal / weapon and ammunition storage, Second World War 1939-1945, chemical warfare, historic ruins

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RAF Bowes Moor(No 81 Maintenance Unit.) was used from December 1941 to store mustard gas.
The bombs were initially stored in the open under tarps or in wooden sheds. It was found that the sheep on the moorland would consume the tarpaulins and disturb the bombs, resulting in the addition of sheep-proof fences and gates for the entire site. Fifty new buildings were later added to store the larger bombs.

The content of the stored bombs was burnt off after the end of the war, but some may have leached into the soil.

The German nerve gases Sarin and Tabun were also stored there on a temporary basis, until it was shipped by train to the military port at Cairnryan, Scotland, and put on old cargo boats which were sunk in the Atlantic.