Fragment of WW2 aerial gunnery target.

[Flying10uk]

My father watched this towed aerial gunnery practice target being shot down over Essex during WW2. He had to run across several fields to "claim it" before any other souvenir hunters beat him to it. The towing aircraft in the picture is a Hawker Henley according to the caption but this is not an aircraft which I am familiar with. According to my father, if enemy aircraft made an appearance during aerial gunnery practice with a towed target, the target was normally dropped and it was the close of play. This was because the towed target slowed the towing aircraft down by a significant amount, the last thing you want if you have Jerry on your tail.

N.B. The target fragment is behind plastic and the netting part doesn't show up too well against the hardboard and so I have posted 2 pics of it.

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