AA Battery Flatterton

Emplacement and magazines

A World War II anti-aircraft battery was sited to the south of Gourock. Site number AS4. Part of the Clyde AA Defences, the site was known as Flatterton.

The battery was equipped with four emplacements, a command post, and magazines. Two further emplacements, of a different design, were added later. A GL Radar ramp and mat for Mk II mobile unit were located to the northeast, while an accommodation camp was located in the field to the northwest. Aerial photographs taken in 1947 showed the battery site and the six emplacements, noting that the two later additions were larger than the originals, octagonal, and each provided with four ready use magazines. Later photographs taken in 1988 also showed the complete battery. Record of arming the battery are unclear, with reports that 4.5-inch guns were mounted frim 1942 to 1943, but additional documentation indicating that 3.7-inch guns had been supplied.

Site visit

A site visit during 2007 found that that the main battery construction was of brick, while the latter emplacements were were observed to have been constructed from concrete blocks.

Although most of the emplacements and building have been reduced to grass mounds, two recognisable emplacements remain, together with remains of the additional emplacements. The concrete bases of the huts which formed the accommodation camp could still be found in the ground to the northwest.