One or two friends asked if I would make my Dawn to Dusk Challenge report available digitally. I've tried to convert it into this blog. I've made some minor re-arrangements: I have brought the Aeroplane and Crew details to the start, included more photographs and omitted copies of the forms and plogs that had to accompany the report; otherwise, the text is as it was submitted, warty as it is, with one exception to update a mystery and the layout is more or less the same.

Since that one day, I've learned a great deal more as I've read more. The exercise has kept on giving.

Against Aerial Attack: Commemorating Home Defences in WW1

Pooley’s

Dawn to Dusk Challenge

2017

Contents

Aeroplane, Crew
Introduction

Site List

Leg 1: Kent Coast

Leg 2: Sheppy to Suffolk

Leg 3: Suffolk to The Wash

Leg 4: Linconshire

Leg 5: Beverley to Berwick
Sources and Acknowledgements

The Aeroplane

G-TECC is a 1946 Aeronca Champ, mine since 2003. Despite needing much TLC, she kept on going until it was obvious an engine overhaul was required. A gradual programme of other renovation was also underway, but in 2008, an engine failure (100 hrs post overhaul) meant a field landing, when a pre-existing crack in the starboard gear spoiled an otherwise textbook arrival. The engine failure was traced to a loosening clamp on the spider that had allowed a lean cut. There was no question of giving her up, so I bought back the economic write-off from the insurance company when the local wood & fabric guru agreed to rebuild her. Since her triumphant return in 2011, better than factory new, we have flown the best part of another thousand hours together.

The Crew

Captain F H Farnham represents the RFC’s finest. Tacitly agreeing to step down to Observer for this mission, he has seen more of the country than he ever would have in service. Not having to lift and operate heavy cameras and plates was welcomed, although he was in constant demand to lend moral fibre to the rest of the crew. It may have been a bit of a shock to him when he realised we would not be served in the Officers’ Mess en route.

I (Nic) started flying in 1985, in gliders. I wasn’t the kid with the nose against the fence, I didn’t make Airfix models, I didn’t look skyward when aircraft flew overhead and I didn’t even start gliding with any great enthusiasm, let alone experience the ‘wow factor’. The gliding was a diversion that occurred somewhat accidentally when my frustrated wannabe flyer father joined the local club. Most people had a progress sheet. I had a regress sheet. It was a long and slow slog that eventually led to solo, part ownership of a Slingsby Swallow, then a Mucha, as the slow burn of obsession started. I learned that a winch launch was a huge wow for many, when, as an AEI, I got to introduce people to flying. I have also spent many hours in America where a good friend and mentor encouraged me to become a FAA certified gliding instructor and she was responsible for my first powered flight, which led to motor gliding, which led to sole ownership of a Scheibe Falke T61A, which led to the Tiger Club and flying their Cub and that led to meeting my partner, Richard, who flies the highest-houred homebuilt in the UK.

Buying the Champ, in 2003, changed everything. Often in loose formation, Richard & I went to fly-ins, toured France, reached Denmark for the KZ Rally and Tannheim for Tannkosh. We fly a great deal together and with neither of us working now, we can try to support more of the flying causes close to our hearts. The Champ is neither fast nor fancy but she’s faster than my brain: I’m no ace of the base, preferring to enjoy the view. I am fortunate to have found the aeroplane I love. ’CC and I are married now. She gave me an O ring and I give her all my money.

The Challenge

Being not a “I’m going to do that” but a “I wonder if I could do that” person, I nibbled the edges of things until realising that something was edible. Had the first Champ I saw not had only one more instrument than my glider, I’d never have ever flown anything noisier. Vaguely aware of Dawn to Dusk since I started flying, I’d dismissed it as impossible for one who knew nothing, didn’t like complication and anyway, clever people have probably flown several of these in a day, doing aerobatics all the way. More recently, though, I looked again at the reasons why I couldn’t do this. Airfield opening hours. The Champ’s short legs. MY short legs. And so on. So what could I do? I removed the bricks in my homebuilt wall.

The day of the flight held few surprises. Early morning fog scuppered some of my planned, absolutely stunning, world class photographs, but the wind and visibility were benign throughout, with crosswinds offering no more than the usual concerns for take-off or landing. Communications seemed to work and the cork-based fuel gauge at least waited until I was able to confirm my en-route fuel consumption before sinking into oblivion. Variations in height were required all the way, which kept me concentrating and as the day developed, the thermals were interesting, particularly as I wouldn’t have expected such energy along the coast. G-TECC had been fitted with Pilot Aware in order to give track logging. I learned later that some friends had been watching my progress. Managing to find all but one of my sites was perhaps the most rewarding aspect of my day; hitting my target figure for the Royal British Legion has been the latest.

Introduction

Against Aerial Attack: Commemorating Home Defences in WWI

I grew up, post-war, in ‘Hellfire Corner’, where it is hard not to be aware of and impressed by the diverse, extant defences on our coast. WW1 home defence had become an interest, but as I read further, the number of interesting sites seemed limitless. It seemed like a good idea to get aerial context by flying over them, getting photographs, which, if done in a single day, formed my personal challenge. As the project grew I decided I would concentrate only on aviation-related coastal defences and wireless detection, with one or two exceptions that were en route to a fuel stop. ‘Coast’ I’ve defined as ‘within approximately one mile of the coastline’. Much detail has been summarily reduced, simply for reasons of space. Some sites developed from Napoleonic defences, many sites were used again in WWII and a few have had more recent importance, being redeveloped for Cold War operations. Much has gone, but amongst the neglected remains, preserved monuments and yes, the Tesco car park, there’s fascinating history.

What impressed me above all was the progress made in just four years, in a country still getting used to motor transport. By the time of the Armistice and despite inter-service rivalries, political strategy and limited successes, the organisation and technological developments had progressed greatly.

Gothas of Gahoul 3

The arrival of Gothas over England on 25^th May 1917 marked the start of the first Battle of Britain. This entry covers the east coast of England, from Lydd in the south-east to the north of Holy Island, along the coastline that met the attacks from 1914 onward. My Challenge would commemorate that centenary.

I owe much to the investigations and detailed research of others, whom I have acknowledged at the end. Errors are mine.

Intelligence and signals.

Port War Signal Stations were a development of specialist Coastguard establishments, initially used for shipping detection. In 1902 six stations were given wireless telegraphs (Dover, Kent; Culver Cliff, Isle of Wight, Hants; Portland, Dorset; Rame Head, Cornwall; Isles of Scilly, Cornwall; and Roche’s Point, Ireland). From this modest start, technology and techniques grew from the very basic in 1914 through to a formidable counter-battery organisation, including aerial photography, wireless intelligence & sound ranging to a complex, scientific level by the end of the war. Home defences reflected this progression too. Cryptography & ‘Room 40’, with Captain Round’s direction-finding equipment carried over to the formation, in 1919, of GC&CS, Bletchley Park, later to be renamed GCHQ.

WWI signal stations were attached to batteries, garrisons and RNAS stations, but some stood alone with a small crew.

The ROC grew from the disorganised information being relayed by the army, police, gun positions and railways stations, often via cycling to a telephone (or even by post!). Improvements gradually led to far more sophisticated communications and the first Operations Rooms, later to be vital in WWII.

Prior to any useful wireless communication, visual ground signalling systems were vital. Lieut. H Ingram, operating at RANAS Westgate in January 1915, devised a system using cloth strips, but the Admiralty had other ideas. By the summer, a better system than any yet came again from Ingram. A 20’ x 40’ ‘T’, in conjunction with up to three variously placed 8’ diameter discs, conveyed up to 40 specific messages. These were visible at up to 17,000’ in the best weather conditions.

Wireless communications were dominated by The Marconi Company that produced a chain of stations along the east coast. By 1916, crystals were replaced by valves, with a form of variometer giving directional information.

Much is owed to Capt. H Round, working for Marconi, whose work on direction-finding proved invaluable. By 1919, there were 19 high-masted ‘directional’ aerials and direction-finding stations from the Shetlands to the North Kent coast at Birchington. A total of 87 coastal and/or W/T and intercept stations was identified as being in use during the First World War, the majority on the east coast. These strategically important stations intercepted messages and transmissions from Zeppelins, U-boats and surface vessels.

Direction Finder 1916

Marconi WT Wireless Set No 4 the Sterling Spark Set Transmitter, used in the air to guide artillery

The siting of wireless stations was far from exclusively coastal and inland sites on higher ground were scattered around London. Coastal sites were preferred, particularly sandy conditions, which gave better earthing. Proximity to a telegraph line, habitations for lodgings and existing structures, such as the North Foreland and Flamborough Head lighthouses, were favoured. Stations that were not part of a military base were fenced and guarded, not visible from the sea.

Roles of the Stations:

Intersect stations were ‘Y’, direction finding ‘B’, which were often more mobile and temporary.

Ship to shore stations operated two-way communications

Experimental/Development stations

Wireless Training Schools

IWC – international wireless telegraphy linking countries of the Empire

Post Office inland wireless stations – the P.O. took over inland stations in 1911.

After the raid of 2^nd-3^rd September 1916, when fourteen airships were not easily identifiable by their official numbers, it was decided to label raiders with girls’ names for naval airships and boys’ for army. On the next raid, Mary, Rose, Kate, Lily Jane, Sally, Hilda and Nora were heard. Later, they were named alphabetically as they coasted in. The boys’ names weren’t used as no more army airships made raids over Britain.

Flash spotting & sound ranging – from 1916

By mid-1915 most corps artilleries were doing some flash-spotting, with II Corps perhaps the most successful. There were two methods, which could be combined:

Measuring bearings to the flash from different positions, then plotting the bearings to find their intersection; or
‘Flash-to-bang time’, measuring the bearing to the flash and using a stopwatch to measure the time from flash to the sound reaching the observer, this time was then converted to a distance (speed of sound ~330 metres/second) and measured on the plotted bearing. One problem was differentiating the sound of the gun firing from the sound of its shells if they were supersonic, compounded by the fact that the sound of firing could be inaudible to the human ear.

In 1917 the War Office reviewed the communications between ground and air, discussing a prototype receiver, which was simple to use, with a half-kilowatt transmitter. Ground transmitters of 30-mile range could be sited at strategic aerodromes. Politics between Navy and Army obscure the details of the history, but Admiralty objections killed off further trials based on the ‘Ashington’ trials, although trials on longer wave transmitters were approved.

Prior to the development of radar, considerable resources were devoted to the feasibility of sound mirrors. Experiments starting in WWI took place with four types of sound detectors. They were listening wells, discs, mirrors and trumpets.

Acoustic early warning systems began in 1914 when attempts were made to detect the position of the enemy's artillery guns, barrages from which often preceded attacks on the trenches. The use of microphones was a significant step forward in 1916 and when placed first in holes and then deep shafts in the ground, picked up sounds hitherto unheard. These ‘listening wells’ were somewhat primitive, with men confined to the bottom of deep shafts and were replaced by horizontal discs and microphones at ground level. The key point about the change to discs was that the disc replaced the well and the microphone, placed at the centre of the disc, replaced the observer.

Sound detectors shaped liked trumpets were also tested and used during WW1. Following trials of various types of sound locator, a simple locator with four trumpets became universally used by the army, but research was also taking place about the use of larger, concrete mirrors.

1915 - An early War Office reference to the subject of listening devices for aeroplanes by means of acoustic arrangements. Trials of a 16ft Sound Mirror dug into the chalk near Maidstone in Kent.

1917 - Larger mirror 3 metres in diameter tested with an aircraft.

Sound mirrors were constructed along the NE and SE coast & these saw operational use against enemy aircraft.

The mirrors worked and could be used effectively to detect slow moving enemy aircraft before they came into sight, at least until aircraft became faster. Operators also found it difficult to distinguish between aircraft and seagoing vessels.

By 1918 the Admiralty signals intelligence (or ‘SIGINT’) guaranteed complete control of the airwaves and during the first four months of the year four Zeppelins were shot down over England and twenty-four U-boats sunk. Wireless communications were hugely advanced by the War; sound broadcasting was a natural progression after.

Anti-aircraft guns

The first anti-aircraft guns were at Hoo, defending Chatham. Anti-aircraft operations improved, but cuts in manning in 1917, to release more men into service in France were accompanied by an order prohibiting their use - day or night - except for those at specific coastal defence sites. Thus the ‘generals’ presumed that the Zeppelin attacks were finished, at least until the German navy produced the ‘height climber’ which could reach 16-17,000’ (and even more). The dubious worth of this strategy was shown by the menace of Gothas in the south of England.

The batteries, like the airborne defences, limited by the technology of the time, the speed and accuracy of the information available, were ever improving and by 1917, aim was much better. Colonel Thompson, an AA commander, devised a new system of height observation and control that was used with success against two Gothas in August. At around this time, AA operations rooms added a new flower code, the key to which has been lost, but we know Carnation meant ‘aircraft heard’, Dahlia ‘aircraft seen’ and Dandelion ‘hostile’.

The QF 3 inch 20cwt anti-aircraft gun was widely used against Zeppelins, as its 16lb shell could reach 5,000’ in 9.2 seconds, 15,000’ in 18.8 and had a maximum height of 22,000’. An optical height and range finder enabled deflection to be calculated mechanically and graphically. By the end of the war, the Wilson-Dalby tracker added more sophistication, with a rudimentary electronic computer.

QF 3 inch 20 cwt AA gun on HMS Royal Oak

By the end of the war, the sheer number of guns (variously reported between 286 and 402 AA guns, plus 387 searchlights) was sufficient to break up the daytime attacks and German raids had to be made at night to get past. The AA sites in my report are not comprehensive; accounts of raids often mention AA fire, perhaps from lorry-mounted guns, that does not match the sites of the main batteries.

In 1919, only 8 guns & lights remained; in 1920 all the AA defences were disbanded. It had been, after all, the war to end all wars…

Balloons & Airships

Although by 1915 the RFC had largely taken over command of the RNAS balloon units, airships were regarded as the responsibility of the RNAS.

Kite balloon baskets typically had a floor area of 20 square feet, lined with canvas. The equipment list for deployment on the front was extensive:

Stratoscope to determine true altitude

Hand anemometer

Thermometer

Map board

Telephone and batteries

Parachutes

Six different maps in varying scale and detail

Scale ruler

Three pairs of binoculars, of various powers, one with marked artillery scale, plus cleaning chamois

Hard pencils, notepads, erasers, & for emergency use:

Spare telephone capsules

1,500ft telephone wire

Signals table (in event of telephone failure)

Weighted message bags with streamers

1/2,000,000 map for navigation if the balloon broke away.

The ill-effects of swift descents from high altitude, plus the temporary deafness that all experienced when forgetting to keep their mouths open during descent, could be alarming for new crews. Training began in a captive balloon, sent to 500’ to ‘look for Zeppelins’. Later, the Probationary Flying Officers had to make six cross-country flights in the 8’ basket of a spherical balloon filled with coal-gas.

The Royal Navy had eleven balloon stations to provide convoy protection & U-boat spotting. A variety of vessels was equipped with winches.

The first airships were all non-rigid and formed a significant part of the strength of the RNAS. Within four years there were twenty-seven British bases. The early Parsevals provided top cover for troopships from Dover but carried no armaments. The SS (‘Sea Scout’ or ‘Submarine Scout’) types all carried a Lewis gun and a bomb load. Much later in the war, tests were made to reintroduce rigid airships. One was the R.23, a very different machine from the norm: 535’ long with a gas capacity of 942,000 cu.ft, top speed of 52 mph and ceiling of 3,000’. Successful trials in 1918 air-launched a pair of Sopwith Camels. The crew numbered 17 & had four 100lb bombs. The Vickers employee in charge of the tests was Neville Barnes Wallis.

Kite balloon rising from The City of Oxford

Aeroplanes

In 1912, the first Air Committee Meeting made detailed proposals for aviation strategy; much of this became reality.

“In some cases it may be advantageous to join with the War Office, for instance in procuring land at a place where the Navy and Army both require an Aircraft Station, or in asking the War Office to lend fliers to the Naval Wing; but in general it is considered that Naval Aircraft duties should be undertaken by the Naval Wing of the R.F.C. and be entrusted to no one else.

The purely naval duties of aircraft are principally:-

1.   Distant reconnaissance work with the fleet at sea.
2.   Reconnaissance work off the enemy’s coast, working from detached cruisers or special aeroplane ships.
3.   Assisting destroyers to detect and destroy submarines.
4.   Detecting mine layers at work of mines already laid.
5.   Locating hostile craft in waters which have to be kept clear for our war and merchant vessels.
6.   Assisting submarines in their look out for vessels to attack.
7.   Screening our fleets and harbours from observation by hostile aircraft by attacking the latter.
8.   Preventing attacks on Dockyards, Magazines, Oil Storage Tanks, etc. by hostile aircraft.

It is evident that a large amount of this work will be carried out over waters within 100 miles from our coasts, and it will be necessary to establish a regular chain of stations for naval aircraft along our coasts, within a few hours flight of each other.

These stations will be of assistance to aircraft working with the fleet at sea, as they may at any time be forced to return to shore, or for aircraft to depart from when proceeding to join up with the fleet, also if large Hydro-aeroplanes develop these machines will work solely from coast stations as their bases.

In addition, for the more distant work, aeroplanes will have to work from Battleships, Cruisers or from special aeroplane ships. These latter craft will also transport aeroplanes to the seagoing squadrons and to the aeroplane stations along the coast.”

As the RFC deployed with the BEF, the only home defence was the RNAS. The RFC boasted all of 63 aircraft, compared with the 260 of Germany. At start of war, the RNAS mustered 39 aeroplanes, 52 seaplanes and 7 airships, although statistics vary between sources. In 1913, there were bases at Calshot, the Isle of Grain, Harwich and Yarmouth.

Patrol aircraft were vulnerable to attack by enemy fighters and as the Zeppelin raids increased, aircraft were developed also as fighters, both at sea and defending London. Both the RFC and RNAS undertook significant reorganisation to adapt to the changes in warfare, so Depot Squadrons became Night Training Squadrons and Home Defence squadrons termed ‘service squadrons’ in most of the southern wings. The role of airships was to search for enemy submarines.

Early in 1914, RNAS principal naval air stations were at Eastchurch, Isle of Grain, Felixstowe, Calshot, Yarmouth, Kingsnorth, Farnborough and Fort Laing.

The first bomb to be dropped on the UK fell on Taswell St, Dover on Christmas Eve, 1914, following a harmless, similar visit on 21^st, both by floatplanes. Concerted raids on the UK by Zeppelins were authorised by the Kaiser on 9^th January 1915 - but not on Central London. By 1918, some 9,000 bombs had been dropped, from 51 airships and 52 aeroplanes.

Early trials were made at Eastchurch in 1914 to fit aircraft with wireless transmitters, although it wasn’t until 1917 that these became operational & not fully exploited even then. As the war became more intense, the RNAS became busier with U-boats and in January 1916, the RFC took over responsibility for Home Defence. Additional landing grounds were proposed and categorised:

1^st Class: Landings possible in most directions, on a good surface free of obstacles.

2^nd Class: Landings possible in most directions, but surfaces might be irregular in places and obstacles on some approaches. This could prevent flares being laid in certain positions.

3^rd Class: Landings usually only possible in two directions but were kept on, as they might be the only site in a region. As these were marked by a different number of flares, pilots usually chose them only in an emergency.

An early graduate of the RFC flight school, Louis Strange, began flying combat missions having completed only three and a half-hours of actual flying time. Strange had the idea of attaching the bombs to racks on the wings, and dropping them by pulling a release wire. He successfully tried this out on his BE2c in March of 1915.

The Ranken dart was used from 1916 against airships, but discontinued when aircraft were armed with Lewis and Vickers guns.

Temporary Captain William Leefe Robinson was the first pilot to shoot down an airship, SL11, on 2^nd September 1916. His BE2c had a service ceiling of 10,000’, but he coaxed it to nearly 13,000’ to do so. His very modest account, omitting the flames licking his leather jacket, did nothing to prevent his instant status of hero – and recipient of the VC.

In 1917, Gotha bombers, operating from Belgium, gave increased threat and great loss of life in the south of England. The Zeppelins still threatened the north. Defence meant ‘standing patrols’, expensive on crew and resources. Throughout though, HD was subject to large and small reorganisation, plus rivalries between the RFC and RNAS and then in the formation of the RAF. Nevertheless, by the time of the Armistice, the organisation, particularly of training, was comprehensively addressed. Meanwhile, the toll on the ground, though numerically small in the whole war, had been largely civilian. For the UK population, the 159 attacks from the air had killed 1,412 people and wounded 3,408; one might add the deaths in training and from such events as explosions in munitions factories. It was a bloody defence.

Dawn to Dusk Challenge

Wednesday 24^th May 2017.

This was essentially line-feature navigation. Flying solo, I needed to keep it simple, whilst noting times between what were often clusters of sites of interest.

The Plan

RNAS/RFC/RAF bases, airfields, landing grounds

RNAS/RFC Airship & Balloon stations

Wireless & signal stations

Anti-aircraft batteries

Sound Mirrors

Sites in italics are included out of interest but omitted from the plan due to airspace or distance considerations.

LEG ONE: The Kent Coast

Maypole

Dungeness Coastguard Station – now Birdwatching Centre & reserve within Power Station zone

1 Lydd Dering Farm

Lydd sound mirrors

2 Littlestone/St Mary’s Bay Jesson

3 Dymchurch Palmarsh

4 Lympne

5 Hythe sound mirror

6 Folkestone harbour

7 Capel non-rigid airship station

8 Abbot’s Cliff sound mirror

9 Dover RNAS

Dover Port war signal station

Dover Batteries

Dover Guston Road

Dover Swingate Down

10 Fan Bay sound mirrors

11 Hawksdown, Walmer

12 Sandwich

13 Richborough Broadsalts

14 Cliff’s End AA Battery

15 Manston

16 Joss Bay sound mirrors

17 North Foreland

18 Westgate

19 Birchington wireless station

Maypole 250º 5nm

LEG TWO: Sheppey to Suffolk

Maypole

20 Harty

21 Shellness Beach & Leysdown

22 Warden Point sound mirror

23 Eastchurch wireless station

Eastchurch, marine observers school

24 Fletcher’s Battery

25 Sheerness Barton’s Point Battery

Sheerness

Sheerness, Abermarle Battery, Ravelin battery

Sheerness – Garrison Point Fort radio station, also cottages

Sheerness RNAS Balloon Station

26 Isle of Grain

27 Grain, coastguard cottages

28 Allhallows, Slough Fort signal station

Allhallows

29 Kingsnorth

30 Hoo, Beacon Hill Battery

Hoo, Lodge Hill Battery & Lodge Hill wireless stn

31 Chatham Barrage balloon base

Chatham, Tower Hill

Southend

Shoeburyness RFC early warning

Burnham-on-Crouch

Burnham anti-aircraft battery

32 Stow Maries

33 Osea Island

34 Goldhanger

35 Clacton

36 Harwich, Beacon Fort, anti-aircraft guns on peninsular

Harwich, round redoubt fort

Harwich - Shotley

RNAS Balloon stn

37 Felixstowe

Naval wireless station

38 Orford Ness

39 Aldeburgh

40 Covehithe

Beccles 315º 5nm

LEG THREE: Suffolk to The Wash

Beccles

41 Lowestoft
Lowestoft balloon station
42 Yarmouth South Denes
43 Caister-on-Sea

44 Bacton

45 Hunstanton, Hippisley Hut
Hunstanton
Fenland 260º 15nm

LEG FOUR: Lincolnshire to Yorkshire

Fenland
46 Skegness
47 North Coates Kitties
48 Cleethorpes, New Waltham
49 Killingholme
Killingholme RNAS Balloon Base
50 Hull, Brough

Hull, Hedon

51 Spurn Head

52 Kilnsea battery

Kilnsea sound mirror

53 Withernsea

54 Owthorne

55 Hornsea Mere & Hornsea AA battery
56 Beverley Westwood

Beverley (Linley) 045º 3nm

LEG FIVE: Yorkshire to Northumberland

Beverley (Linley)

57 Atwick
58  Flamborough Head
59  Scarborough Scalby Mills
  Scarborough

60 Boulby sound mirror

61 Marske

62 Redcar sound mirror

Redcar racecourse

Redcar, Kirkleatham mooring out station

63 Seaton Carew 11

Seaton Carew 1

64 Hartlepool sound mirror

65 Seaham, sound mirror

Seaham, signal station

66 Sunderland sound mirror

67 South Shields, Frenchman’s Point wireless station & battery

South Shields

68 Tynemouth Priory

Tynemouth Percy Gardens

Tynemouth Cullercoats

69 Whitley Bay

70 Seahouses

71 Berwick

Eshott 170º 26nm

Colour coding used in the report:

RNAS/RFC/RAF bases, airfields, landing grounds

RNAS/RFC Airship & Balloon stations

Wireless & signal stations

Anti-aircraft batteries

Sound Mirrors

Sites in italics are included out of interest but omitted from the plan as explained in the text.

Leg one: Kent Coast.

Considerations for this leg:

SafetyCom 135.475

Lydd airport closed until 07:30 - check ATIS. 129.225

Status of D040 and D141 from London Info. 124.6

Power station restricted area.

No NOTAMs.

Apart from coastal fog, the forecast was good enough for an early start and I was airborne from Maypole only minutes later than intended. The departure was logged on Flight Radar 24. Lydd was still closed, allowing overflight with regard only to the power station’s restricted zone and the two danger areas. London Info informed me that both were active.

1. Lydd, Dering Farm, 1917-1919. RFC/RNAS aerodrome and emergency NLG.. Nothing remains now of the 60 acres west of the farm, roughly square, developed for aircraft of artillery co-operation flight working with the local range. It was designated a 3^rd class landing ground for No 112 (HD) Squadron.

No 2 Balloon Station was established here, closing in Sep 1918.

Danger Area 044, prevented me from getting a better view from the coast.

Dungeness Coastguard Station & Wireless Station is now a bird observatory within the Power Station restricted area. Coastguard cottages remain, probably forming part of the former Wireless Station, but little else.

Lydd, Denge sound mirrors. The three concrete "listening ears" at Greatstone, designed and built by Percy Rothwell, range in size from 20 to 200 feet in size.

Although constructed from 1928, these are included as they show the three versions, 20ft, 30ft and the ‘wall’. The 30 feet (diameter) mirror, set at a different angle and providing greater accuracy than the 20ft mirror, was built in early 1930. It was no better as to range but it could track an aircraft with greater accuracy. The third mirror is 200 feet in length and 26 feet high, and was built in 1930. Microphones were attached to the curved surfaces and in favourable conditions could pick up the sounds of aircraft up to 24 miles away. To preserve them, they have been made largely inaccessible except on particular days. I would have preferred the more obvious view from the coast, but was already low, slow and as close to the power station’s zone as I dared be.

Lydd area sound mirrors and discs before WW11.

Horizontal discs were operational in 1924, on Romney Marsh. Two lines, three miles apart, were installed, each with ten discs at half mile intervals. Another twelve discs were added later. The discs were made from concrete segments 20ft in diameter and 2” thick.

2. New Romney/Littlestone ELG, St Mary’s Bay.

Initially based at Littlestone, the aerodrome was an odd shape, in two parts effectively, comprising 75 acres on the golf course and Romney Warren, opening in 1917 to house No 3 (Auxiliary) School of Aerial Gunnery and amalgamated with No 1, Dymchurch in 1918, to operate Bristol F2Bs, DH4s, DH9s, RE8s and Avro 504Ks. It is not known how pilots coped with three public roads crossing the aerodrome.

3. Dymchurch (Hythe/Palmarsh) airfield, near Dymchurch redoubt, is now bisected by Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. Aerodrome for No. 1 {Observers} School, Hythe (previously No. 1 Auxiliary RFC Machine Gun School) became the School of Aerial Gunnery. As things grew, the Kite Balloon Section moved to a site near Dymchurch Redoubt, with two balloon sheds and a winch. Aircraft often ended up in the drainage ditches - the field became an emergency landing ground for a/c using the ranges. The No 1 (Observer) School of Aerial Gunnery moved to a better aerodrome at New Romney in March 1918.

Dymchurch, Palmarsh.

The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway (opened 1927) now cuts the field in two. Dymchuch Redoubt was used for accommodation (just visible in the right of my photographs.

Danger Area 141 (above) was open, again preventing a better shot from the coast!

4. Lympne.

Lympne began during 1916 as an emergency landing ground for Hythe gunnery school, which was prone to waterlogging, and Home Defence fighter aircraft. More permanence came with the arrival of No 8 Aircraft Acceptance Park to help deliver machines over the English Channel to the Western Front. Lympne was one of few airfields in Britain to be bombed in both World Wars - Gothas attacked it on 25 May 1917. In that summer, many sorties were flown against the Gothas but to little effect.

BE2c, RE7 Vickers FB5 were stationed here. Lympne was graded as a 1^st class landing ground status in 1918 & is one of the few WW1 airfields that survived as a civil aerodrome, closing in the mid-eighties.

RE7s with towed targets, September 1917.

Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin C3864, March 1918.

69 Squadron with RE8s, arrived August 1917 & left for France two weeks later.

5. Hythe sound mirrors.

The 20′ mirror was built in 1923, but is typical of the earlier mirrors. Landslips caused the abandoned mirror to fall on its face, probably some time in the 1970s. The 30’ mirror, below, is in poor condition and deteriorating further. In Palmarsh village below there are two small, modern mirrors, placed either side of the footbridge over the Royal Military Canal, which can be used to demonstrate the acoustic principles.

30' sound mirror, Hythe.

6. Folkestone Harbour. One of a number of wireless stations for which little is known save the location. It was probably a Y station.

1937 map showing the wireless mast at the station

And early in the morning…

...even less is known.

7. Capel. A non rigid airship station was created hurriedly to meet the need for a strategically placed station against the German declaration on 4^th February 1915 of unrestricted submarine warfare. It commenced with Airships Beta, Delta & Gamma initially. The first of these arrivals was entrusted to Flight Sub-Lieutenant R S Booth who had just completed his basic training; the delivery of the SS1 was his first cross country. Delayed at Kingsnorth, he arrived at dusk, mistook the arrow indicating wind direction for the landing direction and thus approached downwind. The collision with telephone wires tore the envelope and in the subsequent fire, pilot and passenger jumped out on the very edge of the cliff. They incurred minor burns. It could only get better. Assembly of SS airships occurred here and based kite balloons were used for convoy protection. This was the first station to operate the Sea Scout non-rigid airship. By 1915, the site could house eight small airships & by 1918 there were seven SSZ airships (the Z denoting the more comfortable conversion of the gondola car) two twin-engined SSTs.

124 acres: 960 x 780 yards.

Class C Airship Station (with sub-stations at Godmersham Park, Wittersham and Boulogne) for non-rigid airships RNAS/RAF from 1915 to1920.

Contemporary photograph of Capel.

The position of the hangars can be related to the caravan site that now occupies almost the same acreage.

RNAS Capel.

Capel. C23A being released for anti-submarine patrol, 1917.

8. Abbot’s Cliff sound mirror. Completed in 1928 for £600, when WW1 usage still influenced development. This one is notable for having featured on a musical video by Aquilo and an album by Syd Arthur (who?).

The mirror is in reasonable condition, although there is a tree growing in the back.

9. Dover. The Dover area was officially designated a fortress with a garrison of 10,000 men.

Dover RNAS station, Harbour, East Cliff Marine Parade. Seaplane base, two acres, established late in 1914 despite a shortage of a/c, but two Wight navy seaplanes arrived. At first, take off and landing had to be done outside the breakwater as the port was so crowded. A skating rink was requisitioned as a shed for the seaplanes, Short seaplanes followed, more suitable for ops against U-boats. Training and repairs increased the operational activities and by Oct 1915 the base had four Short floatplanes, one FBA flying boat, seven Sopwith Babies, two Schneiders and one White & Thompson floatplane. The Dover fleet assisted with the Zeebrugge raid in 1918, diverting attention away from the naval vessels. The aircraft of the Dover Patrol were important both as a deterrent and as fighters. In just seven months in 1918, the RAF flew 39,109 hours, attacked 189 German submarines, 351 aircraft, destroying 184 of them and damaging a further 151; they also destroyed 32 of the 65 mines they spotted. 15,313 bombs were dropped and they flew 3,441 convoy flights.

The only indication of the site now is the statue of C S Rolls nearby, celebrating his double crossing on the Channel in 1910. Despite having many previous photographs of Dover, on this occasion…

Dover Castle. The Port War Signal Station dates from 1914, constructed above a 1905 fire command post. The Royal Navy could control the movements of all shipping in and out of the harbour using flags and wireless, keeping close liaison with the gunnery control in the room below. The Port War Signal Station is a rare surviving example of a wireless signal and receiving station within a heavily fortified defence landscape. Station call sign: RQW. The WW1 wireless room can be visited.

Almost visible in the fog on the edge of the cliff...so here's one from my album.

Dover anti-aircraft batteries. Guns at Dover Langdon Battery brought down Zeppelin L12 during the night raid of 9-10 August 1915. The raid on London by four of the newest four-engined bombers failed badly; only one got within 35 miles of the city and all were off course or bombed the wrong targets. L12 was caught in searchlights and two gas cells were damaged; hydrogen loss forced her down at Zeebrugge, to be partially salvaged. Dover has one of few remaining QF 3 inch 20 cwt AA guns, restored and demonstrated in summer events. AA gun sites grew throughout the war to include sites at Drop Redoubt and the Citadel, Frith Farm, Fort Burgoyne and on the roof of the Keep at Dover Castle.

The Citadel and Drop Redoubt.

Other guns, such as those on the harbour piers and breakwater, could also be used against enemy aircraft. Later in the war anti-aircraft guns mounted on modified flatbed rail carriages were deployed on the Prince of Wales’ Pier and the Eastern Arm of the harbour. First World War anti-aircraft gun emplacements survive at Fort Burgoyne and a concrete emplacement believed to be for a First World War anti-aircraft gun also survives on Coney Hill.

Coney Hill from the east.

There are many elements remaining from both wars. The much newer Coastguard Station sits on part of the original site of Langdon Battery.

Langdon Battery, now the Coastguard Station.

Langdon Battery, 1901

Dover, Guston Road. Close to the Napoleonic era Burgoyne Heights, the undeveloped part of the site shows marks of buildings. December 1914 brought a detachment of No 2 squadron RNAS, which left for Eastchurch the next month. No 5 Wing RNAS formed at Dover in March 1916 and No 6 in November using Nieuport Scouts. The Dover Defence Flight was designed to protect the harbour operations and there were black BE2s for night work, but more practical fighter scouts weren’t available until 1917. By 1919 No 491 Flight moved to Walmer and Guston Road was effectively closed. Immediately adjacent was an AA gun emplacement.

Guston Road, with the edge of Burgoyne Heights to the left.

Dover, Swingate Down. Both RNAS/RFC – aeroplanes & airships. Squadrons 2,3, 4 & 5 were deployed here but dispatched immediately to France, leaving a breathing space to make a landing ground into a proper airfield. No 15 Squadron arrived in 1915, an unofficial training unit, plus there were anti-Zeppelin patrols in the single BE2c. A Marine Operational Pilots’ School was formed for training in anti-submarine and convoy work using the DH6 and DH9. Squadrons and units were constantly shuffled and by 1918 it was housing two training squadrons. The RAF in 1918 was equipped with 24 Avro 504Ks, 24 Camels and 570 personnel.

RE8s of 13 Reserve Squadron, 1917, Dover.

The hangar bases can be seen just right of centre. the two extant Home Chain masts from WW11 are at the left.

These two Dover sites were within a mile of each other.

Memorial at Swingate Down; another to WW11 aviators is adjacent.

10. Fan Bay sound mirrors. Unlike others, these were built into the cliff. The first dates from 1917 and saw service in the war. The second dates from 1920. The Fan Bay Tunnels were opened in 2015 by the National Trust, after much work by volunteers and I recommend a visit. They also exposed the larger mirror, long buried by spoil dumped in the 1970s, ironically to clean up the area. It appears that the work is continuing.

Early morning fog clearing at Fan Bay sound mirrors.

This was taken more recently and later in the day.

11. Walmer, Hawksdown. The airfield is immediately south of Walmer Castle. In 1917 the aerodrome was established to protect shipping in the Downs by the Walmer Defence Flight, flying a variety of BE2Cs, Bristol Scouts and Sopwith Pups, some fitted with flotation air bags. The Bessonau hangars were subsequently replaced by three wooden aeroplane sheds. No 3 Naval Squadron arrived Nov 1917. Only one success was logged when Canadian Flt Lt H S Kerby flying a Pup spotted the straggler of a Gotha formation and forced it down into the sea. He threw his lifebelt to a member of the crew who was clinging to the tail before returning to Walmer. Experienced pilots, many from abroad, were stationed here as a rest from the stressful conditions in France. A memorial to the 16 who died while stationed there stands on the west side, looking out to sea.

12. Sandwich signal station. The exact spot is unverified, but likely to be on the site of the Coastguard Station.

Since I submitted the report I have found that the wireless station was half a mile further north at a second Coastguard Station, the site now Princes Golf Course clubhouse.

Records in the Marconi archives at the Bodleian includes plans and elevations of the station, which is considerably larger than some others. The site plan shows that there was a Engine House, Operators Hut and accommodation buildings.

'Sandwich Bay wireless station and Shingle End Cottages' - 1912 photograph and now replaced by Princes Golf Course clubhouse.

Sandwich Bay site of the (southern) Coastguard Station.

13. Broadsalts landing ground at Richborough Port, at the Stour River inlet. It was only usable after a circuit to scatter the sheep and the proximity of the wireless mast, plus marshy ground, meant it was never going to be the landing ground of choice.

View from the Stour estuary.

This secret ‘Q’ port, for the transport by barge and later ro-ro ferry, of troops and munitions across the Channel, grew from a small quay in 1916 to a vast 2,000 acre seaport of shipyards, 4 camps (Stonar, Haig, Kitchener and Cowan) with about 14,000 Royal Engineers, including 520 of the Queen Mary’s Auxiliary Army Corps. A cross-Channel ferry service transported locomotives, rolling stock, heavy tanks, guns and troops. 10,000 steel barges were escorted across the Channel by the Dover Patrol. None was lost.

The landing ground was just below centre of the map, to the right of Shipyards 1 & 2.

The port area now, looking west from the estuary.

Amongst many interesting aspects of its history, this one begs inclusion.

Proposals for 58ft High Speed Towing Lighters were made in 1916. The idea was to tow RNAS flying boats nearer to their targets in the North Sea, at 20kts. Sea trials were achieved at 34kts by Commodore Tyrwhitt of the Harwich Flotillas. The lighters were designed to tow two type F2A flying boats, MAUW 11,000lbs, two engines and armed with seven Lewis guns. A suggestion was made to carry a Sopwith Camel on a wooden platform attached to a lighter, which into wind at 30 kts, might take off. Needless to say the first trial, in 1918, ended badly, though Colonel Sampson was rescued. A second attempt under tow of HMS Truculent was successful. This brought about an operational launch on 10^th August, with the Harwich destroyers, towed by HMS Redoubt. Lt Culley attacked a Zeppelin at 19,000’ in the Heligoland Bight; it was the last to be brought down.

The contract to build fifty of the high speed lighters went to the Government Shipyard at Richborough. Nearly eighty years later, one was found to be in use as a ferry at a Thames boatyard and on disposal, acquired for the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovil.

14. Cliff’s End AA battery. I’ve discovered no details, alas, except that the site was also used in WW11. The location is towards the top of the photograph, on higher ground.

15. Joss Gap, sound mirrors. Rarely, these were situated on the cliff.

Joss bay had two sound mirrors, one being a slab; this was cut into the cliff near by the then Castle Keep Hotel; a slight indentation can still be seen near the top of the cliff. Up until a few years ago, the telephone cable blocks were still in place at the site, which had a timber frame.

The first, 15’ mirror was cut out of the chalk before being lined with concrete; it was decommissioned in 1936. The 20’ second mirror, as shown on the previous page, rotated around its gantry fixings. It was decommissioned in 1939. Coastal erosion has completed the task. These mirrors, paired with Fan Bay, provided relatively good coverage. In 1917 – 1918 they were operational in the detection of London-bound enemy raiders about 12-15 miles out, several minutes before being audible to the observers.

A experimental research station was attached to Joss Gap to develop such detection devices and work continued there until it was moved to the Hythe mirror site, in 1922.

North Foreland wireless station. Situated at the lighthouse amidst houses top end of Broadstairs. Behind the lighthouse there was a single mast and a pitched roof wireless station of some linked timber and brick blocks. 1909 data shows the transmitter as a rotary converter and plain spark, power: 3.0kW. Call sign GNF.

17. Manston, developed from a horse gallop, the site started in 1916 with a portable hangar, wooden shed and a windsock, following the need to move from the field at Westgate. The Admiralty selected Manston as one of the main training units for the RNAS and growth was steady. The Army Observers’ School was based here. Aircraft were heavily involved with ‘The First Battle of Britain’ as Gotha attacks began on 25 May 1917. Five ‘underground hangars’ were approved in January 1918, but never finished, not long before the formation of the RAF and the establishment of a three squadron day bomber training unit No 23 TDS. This was soon renamed No 55 TDS and then absorbed by No 219 squadron which had its base and floatplanes at Westgate, plus DH9s and Camels at Manston.

The plan shows the original site, a quarter mile square, before it was extended. The more famous runway, now marked out for about 3,000 lorries for Operation Stack, is largely out of site to the left of the photograph, which looks west.

Detailed accounts of raids on Ramsgate (‘England’s most bombed town’) from 1919 mention more comprehensive coastal defences on the cliffs that met the height of the raids in Autumn of 1917. Royal Artillery records mention Independent Batteries of 414 (Sandwich) and 415 (Ramsgate) that may have operated additional mobile units.

18. Westgate, St Mildred’s Bay. Westgate comprised both a seaplane base and land base above on the cliff as a landing ground. Hangars were situated where the road bends around more modern housing.

St Mildred’s Hotel on the cliff (now flats at centre of photograph below), was requisitioned for personnel and as a recreational centre. Prevailing winds meant many landings were made towards the sea, the shortest run available. On 24 March 1916 the Bristol Scout 3023 flown by Flight Sub-Lieut. Richard Bush landed too long and fell off the cliff into the sea. Also very susceptible to storm damage, the small airfield was seen as the scene of many a potential accident and the decision to move the landplanes inland was made, leading to the development of Manston. Both wide slipways remain. There was also a wireless station, which might have been the Direction Finding Station installed by the Engineering Department of the GPO.

The marine base had a more illustrious war. Sopwith Schneider fighters tried to intercept airships & the reliable Short 184 seaplanes flew patrols but needed protection themselves when attacked; the Camel escorts were not particularly successful. Bristol Scouts were intended to protect the Thames estuary, particularly Chatham & Sheerness.

Westgate.

Aircraft from Westgate had some notable incidents, not least the seaplane Short 3072 which was looking for Sopwith N1065, the latter having landed out in the estuary to the NW. Engine problems left no choice but to land out near Kentish Knock. Flt Sub-Lieut H Morris and Air Mechanic G L Wright did not know this was a mine field. They released both pigeons carrying brief details of their state and waited for rescue. In deteriorating conditions, they clung to the two upturned floats. It was five days before flying boat H12 happened on them, alighted on a rough sea and got them aboard. The landing had caused damage and the best they could manage, after attempts at overloaded take-off in difficult conditions, was to use what power remained to taxy towards land, over a minefield. Signals to patrol vessels produced no help & it was hours later when the tramp steamer Orient took the survivors. The flying boat was towed ashore by another steamer. Morris received the DSC and Wright, the DCM. I wonder where the pigeons went.

Westgate in December, 1918.

19. Birchington / St Nicholas at Wade Wireless Station.

The crew here comprised one Chief Petty Officer, three POs and one Messenger Boy. Amateurs with a good knowledge of wireless were absorbed into their nearest stations and given Royal Navy Reserve ranks. Nothing remains.

Little to identify a possible site: the ground is all fairly level, too.

My first stop for refuelling was planned to be back at Maypole, as it was too early

to guarantee fuel further along the route. It was also a chance to obtain TAFs and METARs, the early ones having been limited.

06:18 – 07:43

Flight time 1hr 25min

79 nm

Fuel added: 24 ltr

Leg two: Sheppey to Suffolk

Considerations for this flight:

Zone transit required from Southend Radar for Allhallows and to Stow Maries. Early contact to reassure them of my benign, if apparently bizarre, low level route towards Beccles.

Bird sanctuary Orford Ness

Sizewell B

Southend 130.775

Beccles 120.375

I departed from Maypole, into a light NW wind, with the need to contact Southend high on my list of priorities. A short part of my route required a zone transit (Isle of Grain & All Hallows) and I suspected they might also be glad to know that the low level wiggling around Sheppey and Hoo was not going to develop into any thing more interesting for them. I quite enjoyed summarising my route when I called. A future in station announcements is not ruled out.

20. Sheppey, Harty. 3^rd class landing ground of 500yds. There’s no evidence that this rather marshy ELG, for 50 (HD) Squadron and 143 (HD) Squadron, saw any use.

21. Shellness Beach/Leysdown
In 1908, the Short Bros Co. was set up, contracted to build six Wright Flyers for the aero club & a glider for Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls. Short Biplanes became the main business, with growth and a move to Eastchurch, where the history has became well-documented. An Aeroclub was meanwhile formed at Leysdown 0.5m away. Additionally Charles S Rolls used another site nearby for his Wright glider, whilst awaiting his Short-Wright Flyer to be completed. With a good claim to be the first Aerodrome in Britain, Leysdown was used as an emergency landing ground until 1917 when it was developed as a 115 acre site, still with a dog-leg. Aircraft of the Gunnery School were moved in from Eastchurch and the unit became the – deep breath - Pilots & Observers Aerial Gunnery and Aerial Fighting School (SE Area), using Avro 504Ks & DH4/9s.

Memorial to the Short Brothers, Shellness Beach

Location of the 1909 flying field.

Shellness Beach.

Leysdown.

22. Warden Point sound mirror is widely believed to be one of the earlier constructions and thus operational in the war. Until the late 1970s, it was up on its more lofty site with today’s caravans, but coastal erosion has left both the mirror and the remains of the adjoining WW2 Chain Home Low Station, on the shore, to be further abraded by the sea.

23. Eastchurch.

Eastchurch Wireless Experimental Station, was operational until 1916. Work here led directly to RNAS aircraft Observers using wireless to direct guns on the ground from 1917.

Eastchurch. The airfield housed the naval wing of the RFC & the RNAS and was a major training station, particularly for fleet reconnaissance & submarine patrol observers. The first functional bombsights were trialled here in 1913 and the initial intake of RN pilots began their training at Eastchurch.

Under Wing Commander Samson, in August 1914 the Order of Battle was:

“Short S34 Pusher biplane trainer No 1

BE2a (two) - 70hp Renault No 49 & 50

Henry Farman No 188

Sopwith Tractor biplane - 80hp Gnome No 104

Bristol TB8 - 70hp Renault No 43

Short S41 tractor seaplane No 10

DFW Tractor biplane – 100hp Mercedes No 154

Short S38 nacelle-type biplane – 50hp Gnome No 34

Short S28 biplane gun machine – 80hp Gnome No 66

Maurice Farnham S7 Longhorn – 70hp Gnome No 146

Deperdussin monoplane – 70hp Gnome No 7

Short S28 Trainee – 80hp Gnome No 2

Caudron G111 biplane – 50hp Gnome No 45

6 monoplanes from RFC No 6 Squadron with two to arrive

10 plus 4 RFC Officers from the Central Flying School

The defence of Chatham and Sheerness from attacks by hostile aircraft

Communications: to Central Office by telephone and motor car

W/T station with a range of 40 miles

Offensive weapons for aircraft: 28 Hales grenades, 26 x 30lb bombs, Maxim gun in No 10 aircraft, Lewis gun in No 66 aircraft”.

Churchill flew in control of a Short Sommer pusher biplane here, in 1913, for 45 minutes. By the time he was dissuaded from continuing his training, allegedly by his wife, he had acquired diverse experience.

The last vestiges of the airfield buildings appear to have been removed, although they were visible until recently on the site of the open prison, between the two windmills.

The site is somewhat further inland than my self-imposed remit allowed, but Sheppey being the “birthplace of British aviation” it couldn’t be ignored. I compromised by planning to take a passing photograph.

24. Fletcher’s Battery. The battery was equipped with two 9.2” BL guns and an Observation Post for DPF, which is now used as a café in the caravan site. Fletcher was one of few purpose built batteries in WW1.

Fltcher Battery on the north coast of Sheppey.

25. Sheerness.

Barton’s Point is the first of the batteries with AA guns: 2 six-pound Hotchkiss and a 3” gun.

Sheerness landing ground. Established by the RFC in 1917 for No 37 squadron as a NLG, the 1,200’ long airfield was also a day landing ground from 1918. The site is now an academy.

Sheerness Wireless Station at Ravelin Battery used Marconi equipment and the call sign was VFM.

Ravelin Battery then...

...an now.

Sheerness, Garrison Point Abermarle Battery had four guns. The garrison also housed two QF one pound Pom Pom AA guns, which were used again in WW11.

Garrison Point Fort, wireless station. The station was a ground receiving station for wireless-equipped aircraft.

Wireless station, marked by the white cylindrical structure.

The extensive defences of Sheerness were largely destroyed in recent years, despite having unique historical and architectural importance.

Sheerness, RNAS Balloon Base.

RNAS No 1 Balloon Base was equipped mostly with Caquot Type M balloons, with three stabilisers, set at 120º to each other, allowing use in winds of up to 62 mph.

26. Grain. RNAS initiated the first station here in 1912. By August 1914, it was one of the largest seaplane bases in the country, employing over 800 workers. The island was strategically important for the defence of London, Sheerness and Chatham and the Admiralty oil tanks on the island. Initially, the patrols were along the Thames estuary and part of the English Channel out to the North Hinder and Galloper lightships. This grew to escorting the BEF troopships to France. The station covered a substantial part of the foreshore with a slipway cut through the sea wall. Coastguard cottages were taken over on the understanding that the Navy performed the coastguard duties. Rough fields were added to form an aerodrome as front-line operations were overtaken by the need to support the Westgate and Clacton bases with reserve Short & Sopwith seaplanes.

1n 1915 a new unit was developed close by, to the SW and named Port Victoria. The Repair Depot had previously been housed in a building that had been moved to the island. It had once been a Salvation Army Congress Hall. TQ 886743

The Experimental Armament Section & the Seaplane Test Flight followed. Expansion continued as the station’s work evolved. Landing trials for Sopwith Pups and Strutters were carried out on a 200ft diameter dummy deck, trialing arrester wires (the dummy deck is just visible in the extreme top right corner of the photograph above). The Experimental Construction Depot was modifying a Sopwith Baby, as the PV1; the PV2 was a rather unstable anti-Zeppelin fighter, the PV3 a two-seat pusher land-plane and the PV4 an unsuccessful seaplane version. Diverse other designs were produced, such as the not very successful PV7 Grain Kitten. The Armament Section was busy evaluating a range of equipment, including the Rankin anti-explosive dart. Flight tests were made with flotation bags, hydrovanes, catapults, W/T sets and hydrophones. Personnel on the station grew to nearly 1,500.

Grain seaplane station was renamed Marine Experimental Establishment in 1918 by the newly formed RAF and tasked to test fly all new seaplanes.

AA batteries were sited near the aircraft hangars and north of the fuel depot.

RNAS Grain - the SE quarter of my photograph.

27. Grain, wireless station, opposite Sheerness. The wireless station was based in the coastguard cottages, now amidst newer housing. This station was equipped to receive from wireless equipped aircraft. The flagstaff was to the east of the small end cottage, now a detached house.

Then...

...and now.

28. Allhallows, Slough Fort. The Napoleonic fort was used as a Battery Command Post, in conjunction with a Port War Signal Station to its east, monitoring Thames shipping.

The fort is now in the middle of a caravan holiday park. My photograph failed, for reasons unknown, much to my chagrin.

Allhallows - Third class landing ground 1916-35, used by No 143 Squadron.

29. Kingsnorth RNAS Grain

The site was 570 acres, some 2566 x 1700 yards. The Class G Airship Station was established for the construction and assembly of non-rigid airships, existing 1914 to 1920. Kingsnorth was the first & most important RNAS station for airships. From 10th Aug 1914, Naval Airship No 4, Parseval operated from here, to be joined by other Parsevals, three used for training, all built by Vickers under licence. The SS type, (Submarine Scout) was developed here, a large part being played by the C/O, Wing Commander. N F Usborne; the Admiralty ordered fifty. The training role was vital and by the end of 1915, 36 pilots had been rated Captain and many others trained in maintenance and handling. Training was handed over to Cranwell at the end of 1916 so the station could concentrate on design and development as well as construction and repair work.

Experiments with a combination of airship and BE2c were made here in 1915-6, only the aeroplane being manned. It would cruise until a Zeppelin was seen, then separate to allow the BE2c to attack while the envelope deflated and fell to earth. Trials were made without drops, but in 1916 the combination, with two on board, took off. From the Kent History Forum: “At about 4000 feet the BE2c (989) was seen to side-slip away from the envelope and flip over, throwing out Ireland, who fell into the Medway and was killed. The aeroplane, out of control, then crashed in Strood station goods yard, killing Usborne. The airship envelope had exceeded its equilibrium height, causing a loss of pressure which cause the premature release of the forward suspension. As the aeroplane nose fell the rear suspension failed. As the aeroplane fell away its controls were damaged making recovery impossible. The Admiralty banned further experiments and the completed AP-2 never flew.”

The map shows another AA battery at Kingsnorth, although I have found no further detail.

The remains of surrendered captured UB122 lies in the mud off Stoke Saltings, west of Humble Bee Creek (close to Kingsnorth). This was one of several that sank on its way to be broken up in 1921. UB122 carried up to 33 men, 10 torpedoes and a 3.46” deck gun. Surface speed 13.9kt, 7.6kt submerged.

30. Hoo. Multiple AA Batteries. Beacon Hill, as a sample.

Built in 1913 or early 1914, both Beacon Hill and Lodge Hill were the first to be armed as AA batteries, at first with conventional 6” breech-loaded Howitzers on improvised mountings. Purpose-built guns replaced them and became the model for all further AA guns: a one-pounder Pom Pom and one 3” gun, augmented in 1916 by two 3” 20cwt guns. Ten AA batteries were in place by 1916. They saw action on Christmas Day 1914 when a German bomber was pursued on its return from London by a fighter, which created the first dogfight over Kent. An 18lb bomb was dropped on Cliffe.

Lodge Hill (Kent History Forum)

Lodge Hill was home also to a wireless station.

Other batteries protected strategic sites as shown on the map.

Chatham’s naval importance was evident throughout. After the first Gotha night attack on London in 1917, Major General Ashmore devised the deployment of barrage balloons to protect London.

31. Chatham, barrage balloon base also protected The Royal Docks at Chatham. Some were used to hoist a ‘net’ between them – a steel cable, with other cables hanging from it, up to the ceiling of the bombers – over 14,000’. London was eventually protected by 50 miles of barrage balloons, not enjoyed by German pilots.

Tower Hill Battery, Upnor, opposite Chatham.

Chatham, with Tower Hill towards the far end of the peninsula.

Lightships and buoys, English Channel and North Sea.

Pre-planning indicated a five-two chance of the Shoeburyness danger areas being hot and zone transits at Southend tend to be higher than the lower level I’d like for this exercise, so a decision was made beforehand to take the western route and include Stow Maries, Osea Island and Goldhanger, rather than the true coastal course. These are the alternative sites on the coast.

Southend Rochford. RNAS/RFC Rochford opened as training airfield for RFC May1915 & to attempt to intercept German raids on London. Decommissioned 1919, it re-opened 1935. 198 Depot Squadron trained night fighters . The site occupied the same area as the existing airport.

Shoeburyness RFC Early Warning Station. RFC 37 Squadron. Call sign BY.

Burnham-on-Crouch, a 1^st class landing ground, was established as a night station in 1915 at Wick Road an land adjoining Wick Farm. Initially the airfield was used by RNAS with two Bristol TB8 biplanes but in 1916 the airfield was taken over the RFC who extended the site. The airfield was the base for No 37 (HD) Squadron in 50th Wing. Life at the base was hard, the camps rudimentary and as the ground was low and marshy, the airfield was abandoned after little use.

The most exciting events occurred when aircraft from other stations used the site for emergency night landings.

Burnham, Dengie 100. By the end of 1914-15 there were anti-aircraft emplacements on the marsh, plus the Burnham Battery, Riverside Road.

32. Stow Maries RFC.

Home to No 37 Squadron, B flight, Stow Maries is the jewel in the crown of surviving aerodromes. A flight arrived in the summer of 1917. Capt Ridley & Lieut Keddie flew BE12as on the night of 23-4^th May 1917, when Zeppelins L40, L42, L44 & L47 again chose a poor night to attack. In and out of cloud, with engine problems, Keddie chased one he’d seen at 7000’ off the coast at Harwich when patrolling Blackwater to Harwich, but had to land at Covehithe. L44 had major engine problems also and was drifting off the East Coast. It was an unsatisfactory night for all concerned.

Also, the BEs’ performance was unable to match that of the mighty Gothas. On 25^th May, a formation of Gothas flew overhead Stow Maries, as if unconcerned about the puny machines based below them. Claude Ridley wrote: “It seems a great pity that scouts cannot be supplied to flights for this purpose, as the BE12a climbs so very poorly and is so very slow at a height in comparison with a good machine. It takes a long time to reach 14,000ft and at this height there is no reserve of power, which seems absolutely useless when it comes to attacking first-class German machines. If I had been flying a fast scout I am almost certain that I should not have had the slightest difficulty of coming into contact with the hostile formation. If the Germans make a practice of coming over as they did today it seems hardly fair to expect pilots on BE12as to gain satisfactory results.” Other flight commanders expressed similar discontent.

The aerodrome goes from strength to strength now, much loved by those of us who can fly in.

Stow Maries today.

33. Osea Island RNAS. The base occupied the west side of the island. In tight security, a Royal Navy team tested a two man Seagull seaplane, but it was not deemed successful.

By 1917, Osea Island was a base for coastal torpedo patrol boats, often used to chase submarines.

34. Goldhanger. Of the trio of Rochford, Stow Maries and Goldhanger, the last airfield was the busiest, taking half of the action. Manning was not proportionate:

No 37 Sqn arrived in Sep 1916 and stayed until the Armistice; No 74 Sqn had five days there 1918 when it was equipped with SE5a prior to going to St Omer. The mostly wooden buildings were sold in the 1920s, two hangars being bought by Crittals, whose windows were replicated more recently at Stow Maries in the restoration of the buildings.

Major Mick Manus flew his squadron into the airfield in March 1918, en route to Ypres. They left after three days, following an evening in the Chequers Inn that he recorded as the only noteworthy incident.

The two large fields indicate Goldhanger airfield, SW of the village and north of River Blackwater. Osea Island is immediately to the south.

Major Mick Manus

35. Clacton RNAS. There is no confirmed site for the seaplane base, thought to be near the pier and landing stage. Just prior to the war, Churchill, who was training in a floatplane, had an engine failure nearby and force landed at Clacton, commemorated by a plaque in one of the seafront gardens. His passion for aviation (and all science) influenced events for many years to come. Operations here were from 1914-6.

Churchill in training.

36. Harwich, Beacon Fort. Anti-aircraft guns were placed on the Harwich peninsular, utilising the old Harwich Redoubt. It was a large, important battery.

The 1917 Gotha attacks, by now made in formations, were far more successful than when solo, but now changed operations on the ground by the AA guns managed to break up the formations and force the Gothas to seek the safety of height.

Harwich, wireless station. Situated at the army garrison round redoubt, it was designated an Early Warning Station.

Harwich, Naval wireless station. The rather isolated cottage survives, south of Shotley village, on the peninsular between River Stour & River Orwell, opposite Harwich port. It epitomises Marconi’s work with the Admiralty and wireless amateurs.

Shotley Point RNAS Kite Balloon Station. A Royal Naval Training base before the war, the station had four canvas balloon hangars. The Gotha raids of summer 1917 had modest success here, such as that on 4^th July, when, although most of the bombs fell into the sea, four naval ratings were killed at Shotley Point. The mistaken assumption that the Gothas were heading for London delayed the order to get the home defence aircraft airborne.

Shotley Point.

37. RNAS Felixstowe. Immediately opposite Harwich peninsular, now by the container port, was Landguard Fort, another vital defence station. In 1912, Harwich saw the first aeroplane v submarine trials, with wireless. The War Office failed to see the potential of R&D and did little to capitalise on the trials here or at Eastchurch. The Admiralty certainly started the war at an advantage over the RFC.

The seaplane carrier HMS Vindex carried two Bristol Scouts, which took off from a short makeshift runway on the forward deck as the vessel steamed at full speed into wind. Floatplanes were more robust, the hulls being more seaworthy than the floats of the seaplanes and somewhat less susceptible to the problems of recovery in choppy seas. They could also carry more fuel and a heavier bomb load. Success came later with the adoption in April 1917 of the ‘Spider’s Web’ patrols, centred on the North Hinder Light Vessel. Using the wireless signals of the U-boats, which were picked up from Hunstanton, Lowestoft & Birchington, the 24 segments of the ‘web’ could be patrolled relatively efficiently.

Gotha

A large raid on Harwich & Felixstowe on 22^nd July 1917 by 21 Gothas were met by around 122 aircraft in total and seven AA batteries, under Harwich command, which forced them to break into two groups. Fifty five bombs were dropped in the area. Felixstowe engineers’ workshop was hit by a 50kg bomb that killed one and injured three.

In response to losses to the newer German seaplanes, range was increased by using submersible lighters on which the flying boats could be towed. The lighters’ hulls were designed to minimise the bow wave and hollow tanks along the side allowed the lighters to be flooded and the aircraft floated in. Compressed air tanks then blew out the water and both lighter and flying boat could be towed. The aim was to target more Zeppelins – the ‘eyes’ of the Germans – and be of more general nuisance value in the Heligoland Bight.

F2A with dazzle scheme adopted late in the war

RNAS Felixstowe.

Felixstowe Air Station was well situated to attack U-boats.

Felixstowe, naval wireless station. On the coast here, to the east of the fort, the station had the call sign SCQ. The fort is now a museum.

38. Orford Ness. Set on marshland SE of the River Alde, the station shows just a few remaining buildings of this period of its existence. Most of the buildings are newer, particularly relating to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.

There is one building in use continuously since then, now used as a motor shed by the National Trust. The RFC Officers’ Mess is a Grade 11 listed building. To protect the land from flooding, a large Chinese labour force was drafted in to build a seawall.

RFC Barracks - photo Historic England

Bomb Store - photo Historic England

In 1915, the Armament and Experimental Flight of the Royal Flying Corps was transferred to Orford Ness. The name changed later to the Aircraft Armament and Gunnery Experimental Establishment. A vast number of ideas were designed and tested here and by 1918 there were over 600 personnel living on site.

Here could be found tests on oxygen masks, electrically heated suits, aerial photography, navigation, night flying (leading to the revolutionary step of illuminating the instruments), quick release straps, bomb release mechanisms, dive bombing, armoured planes and self sealing fuel tanks. An official inspection in October 1916 found trials being done on aerial use of machine guns, phosphorous bombs for attacking Zeppelins, high explosive bombs, gun sights, hydraulic timing gear for guns and the production of artificial clouds. Donald Bremner, who served with the Royal Navy Air Service at Orford Ness, recalled building home-made depth charges. "We used to make our own bombs by filling cocoa tins with TNT. To see an Oxford professor filling these tins, melting the high explosive on a primus stove, very often knocking his pipe out on the side of the tin, smoking all the time, it was

always a little frightening".

Parachutes were forbidden for pilots, but used for delivering homing pigeons.

Orford Ness, taken from the west, due to the proximity of the bird sanctuary to which I gave a possibly over wide berth. I should have got closer.

39. Aldeburgh, Hazlewood Aerodrome. Hazlewood was designated a NLG for Yarmouth. Fighter aircraft occasionally took off from the grass airfield in response to Zeppelin raids. The Anti-Submarine Inshore Patrol Observers School then formed here in August 1918 after redevelopment work had taken place which extended the boundary to the north and west, land to the south-west being used for administrative and domestic buildings. The airfield became one of the few bases for one of the first reliable and effective anti-submarine patrol aircraft, the Blackburn Kangaroo. Aircraft such as the Royal Aircraft Factory BE2 and Airco DH6 also flew from Aldeburgh for varying lengths of time. Pilots are said to have used the bunkers of the nearby golf course to locate the airfield that was also circled by a chalk ring, 50 yards in diameter and two yards wide.

Aldeburgh - fields above the road.

40. Covehithe landing ground was a satellite station for RNAS Yarmouth. The airfield, covering 82 acres and equipped with searchlights and paraffin lights for night landing, was used for anti-Zeppelin patrols by No 73 Wing. In 1918 the station was transferred to 273 Squadron of No 4 Group RAF, which flew DH9, DH4 and Sopwith Camel aircraft from the site.

DH9

Covehithe, clearly designated by current usage.

By 1918, increased shipping losses to U-boats led to 200 surplus DH6 training aircraft to be deployed from coastal landing grounds, including Covehithe and Aldeburgh.

From Covehithe, it was a short, direct flight to Beccles for aeroplane and crew refuelling, in a morning rapidly developing into a warm and sunny day.

08:15 - 10:15

Flight time 2hr 0min

130 nm

Fuel added: 36.20 ltr

Leg three: Suffolk to The Wash

Considerations for this flight:

Norwich airspace

Fenland Radio: 122.925 MHz

41. Lowestoft, wireless station. The site is debated of this ‘Captain Round’ wireless station, but officially it is as marked and shown below, on higher ground. Possibly more logically it might have been near the lighthouse and cable office. The layout was typical of the WW1 new structures: Station A1 – two wooden buildings 26’ x 12’ with 5 masts, Station A2 – smaller, at 14’ x 10’ with 1 mast. Station F1 – two buildings 52’ x 12’ and 5 x 180’ box masts Station F2 – 90’ x 12’m cabin with 90’ mast. Windows and shutters were also specified. Ancillary buildings included an engine house, a small guardroom with ten bunks, battery house, sentry boxes, dugouts, tents and latrines.

Just about at the centre, above, in the wooded area between hosing estates.

AAC tlephone headset in use to communicate with an observation balloon.

Lowestoft, RNAS Kite Balloon Station and also a designated NLG.

From 1917 two balloons were housed in canvas hangars, 100’ x 36’. Redesignated 7 Balloon Base in 1918 on formation of RAF, the base closed in 1919. Balloons could be embarked in calm weather.

RNAS Kite Balloon Station, on the northern side of Hamilton Dock.

42. Yarmouth South Denes RNAS Anti-submarine patrol station.

Nos. 212, 228 & 229 Squadrons were based here in August 1918.

Industrial activity has removed all trace of the airfield.

In May 1916 Flt Lt Cadbury, a very experienced pilot, rated their first Pup as a night fighter: “…it was a pretty rotten flying on an unstable fast machine in the dark.”

On 5^th August 1918, now Major Egbert Cadbury, with Lt R E Keys attacked and destroyed L70 in the last airship raid, Cadbury’s Observer Robert Leckie firing the successful shots. They were flying modified DH4s, Cadbury’s carrying two 100lb bombs which he jettisoned after take off, although apparently it did not improve the aircraft’s performance. The ‘mod’ put the pilot and observer closer together in an effort to improve communications, although they did have a Gosport tube which was of no use in combat. In the DH4, they were separated by the fuel tank. The DH4 had a RR Eagle engine, well regarded for speed and altitude and a forward mounted Vickers with a Lewis gun in the rear. After the war, Edgar Cadbury returned to the chocolate factory and Leckie became an Air Marshall of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

43. Caister-on-Sea Wireless Station. The Caister station was set up in an existing building in the High Street and communicated with ships in the North Sea and the Cross Sand lightship. Call sign GCS, 1.5kW, wavelength 300m. On 9^th February 1916 the station intercepted transmissions that gave the first signs of activity, but soon after two floatplanes appeared over Lowestoft to drop 19 bombs from 5-6,000’. Aircraft from Yarmouth were not airborne until 35mins after the alert and met nothing on their patrol but enthusiastic fire from the AA guns as they returned.

The building on the corner has been a pharmacy since the earlier postcard shown above, although the Co-op iteration of the present is almost unrecognisable (bottom centre of my photograph). The area of the mast site occupied the area behind.

44. Bacton landing ground. Operational from 1915 to 1919. A detachment of 273 Squadron RAF was here in 1918, flying DH4s, DH9s and Sopwith Camels (for escort duties).

Bacton, looking north.

Airco DH4

An airship station was proposed and planned for Cromer but only half the funding for the shed was provided in 1914-5 and nothing came of it.

45. Hunstanton, wireless stations. ‘Y’ and ‘B’ stations were located locally.

Hippisley Hut.

In late 1914, wireless amateurs Richard Bayntun and Russell Clarke were sent to Hunstanton to set up a listening post in a former coastguard station in what became known as ‘Hippisley’s Hut’, a wooden house now offering B&B. Their previous work had been well received by the Admiralty and their work here was very useful. They station intercepted signals from German ships and airships, work that led to the creation of 14 ‘Y’ stations along the coast. By 1917, intelligence and signals were enabling far more attacks on U-boats and airships and by 1918, ‘SIGINT’ had complete control of the airwaves. For this and other service, Bayntun was awarded an OBE (military) in 1918, which was later promoted to a CBE (civil).

The importance of his contribution was summarised in The Times by William Rees-Mogg in 1995:

“In Somerset we believe that Bayntun Hippisley personally won the First World War. He came from a family with an engineering and scientific talent; his grandfather had been a Fellow of the Royal Society. Bayntun was an early pioneer of radio research; in 1913 he was appointed a member of the Parliamentary Commission of Wireless for the Army . When war broke out in 1914 he joined Naval Intelligence and was made a commander. He was the man who solved the problem of listening to U-boats when they were talking to each on the radio by devising a double-tuning device, which simultaneously identified the waveband and precise wavelength. That, it is said, was essential to clearing the Western Approaches in late 1917, when American troops were coming over. Bayntun Hippisley sat in Goonhilly listening to the U-boat captains as they chatted happily to each other in clear German; he told the destroyers where to find them; the food and the Americans got through.”

Hunstanton Wireless Station.

Hunstanton’s wireless direction-finding station (B station), call sign HNU, was used to locate the position of German naval vessels and airships by triangulating their wireless signals. Signals intelligence gave Room 40 and Hunstanton vital warnings about German movements that became the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and the First Blitz by Zeppelins. Somehow, the Germans were persuaded that information came from other sources and continued to send unencrypted messages.

Temporary wireless direction-finding station on the cliffs, Hunstanton, c. 1915.

Hunstanton in 1920. The square, brick building on the north of the same field was the power station.

11:20 – 12:55

Flight Time 1hr 35min

92 nm

Fuel 27.28 ltr

Leg four: Lincolnshire

Considerations for this flight:

Donna Nook/NOTAM area.

Bird sanctuary Gibraltar Point.

Humberside ATIS 124.125 Approach 119.125

Beverley Radio: 123.05

Beverley Racecourse, then NE to Beverley Linley – the racecourse added since I submitted my route outline.

The break at Fenland was valuable, but with still about half the distance to cover I couldn’t relax too long. The light wind continued to behave in coastal fashion and I was now approaching largely unfamiliar territory, so complacency about the progress thus far wasn’t an option. The Champ’s fuel gauge, as used on the Ford model A, had started to misread, which wasn’t a particular problem - G-TECC has a custom-made, etched wooden stick that forms part of the essential equipment - but it was rather distracting.

46. Skegness RNAS. The RNAS station at Killingholme (Immingham) replaced this temporary station by August 1914.

DFW Biplane, based at Eastchurch, after a forced landing at Jenning’s Farm, near Donna Nook

47. North Coates Fitties. Fitties was opened as an intermittent grass landing ground in 1916–18 on the site of a 1914 army camp, becoming fully operational in 1918–19 for anti-submarine patrols & night landings. BE2s, FE2s, Bristol F2B Fighters were used until replaced in June 1918 by Avro 504 for night fighter operations.

FE2

After many years, North Coates has returned to its grass roots. There is a small museum on site, largely concerning the airfield’s use in WW11.

48. Cleethorpes Waltham Wireless Station & AA batteries

The wireless station was situated at Peaks Lane, New Waltham, now amidst inter-war and post-war housing.

Peaks Lane leads off to the right. The shops were once a post office, which would have been the logical site.

On the night of 6/7^th June 1915, airship L9, commanded by Kptlt H Mathy, probably the most experienced pilot of the German Navy, was reported off Cromer at 8.25 p.m., arriving over Hull about 11.45 where the bombardment lasted about twenty minutes, causing considerable damage. It was fired on by HMS Adventure without apparent effect and then steered down river. The L9 proceeded in a curve 6,000 yards from Killingholme at 12.15am and then flew between Sunk Island, which opened fire with Maxims at 12.20 am, and Immingham, which fired six rounds, again from 3,000 yards. Stallingborough also opened fire with Maxims at 12.20. The Zeppelin passed through the north of Grimsby, dropping bombs, turned left to pass Waltham Wireless Station where anti-aircraft guns fired eleven rounds from 3,000 yards, and flew south of Spurn. There were ships and stores in Immingham basin, oil tanks at Killingholme and a high power W/T station at Cleethorpes. These were left unmolested because of the risk of defensive measures. The attack was confined to relatively undefended areas of Grimsby and Hull: residential areas. In addition, the Zeppelin kept out of sight of Killingholme and Immingham and crossed below Immingham at about 2,000’. Fog prevented the aeroplanes at Killingholme taking off. It was last seen from Donna Nook War Signal Station making to the southeast over the sea at 12.40 am. Mathy’s toll was 24 killed, 40 injured. Public outcry at inadequate defences included serious rioting in Hull.

49. Killingholme. Originally called Immingham but probably changed to avoid confusion with the navy-operated balloon station, the seaplane base and airfield was at the northern end of Killingholme marshes, constructed in August 1914 to replace the Naval Air Station at Skegness. The first anti-Zeppelin missions were flown from here in Sopwith Scouts.

Sopwith Schneider

Submarine patrols, protecting the Admiralty oil depot, ports & Zeppelin interception ensured growth into a large, major station, despite strong tides on the Humber making it less than ideal a site. In excess of 100 personnel and 100 aircraft were on site, from the Sopwith Baby and Schneider to a variety of Avro machines by 1918. The US Navy took over in July 1918, operating Short seaplanes and the Curtiss H-16, a twin-engined biplane. 18 Group based their land-planes here.

Grimsby Bus Depot (photo- Geograph)

Post-war, the Grimsby Bus Depot was built from Killingholme hangars; the 1925 facade remains today.

Curtis - or Felixstowe variant - at Killingholme. They were indistinguishable.

The site of both RFC and RNAS stations, equally large as this at their peak. Only one of the several slipways remains.

One slipway is still visible, north of the jetty and the deep water berths for oil tankers.

Killingholme, RNAS Immingham. No 8 Kite Balloon station. At the same location, tethered kite balloons were trailed from convoy escort ships, taking observers in a wicker basket to around 3,000 ft to watch for sea mines, torpedo tracks, Zeppelins and U-boats. In addition to the primary ballooning role, a limited number of airship operations were made.

Two balloon hangars, Immingham. Gas bottles at the right.

50. Hull, Brough. The airfield is famous for being the base for Blackburn. After a few seaplane examples, it produced the Kangaroo.

The Kangaroo entered service in 1918, with RAF 246 squadron, at Seaton Carew.

Brough became No 2 (Northern) Marine Acceptance Depot, dealing with most of the RNAS floatplanes. Brough was (allegedly) chosen because of the close proximity of two pubs. A slipway was built on the west wide of the landing area.

After the Armistice and the absence of orders for military aircraft, Blackburn’s name survived, thanks to the determination of the directors.

Brough, looking west. The airfield occupied most of the land tothe south of the existing runway.

Hull, Hedon was a 2^nd class landing ground and used a little by BE2Cs of RFC 33 Squadron. The land was not well drained. The strong thermals around Hull did nothing for my photography; this is the best of the bunch!

Hedon in 1930.

51. Spurn Head. Extensive defences filled the area: Spurn Fort incorporated Godwin Battery, Green Battery, the Light Permanent and Light Temporary Batteries, built 1915-6, not least because of the outcry following raids on Hull in 1915: a RFC vehicle was stoned and an officer attacked in Beverley.

Substantially reinforced gun emplacements were flanked by magazines, searchlight emplacements, observation posts and all the support facilities required to operate them & again in WW2. H.C. Lowther, commanding Humber Garrison, ordered that ‘All AA searchlight detachments should practice every night. Restriction to two nights prevents the requisite efficiency being attained.’ Yet on 16 September 1917 the Rear Admiral Commanding, East Coast, Immingham Dock wanted practice to cease totally: the convoy's safety was more important than searchlight practice. Regular use of lights, which could be seen from the sea, would aid enemy submarines.

Much remains, but deteriorating. Erosion is taking Spurn Head itself.

A Port War Signal Station was built near Spurn lighthouse to identify shipping, using visual and sound signals, before allowing passage into the Humber. It could also receive signals from wireless equipped aircraft.

The site is now VTS Humber’s ‘control tower’ for shipping.

Part of the military bases on Spurn Head.

52. Kilnsea Battery remains.

RFC 33 Squadron (e.g. from North Coates, Atwick, Owthorne & Beverley, co-operated with Godwin and Kilnsea batteries, which were searchlight equipped.

Kilnsea, sound mirror. Slightly inland, the mirror is likely to have been erected in 1916-1917 and sited to prevent noise from breaking waves interfering with its operation. It now abuts the wetland nature reserve.

53. Withernsea. No details survive of the whereabouts of the wireless station, save that it was using Marconi equipment and the call sign was MWS. I’m guessing it might have been at or by the lighthouse in town but can find no written evidence of that, or at any other site.

Observers used ‘Black Mill’ at Waxholme immediately to the north of Withernsea, but this was another mystery. I could not find it on any contemporary maps. However, I did find this in the right area:

54. Owthorne. At the NW of Withernsea was a field used as a landing ground 1917-8. DH6 anti-submarine patrols. Pleased to have located the above, I forgot this one, so please imagine a field on the edge of town…

DH6

55. Hornsea Mere. The RNAS seaplane base, about 1-mile inland, was established in early 1918 at Kirkholme Point, the east end of the Mere.

The seaplane base was equipped with two Bessonneau hangars, huts, tents, various brick buildings and two slipways. The base was established to provide anti-submarine patrols along the northern coast. Hornsea Sailing Club, a café and a boat rental operation occupy remaining buildings and the compass swing point and slipways remain.

In 1918, 251 Squadron formed at Hornsea Mere however as they flew DH6 land based planes none of the flights would have been based there. In August 1918, No. 248 Squadron was formed: Nos. 404, 405 and 453 Flights flew coastal patrols off the Yorkshire coast until the end of the war. The squadron was made up of Sopwith Babies, Short 184s and Short 320 seaplanes. In March 1919 the squadron disbanded

and the seaplane base was abandoned.

It is also documented that an anti-aircraft battery was established at the base.

Hornsea Mere

Buildings at RNAS Hornsea Mere remain in use as a boatyard, sailing club and café (lower centre).

The larger building, centre, was previously the tea-room of the ‘Hull and Hornsea Railway Company’ and was requisitioned. Still surviving and original are the toilets, pay office, a magazine, a compass swing circle and slipways.

56. Beverley Westwood. Although not included in my planned route, a small detour was too tempting. The airfield opened on the racecourse in March 1916 & was home to No 33 & 47 Squadrons, equipped with BE2cs to patrol the Humber ports. The aerodrome took on more of a training role, however. Sir Hugh Chance remembered it thus:

“Three weeks after posting to Castle Bromwich I was ordered to 47 Squadron at Beverley in Yorkshire, commanded by Major J. G. Small. Beverley aerodrome had been a racecourse and was like a grassy pimple; if one flew in too low one ran the danger of hitting the rising ground; and if too high, the ground receded on the far side of the pimple and, instead of touching down, one's wheels went higher and higher and another circuit became imperative.” The airfield experienced a good number of training accidents.

From Beverley Westwood I returned NE to Beverley (Linley), where Hull Aero Club not only had a bucket of tea on tap, but also waived the landing fee to add to my fund-raising.

13:50 –16:05

Flight time 2hr 15min

142 nm

Fuel added: 40.15 ltr

Leg five: Beverley to Berwick

Considerations for this flight:

Teesmouth power station

Boulmer HIRTA

Durham Tees Valley 118.850

Newcastle Zone 124.375

Eshott Radio: 122.850

57. Atwick. The aerodrome opened on fields to the west of the village and was occupied in 1915 by several RNAS Special Duties Flights, commanded from a seaplane base at Hornsea Mere. As with many sites, conflicting information abounds, but these fields are generally regarded as the correct location, rather than the non-existent racecourse cited by some sources. This is another of my camera-shaken pictures; strong thermals, even so near the coast, co-ordinated their activity to every squeeze of the shutter, or so it seemed.

During May 1918, RAF Flight 504 used the landing ground for anti-submarine patrols in DH6s. It was designated a 2^nd class landing ground.

BE2s, BE12s and FE2s were replaced in 1918 by Bristol F2B fighters and Avro 504 night fighters. The Special Duties Squadron flew the Airco DH6, used mostly for anti-submarine patrols and training. The DH6 was unable to carry both two crew and weaponry, so were often flown solo. The RNAS accepted 1,000 of them. Interchangeable main-planes assisted repairs, necessary in a training role.

Airco DH6.

58. Flamborough Head. A ‘Captain Round’ Station, the wireless station occupied cottages, described as bungalows, beside the lighthouse.

Flamborough Head in August 1919

Accommodation here was basic: eight iron bedsteads, four chests of drawers and two showers.

59. Scarborough. More famous is the wireless station on Irton Moor, that became GCHQ Scarborough, but it started in this cottage at Sandybed Lane, in 1912. The ‘Y’ station remained until 1943, when it could no longer contain the equipment and personnel required. ‘Wireless Cottage’ is now surrounded by modern housing.

Wireless Cottage, the oldest building for some distance.

Scarborough, RNAS Scalby Mills. Used only by Blackburn for trials of the Type L seaplane, which was originally designed for the 1914 Daily Mail Circuit of Britain seaplane race. Nine contestants were on their way when war was declared.

Blackburn Type L.

The aircraft flew some patrols but was written off after it met the cliffs at Speeton, early in 1915.

Two other Scarborough airfields were inland, at Riggs Head and West Ayton.

Scarborough, Scalby Mills, as it is today.

60. Boulby sound mirror.

High on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors, the mirror still withstands the weather. Built in 1916, its purpose was to provide warning of Zeppelin attacks on Skinningrove Ironworks, where explosives and later, mustard gas, were produced.

61. Marske. Marske opened in 1917 as home for what became 2 Fighting School, RFC. Single and two-seater training was given on two-week courses – a ‘finishing school’ before posts to operational units. It was not unusual for crews to complete two weeks without flying, due to NE coastal weather. Most of the airfield buildings were intact until the 1980s.

It’s now a housing estate, albeit with aviation-themed road names: Barnes Wallis, Beardmore, Blackburn, Brabazon, de Havilland, Folland, Halifax, Lancaster, Lysander, Spitfire, Vickers and Wellington.

62. Redcar, sound mirror. The Royal Engineers constructed this mirror in 1916. It survives, with an explanatory plaque on the remaining base for the listening device: a trumpet connected to a stethoscope.

It’s down there, somewhere, but could I find it? Failure. It seems that it was right underneath me.

Redcar, Kirkleatham. From June 1918-1919, the sub-station to Howden was an RAF mooring out station for non-rigid airships. It occupied an industrial site about 3 miles inland.

Redcar. Both an Anti-Submarine Patrol station and a flying instructor school, RNAS flew DH4s, BE2cs and Bristol Scouts and later DH6s for convoy escort duties. In 1917, four Handley Page 0/100 bombers were posted in response to the threat of U-boats.

Handley Page 0/100 bomber

Aeroplane sheds of 180’ x 60’ were augmented by one of 200’ x 100’.

Redcar from the south. The aerodrome was the western side of and reached beyond the racecourse.

Marske and Redcar had a good number of training accidents, leaving ample photographic evidence.

Longhorn at Redcar, 14^th October 1917. Solo student Flt Sub-Lt Eric Henry Platt Bailey was on his fourth flight that day, landing at dusk.

63. Seaton Carew. Both bases are adjacent to the power station. I could overfly, above 2,000’, or skirt the wind farm where it might be smoother flying. Opting for the latter, meant that I was shooting into the sun – and it wasn’t much smoother, either!

Seaton Carew 11 was the RNAS/RFC Seaplane Station, inside the estuary on the Seaton on Tees Channel, was on a smaller site than its brother less than a mile away. One seaplane shed and two Bessonneau hangars occupied the site from 1917-1919. RAF 246 Squadron was formed in 1918, flying Blackburn Kangaroos. Conditions were reportedly awful and insanitary, with mechanics having to sleep in toilets.

The best of a bad bunch: the jetty is visible towards the upper left.

Boogle photo.

The hangars were on the field immediately above the jetty.

Seaton Carew 1. The Anti-Submarine Patrol Station was larger than its neighbour, with seven Bessoneau hangars on 72 acres. .

Seaton Carew 1. The nature reserve is at the left.

No 36 Squadron RFC had a flight based here, from 1916. Originally, the squadron was tasked to protect Newcastle, but in May the Tees and Forth areas were added.

On the night of 27^th November, one BE2c was responsible for the loss of L34, one of four Zeppelins which were heading for Teesside. A searchlight caught her over Hartlepool, from where 2^nd Lt Pyott chased her for five miles after 16 bombs had been dropped over West Hartlepool, killing four and injuring 34 people. After firing 71 rounds he saw a bright patch spreading rapidly on the airship before it burst into flames and fell into the sea, some twenty minutes after it first coasted in. He dived, but suffered burns to his face. The flaming Zeppelin fell into the sea, seen for miles. One of the crew fell into a field, where his imprint remained a while.

Ian Pyott and his BE2c

64. Hartlepool sound mirror. The Clavering, Hartlepool sound mirror was demolished in the 1960s for housing estates. Built in 1916 according to a resident, it played its part, particularly when the L34 was shot down by Ian Pyott, as described above.

The mirror was a few yards from what is now the gate to Clavering primary school, above, which sits on higher ground to the NW of Hartlepool.

65. Seaham, Sound Mirror. It was west of the town, at Dalton Heights and likely to have been built in 1916. Some locals recall it being used in WW11 for firing practice by the Home Guard.

The mirror was sited just left of centre.

Seaham, Signal Station. Buildings on the coast, north of the harbour, may incorporate the original, but it seems unlikely.

Seaham Signal Station, with the WW1 memorial on the green.

66. Sunderland Sound Mirror. Also known as Namey Hill, Fulwell. This 1917 type of mirror could have detected a Zeppelin 15-20 miles away, giving 15 minutes warning. This mirror had a slight variation in that the microphone could be variably positioned, unlike those with a microphone on a fixed post.

A blue plaque explains its purpose but states that it is convex! The mirror was restored in 2014.

There were also ranging stations at Brunton, Kenton and another unknown site that could triangulate altitude and range.

67. South Shields, Frenchman’s Point.

Frenchman’s Point wireless station has long gone, but was situated behind the coastguard station. Neither shows on contemporary maps.

9.2" gun at Frenchman's Point

Frenchman’s Point Battery was planned in 1882, and finished in March 1905. It was designed as a counterpart to the battery at Tynemouth Castle. In WW1 it had two 6-inch guns, and one 9.2 inch. The shells were raised on a hydraulic lift. There was a caretaker’s house, stores and a camping ground.

South Shields. The base was established in 1916 as a construction and receiving station, initially for Short 184s, built by F Sage & Co of Peterborough. As a large seaplane station between Dundee and Killingholme, it was also used as a fuel stop for machines in transit, such as Sopwith Babies, Curtiss HS-14s, Felixstowe F3s & F2As. South Shields became the parent base of Seaton Carew 11 when it opened. The base was also taking delivery of DH6 land planes allotted to the coastal patrols in 1918. DH6s on Marine Operations had a rather high rate of attrition and South Shields did a good trade in repairs.

Sopwith Baby

The last remains of one ramp can sometimes be identified at low water, according to local historians, although not enough to be identifiable from the air.

The choice of site was far from ideal, such that Admiral Ballard stated: “I do not consider it possible to construct a seaplane station at the mouth of the Tyne... A very heavy sea breaks all along the South Jetty on to the Herd Sand in the easterly gales... no slipway could be built that would be strong enough to withstand it unless constructed of stone.” Launching was all but impossible from the slipway at high tide, coastal fog was common and the swell made life very difficult. From one seaplane pilot: “The harbour was generally too small for us to take off... The amenities... were completely nix [nil]. .. The officers lived in a little hotel, which we ran ourselves and there was nothing to do in the evening. On the main we used to run a poker or shove ha'penny pool or something of that sort to keep ourselves out of mischief.

When it was decided to close South Shields, there was general relief.

My low-level pictures were even shakier than this one, alas.

This was also likely to be the site of Kite Balloon Station, Tyne, which became 10 Balloon Base on 15^th April 1918, but it did not appear in that autumn’s Quarterly Survey of Stations. In 1917, the Navy saw that kite balloons had use in anti-submarine work: towed platforms could fly above the convoys and provide early warnings of U Boats. Navy vessels were adapted to carry winches, hydrogen tanks and the platforms for the balloon cages.

68. Tynemouth Castle & Priory. This was another station equipped to receive signals from spotter aircraft. Searchlight equipped, the battery was equipped with naval guns, but the only AA guns in the area were at the large & important Elswick works on the north side of the Tyne and later at a non-specified site which was not mentioned in a list of Tyne & Tees gun sites in June 1917.

Tynemouth Cullercoats. Anti-submarine patrol station for 36(HD) Squadron and with RAF 252 Squadron. It operated from 1916-1919, using four Bessonneau hangars. The site is just north of the Priory and Percy Gardens, now playing fields amongst modern housing, but my picture suffered from previously made excuses.

Tynemouth, 47A Percy Gardens.

English Heritage photo

The War Office established a coastal command centre in this six-storey building, with an observation and range-finding post in the roof to control the Tyne guns. It was used again as a command centre in WW11 and is now a listed private residence.

Tynemouth Cullercoats, Browns Point RadioTelegraph Station. On Browns Point, 2 white buildings remain, converted to a private dwelling.

Originally a civilian telegraph station in 1906-7, it consisted of a timber shed with nearby radio masts. In 1914, the Admiralty took over the running of the station, which they used to intercept German radio traffic. Another brick building was constructed in 1916 to replace the original wooden hut. Call sign LNS. The site is Grade 11 listed.

Yet again, I have no usable picture, particularly annoying as this is a very well-preserved and scenic site.

Photo from Coastal Radio Communications

69. Whitley Bay. The RNAS flight started in 1914 with four Bristol TB8s

Bristol TB8

and a Farman F20 for coastal patrols, defence and also attacking enemy coasts. The north’s defences fared poorly compared with defences further south, whether in aircraft, armaments or searchlights. In April 1915, an attack by L9, commanded by the infamous Mathy, coasted in at Blyth. Whitley Bay had one serviceable aircraft at the time, a TB8 that took off & patrolled for an hour without sighting the Zeppelin. BE2c, Bristol Scout, Caudron G111 and Avro 504c aircraft were later added to the fleet, but operations finished in 1916. There were 2 wooden aircraft sheds on the western boundary and numerous accommodation huts on the southern one. The flight began operating with Bristol TB8s and a Farman F.20. The site near St Mary's lighthouse is now a caravan park.

70. Seahouses, Elford. Founded as a landing ground in 1917, the anti-submarine patrol station was designated a Marine Operations Staion in 1918. RAF 256 Squadron, with DH6 and Kangaroo.

Nothing remains on the fields slightly west of Seahouses, but these, fuzzily, are they.

I couldn’t resist the inclusion of Bamburgh Castle, owned by the Armstrong family. The Sir WG Armstrong Mitchell and Company became Armstrong Whitworth in 1897 and in 1912 formed an Aerial Department at Newcastle. The Armstrong Whitworth FK series relates to the Dutch designer, Frederick Koolhoven.

FK 3 in 1915

71. Berwick. The most northern site on the coast of England was the Admiralty Wireless Station, almost opposite Holy Island . Reports cite one mast and just two small buildings formed the station. No evidence remains, except, possibly, some concrete bases.

Holy Island

Site of the wireless station, 1 mile SE from the hamlet of Goswick.

The very light NW that had been largely on the beam all day became a tailwind for the final hour, despite the Met. Reports. North of Newcastle, my ground speed increased noticeably by 8-10 0kts. I’d harboured the idea of putting one wing over the border but abandoned the thought as I contemplated the potential headwind component after. From Berwick, I made the final turn SSE direct to Eshott, where I had permission to land out of hours. The tailwind would surely be reversed, but as I headed inland, it became clear that it had been a coastal effect and the headwind didn’t materialise, giving me a boost for the final part of the day. Eshott’s grass looked very welcoming and as I touched down, I felt that my personal challenge, anyway, was complete.

Final approach at Eshott. Photo - R Warriner.

Leg five was frustrated by some bouncy thermals at inopportune times and my concomitant failure with some pictures. On the return journey on the following day, in almost identical weather otherwise, the air was smooth. I’d already decided simply to enjoy the scenery and the camera stayed packed away.

17:15 - 19:45

Flight time: 2hr 30min

176 nm

Fuel added: 44ltr

One hundred years on, I decided to link my challenge to some fund-raising for the Royal British Legion.

Postscript

On the following day, 25^th May, Richard and I, now reunited in loose formation flying home to the SE, made a slight detour to Shipdham.

Sources

Print:

A Higher Form of Killing – Diana Preston

Action Stations 9 Military Airfields of the Central South & South-East – Chris Ashworth

Aeroplane Monthly (March 1916)

Air War over Great Britian 1914-1918 - Raymond Rimmell

Aviation in Kent – Robin Brooks

Battle of Britain 1917 – Jonathan Sutherland & Diane Canwell

Dover in the Great War – Stephen Wynn

Flying The Pioneer Years in Kent – David Collyer

London 1917-1918: The Bomber Blitz – Ian Castle

Lympne Airfield at War & Peace – Anthony J Moor

Ramsgate Raid Records – Chas A F Austen

Richborough Port – Robert Butler

Thanet’s Raid History – The Thanet Advertiser

The Air Defence of Britain 1914-1918 – Christopher Cole & E F Cheesman

The Birth of the Royal Airforce – Ian Philpott

The Dover Patrol 1914 – 1917 – Admiral R Bacon

The Dover Patrol 1914 -1918 – Roy Humphreys

The RFC/RNAS Handbook 1914 - 1918 – Peter Cooksley

Wings over Westgate – Geoffrey Williams

On-line:

Aerial Warfare & Home Defence Killingholme Area – Dr Katherine Storr

Aeroconservancy.com

Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust

Andrew Grantham’s Sound Mirrors website

Ashore, Afloat and Airborne – via the Kings Research Portal

Australian War Memorial

BBC

Bishop Burton.org

Blogs.mhs.ox.ac.uk/innovatingincombat

British Artillery – Pieces – Artillery Intelligence and Counter-Battery

BT archives

Churchside1.plus.com/Goldhanger-past/Great-War

Coastal Radio Communications

Cross & Cockade International

Culture24.org

Documents.mx/Sound Mirrors on the South Coast

Dover District Council Heritage Strategy Theme 3 Invasion & Defence

English Heritage – First World One Wireless Stations in England

English Heritage Hoo Peninsular Historic Landscape Project

Geograph.org.uk

Great War Forum

Historic England – East Coast War Channels

Historic England – First world war home front

Historic England - pastscape

Historic England – Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

IanCastleZeppelin.co.uk

Imperial War Museum

JanetandRichardsgenealogy.co.uk Ramsgate in the Great War

Kent Archaeological Society: Kent’s Twentieth-Century Military and Civil Defences, Part 2 -Medway

Kent History Forum

National Archives.gov.uk

Newcastle.gov for Tyne & Wear Defence Ssites

Owlcation.com

Royal Observer Corps

St Mary in the Marsh Parish Council

UK Airfields & Airports

Wildfire111 Fortress Sheppey

WW1 Home Front Legacy.org

WW1homedefence.webeden.co uk

Yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk

100 aircraftphotos.com

Plans and photographs other than my own are copied, gratefully, from the above. Use of copyright material is purely for personal research.

Thank you to Beccles, Fenland & Maypole airfields. Particular thanks is owed to Hull Aero Club at Beverley, Eshott Airfield, Andy Haigh, Peter Bond & The Great War Display Team, Sandra Davis & of course, Richard Warriner.

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Against Aerial Attack - commemorating Home Defences in WW1

Against Aerial Attack - Commemorating Home Defences of WW1

Since that one day, I've learned a great deal more as I've read more. The exercise has kept on giving.

Pooley’s

The Aeroplane

The Crew

Balloons & Airships

Aeroplanes

Dawn to Dusk Challenge

Wednesday 24^th May 2017.

The Plan

Sites in italics are included out of interest but omitted from the plan due to airspace or distance considerations.

Colour coding used in the report:

Sites in italics are included out of interest but omitted from the plan as explained in the text.

Leg two: Sheppey to Suffolk

Leg five: Beverley to Berwick

Ian Pyott and his BE2c

Sources

Comments

Post a Comment

Against Aerial Attack - Commemorating Home Defences of WW1

Since that one day, I've learned a great deal more as I've read more. The exercise has kept on giving.

Pooley’s

The Aeroplane

The Crew

Balloons & Airships

Aeroplanes

Dawn to Dusk Challenge

Wednesday 24th May 2017.

The Plan

Sites in italics are included out of interest but omitted from the plan due to airspace or distance considerations.

Colour coding used in the report:

Sites in italics are included out of interest but omitted from the plan as explained in the text.

Leg two: Sheppey to Suffolk

Leg five: Beverley to Berwick

Ian Pyott and his BE2c

Sources

Comments

Post a Comment

Wednesday 24^th May 2017.