aviation

Trail 44 – Kent (Part 3) – Sir Barnes Wallis – His Later Years.

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We continue, in Trail 44, looking at the life of Sir Barnes Wallis, a man known for his expertise in engineering and design. Following on from his early works in airship design, we now turn to his Second World War and post war work.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, new designs of aircraft and weapons were much-needed. Wallis’s geodesic design, as used in the R100, had been noticed by another Vickers designer Rex Pierson, who arranged for Wallis to transfer to Weybridge, where they formed a new team – Pierson working on the general design of the aircraft with Wallis designing the internal structures. This was a team that produced a number of notable designs including both the Wellesley and the Wellington; both of which utilised Wallis’s geodetic design in both the fuselage and wing construction.

What made Wallis’s idea so revolutionary was that the design made the air frame both light-weight and strong, and by having the bearers as part of the skin, it left more room inside the structure thus allowing for more fuel or ‘cargo’. An idea that helped provide greater gas storage for the R100.

Whilst both the Wellesley and the Wellington went on to be successful in the early stages of the war (11,400 Wellingtons saw service), they were both withdrawn from front line service by the mid war years, being replaced by more modern and advanced aircraft that could fly further and carry much larger payloads.

Saddened by the rising death toll, Wallis put many of his efforts into shortening the war. His idea was that if you attack and destroy the heart of production, then your enemy would have nothing to fight with; in this case, its power supply. To this end he started investigating the idea of breaching the dams of the Ruhr.

Wallis’s idea was to place an explosive device against the wall of the dam, thus utilising the water’s own pressure to fracture and break open the dam. Conventional bombing was not suitable as it was too difficult to place a large bomb accurately and sufficiently close enough to the dam to cause any significant damage. His idea, he said, was “childishly simple”.

Using the idea that spherical objects bounce across water, like stones thrown from a beach, he determined that a bomb could be skimmed across the reservoir over torpedo nets and strike the dam. A backward spin, induced by a motor in the aircraft’s fuselage, would force the bomb to keep to the dam wall where a detonator would explode the bomb at a predetermined depth, similar in fashion to a naval depth charge. The idea was simple in practical terms, ‘skip shot’ being used with great success by sailors in Nelson’s navy;  but it was going to be a long haul, to not only build such a weapon, the aircraft to drop it, nor train the expert crews to fly the aircraft; but to simply convince the Ministry of Aircraft Production that it was in fact feasible.

Wallis began performing a number of tests, first at his home using marbles and baths, then at Chesil Beach in Dorset. Both the Navy and the Ministry were interested when shown a film of the bomb in action, each wanting it for their own specific target; the Navy for the Tirpitz, and the Ministry for the dams. Wallis still determined to use it on the dams, carried out two projects side-by-side,  “Upkeep” for the dams, and “Highball” for the Navy*3.

“Upkeep” was initially spherical, and the first drop from a modified Lancaster took place in April 1943 at Reculver near to Herne Bay, where this statue is located. He persevered with aircraft heights, speeds and bomb design modifications, carefully honing them until on April 29th 1943, only three weeks before the actual attack, the bomb finally worked for the first time.

Wallis’s plan could now be put into action, and with a new squadron of the RAF’s elite bomber crews put in place, the stage was set and the dams of Ruhr Valley would be the target.

The attack on the dams have become legendary, and of the 19 aircraft of 617 Squadron that took off that May evening in 1943, only 11 returned, some after sustaining considerable damage. Operation Chastise saw two of the three dams, the Mohne and Eder, successfully breached and the third, the Sorpe, severely damaged forcing the Germans to partially drain it for safety.

Scampton September 2015 (17)

The names of the crews of 617 Squadron at RAF Scampton. Those with poppies next to them, did not return.

Following the success of Operation Chastise, Wallis went on to develop other bombs capable of devastating results. His initial plan, a Ten ton (22,000lb) bomb, had to be scaled back to 12,000lb as there was no aircraft capable of dropping it at that time. Codenamed ‘Tallboy’, it would be a deep penetration bomb 21 feet in length with a hardened steel case and 4 inches of steel in the nose. The bomb contained 5200lbs of high explosive Torpex (similar to that used in the Kennedy Aphrodite mission) and would have a terminal velocity of around 750 miles per hour.

The idea of Tallboy, was to create a deep underground crater into which structures would either fall or be rendered irreparable. With a time fuse that could be set to sixty minutes after release, it was used on strategic targets such as the Samur Railway Tunnel in France, rendering the tunnel useless as it had to be closed for a considerable amount of time.

The crater made by Barnes Wallis’s Tallboy bomb above the Samur Railway Tunnel, 9th June 1944. *4

Soon after this, Wallis began developing his Ten Ton bomb, the “Grand Slam”, a mighty 26ft in length, it weighed 22,000lb, and would impact the ground at near supersonic speeds. Wallis’s design was such that the bomb could penetrate through 20 feet of solid concrete or 130 feet of earth, where it would explode creating a mini earthquake. It was this earthquake that would rock the foundations of buildings and structures, or simply suck them into a crater of massive proportions*5.

Production of the Grand Slam was slow though. It took two days for the casting to cool and then after machining, it took a further month for the molten Torpex  to set and cool. The first use of the Grand Slam occurred on 14th March 1945 against the Bielefeld Viaduct in Germany, on which one Grand Slam and 27 Tallboys were dropped. Unsurprisingly, the viaduct collapsed and the railway was put out of action.

Wallis had created more exceptionally devastating weapons, they were so successful that 854 Tallboys and 41 Grand Slams were dropped by the war’s end.

Scampton September 2015 (4)

The Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, designed by Barnes Wallis.

Post war, Wallis carried on with his design and investigations into aerodynamics and flight. He was convinced that achieving supersonic flight with the greatest economy was the way forward, and in particular variable geometry wings. The government was keen to catch up with the U.S., awarding Vickers £500,000 to carry out research into supersonic flight. Wallis’s project received some of this money, and he researched unmanned supersonic flight in the form of surface-to-air missiles. Codenamed ‘Wild Goose‘ (later ‘Green Lizard’) the project ran to 1954 when it was terminated.

Wallis continued with his research into swing wing designs, his first being the JC9, a single seat aircraft 46 feet in length. It was produced but never completed and was scrapped before it ever got off the ground. Wallis wasn’t put off though, and he continued on developing the ‘Swallow’, a swing wing aircraft that could reach speeds of Mach 2.5 in model wind tunnel investigations.

In its bomber form it would have been equivalent in size to the American B-1, with a crew of 4 or 5, and a cruising speed of Mach 2. It would have a range of 5,000 miles whilst carrying a single Red Beard nuclear bomb.

Whilst not selected to meet the R.A.F.’s OR.330 (Operational Requirement 330), which was eventually awarded to TSR.2, they were interested enough for him to proceed until the 1957 Defence White Paper put an end to the project, and it was cancelled.

Looking for funding Wallis turned to the U.S. hoping they would grant him sufficient funds to continue his work. After many meetings between Wallis and the U.S American Mutual Weapons Development Program at NASA’s Langley research facility, he came away disappointed and saddened that the Americans used his ideas without granting him any funding.

American research continued, eventually developing into the successful General Dynamics F-111 ‘Aardvark’, the world’s first production swing-wing combat aircraft.

Wallis continued with other supersonic and hypersonic investigations; designs were drawn up for an aircraft capable of Mach 4-5, using a series of variable winglets to link subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic flights, many however, never went beyond the drawing board.

Wallis didn’t stop there, he continued with many great inspirational projects: the Stratosphere Chamber, a test chamber where by simulated impacts on aircraft travelling at 70,000 feet could be safely tested and analysed; the Parkes Telescope, a radio telescope in New South Wales; the Momentum Bomb, a nuclear bomb designed to be released at low-level and high-speed, enabling the release aircraft to escape the blast safely, and in the 1960s, a High Pressure Submarine designed to dive deeply beyond the range of current detection.

In recognition of his work, Wallis was knighted in 1968, and he was also made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Wallis, after working beyond his forced retirement, died at the age of 83, on 30th October 1979, in Effingham, Surrey. He is buried in the local church, St Lawrence’s Church, in Effingham, a village he contributed greatly to. He was the church secretary for eight years, and an Effingham Parish Councillor, serving as Chairman for 10 years. He was also the Chairman of the Local Housing Association, which helped the poor and elderly of the village to find or build homes; and as a fanatical cricketer, he was Chairman of the KGV Management Committee who negotiated the landscaping of the “bowl” cricket ground, so good was the surface, it was used as a substitute for the Oval in London.

There are numerous memorials and dedications around the country to Wallis, and there is no doubt that he was both an incredible engineer and inventor who made a major contribution to not only the war, but British and world aviation in general.

His statue at Herne Bay overlooks Reculver where the first “Upkeep” bomb was dropped by a Lancaster bomber during the Second World War, and it is a fine tribute to this remarkable man on this trail.

Barnes Wallis at Work

Sir Barnes Neville Wallis.

From here, we continue to travel east, toward the coastal town of Margate. A few miles away is the now closed Manston airport, formerly RAF Manston, an airfield that is rich in History, and one that closed causing such ill feeling amongst many.

Sources and further reading

*3 The Mail online published a report on the discovery of a Highball bomb found in Loch Striven, Scotland in July 2017.

*4 Photo © IWM (CL 4322)

*5 The Independent news website– “Secrets of the devastation caused by Grand Slam, the largest WWII bomb ever tested in the UK.” Published 22/1/14

The Barnes Wallis Foundation website has a great deal of information, pictures and clips of Barnes Wallis.

A list of memorials, current examples of both Upkeep and Highball bombs, and displays of material linked to Barnes Wallis, is available through the Sir Barnes Wallis (unofficial) website.

 

Trail 44 – Kent (Part 3) – Sir Barnes Wallis – His Early Years

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After visiting the many museums and former airfields in the southern and central parts of Kent (Trail 4 and Trail 18) we now turn north and head to the northern coastline. Here we overlook the entrance to the Thames estuary, the Maunsell Forts – designed to protect the approaches to London and the east coast – and then take a short trip along the coastline of northern Kent. Our first stop is not an airfield nor a museum, it is a statue of the designer of one of the world’s most incredible weapons – the bouncing bomb. Our first short stop is at Herne Bay, and the statue of Sir Barnes Wallis.

Sir Barnes Wallis – Herne Bay

Sir Barnes Wallis

The Barnes Wallis statue located at the eastern end of the town overlooking the sea at Reculver.

There cannot be a person alive who has not seen, or know about, the famous Dambusters raid made by 617 Sqn. It is a story deeply embedded in history, one of the most daring raids ever made using incredible ideas, skill and tenacity. There is so much written about both it, and the man behind the idea – Sir Barnes Neville Wallis CBE FRS RDI FRAeS – a man famous for his engineering prowess and in particular the famous ‘Bouncing Bomb’ that was used by Guy Gibson’s 617 Squadron in that daring raid of 16th May 1943. But there is so much more to Barnes Wallis than the Bouncing bombs; he made a huge contribution to British Aviation, weaponry of the Second World War, and later on in his life, supersonic and hypersonic air travel.

He is certainly one the Britain’s more notable designers, and has memorials, statues and plaques spread across the length and breadth of the country in his honour. But he was not just a designer of the Bouncing bomb, his talent for engineering and design led him through a series of moves that enabled him to excel and become a major part of British history.

Born on 26th September 1887 in Ripley, Derbyshire, he was educated at Christ’s Hospital in Horsham, he went on to study engineering in London, and shortly afterwards moving to the Isle of Wight. With the First World War looming, he was offered a chance to work on airship designs – an innovative design that would become widely used by the Naval forces of both the U.K. and Germany.

Wallis cut his teeth in marine engines as an engineer and draughtsman. He began his career in the London’s shipyards, moving to the Isle of Wight after which he broke into airship design. He followed a colleague he had met whilst working as a draughtsman with John Samuel White’s shipyard, together they would design His Majesty’s Airship No.9 (HMA 9).

The design process of HMA 9 was dynamic to say the least. Early non-rigid airships were proving to be very successful, and the new rigids that were coming in – whilst larger and more capable of travelling longer distances with greater payloads – were becoming the target for successive quarrels between the government and the Admiralty. World unrest and political turmoil was delaying their development even though plans for HMA 9 had already been drawn up.

Joining with his colleague, H.B. Pratt in April 1913, at the engineering company Vickers, the two designers began drawing up plans for a new rigid based along the lines of the German Zeppelin. HMA 9 would be a step forward from the ill-fated HMA No. 1 “Mayfly”, and would take several years to complete. Further ‘interference’ from the Admiralty (One Winston Churchill) led to the order being cancelled but then reinstated during 1915. The final construction of the 526 ft. long airship was on 28th June 1916, but its first flight didn’t take place until the following November, when it became the first British rigid airship to take to the Skies.

HMA 9 (author unknown*1)

With this Wallis had made his mark, and whilst HMA 9 remained classed as an ‘experimental’ airship with only 198 hours and 16 minutes of air time, she was a major step forward in British airship design and technology.

The Pratt and Wallis partnership were to go on and create another design, improving on the rigids that have previously been based on Zeppelin designs, in the form of the R80. Created through the pressure of war, the R80 would have to be designed and built inside readily available sheds as both steel and labour were in very short supply. Even before design or construction could begin there were barriers facing the duo.

Construction started in 1917, but with the end of the war in 1918, there was little future as a military airship for R80. Dithering by the Air Ministry led to the initial cancellation of the project, forcing the work to carry on along a commercial basis until the project was reinstated once more. With this reinstatement, military modifications, such as gun positions, were added to the airship once again. With construction completed in 1920, she made her first flight that summer. However, after sustaining structural damage she was returned to the sheds where repair work was carried out, and a year later R80 took to the air once again. After a brief spell of use by the U.S. Navy for training purposes, R80 was taken to Pulham airship base in Norfolk and eventually scrapped. Wallis’s design had lasted for four years and had only flown for 73 hours.

However, undaunted by these setbacks, the Vickers partnership of Pratt and Wallis went on to develop further designs. In the 1920s, a project known as the 1924 Imperial Airship Scheme, was set up where by a Government sponsored developer would compete against a commercial developer, and the ‘best of both’ would be used to create a new innovative design of airship that would traverse the globe. This new design, would offer both passenger and mail deliveries faster than any current methods at that time.

The Government backed design (built at the Royal Airship Works at Cardington) would compete against Vickers with Wallis as the now Chief Designer.

The brief was for a craft that could transport 100 passengers at a speed of 70 knots over a range of 3,000 miles. Whilst both designs were similar in size and overall shape, they could not have been more different. Wallis, designing the R.100, used a mathematical geodetic wire mesh which gave a greater gas volume than the Government’s R101, which was primarily of stainless steel and a more classic design. This geodesic design was revolutionary, strong and lightweight, it would prove a great success and emerge again in Wallis’s future.

Built at the Howden site a few miles west of Hull, the R100 was designed with as few parts as possible to cut down on both costs and weight; indeed R100 had only 13 longitudinal girders half that of previous designs. Wallis’s design was so far-reaching it only used around 50 different main parts.

The design plan of Wallis’ R-100 airship (author unknown*2

The 1920s in Britain were very difficult years, with the economy facing depression and deflation, strikes were common place, and the R100 was not immune to them. Continued strikes by the workers at the site repeatedly held back construction, but eventually, on 16th December 1929, Wallis’s R100 made its maiden flight. After further trials and slight modifications to its tail, the R100 was ready. Then came a test of endurance for the airship, a flight to Canada, a flight that saw the R100 cover a journey of 3,364 miles in just under 79 hours. Welcomed as heroes, the return journey would be even quicker. Boosted by the prevailing Gulf Stream, R100 made a crossing of 2,995 miles in four minutes under 58 hours. The gauntlet had been thrown, and Wallis’s airship would be hard to beat.

The R101 would face a similar flight of endurance, this time to India, and it would use many of the same crew such was the shortage of experienced men. On October 4th 1930, R101 left its mooring at Cardington for India. Whilst over France she encountered terrible weather, a violent storm caused her to crash, whereupon she burst into flames and was destroyed with all but six of the 54 passengers and crew being killed.

The airship competition became a ‘one horse race’, but an inspection of the outer covering of Wallis’s R100 revealed excessive wear, only cured by replacing the skin, an expense the project could barely swallow. With plans already in place for the R102, the project was in jeopardy, and eventually, even after offers from the U.S. Government, it was deemed too expensive, and by 1932 R100, the worlds largest airship and most advanced of its time, had been scrapped and the parts sold off.

Wallis’s airship career had now come to an end, but his prowess and innovation as a designer had been proven, he had set the bench mark that others would find hard to follow.

In the next part, we look at the work carried out by Wallis both during the Second World War and in the later years of his life.

Sources and further reading

*1 Photo from The Airship Heritage Trust website.

*2 ibid

Scotland’s National Museum of Flight – East Fortune (Part 3).

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The final public hangar at East Fortune holds what is perhaps its pièce de résistance, an aircraft so ahead of its time that it has never been successfully matched. An aircraft that became simply too expensive to operate but was withdrawn under a cloak of darkness and sadness. In the third public hangar is the story of the Jet Age, a story that tells of the development of the modern jet air liner, from the post war development through to the classics of today. A story that is set around the beautiful aircraft that is of course the B.A.C. Concorde.

The Jet Age Hangar.

The Concorde at the National Museum of Flight (G-BOAA) was the first model Concorde to go into active service in 1976. After flying for a total of 22,768 hours and 56 minutes, in almost 25 years of service, she finally came to rest after what was possibly the most ambitious transportation project ever undertaken. In all her flying time she has visited cities right across the world including: New York, Paris, Bahrain, Miami, Calcutta, Auckland and Barbados. In her life time, G-BOAA has landed over 8,000 times and has flown through almost 7,000 supersonic cycles. She has become an icon, a reflection of what is achievable in civil aviation development.

Concorde was designed and built in agreement between the French Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and Britain’s British Aircraft Corporation (later B.A.E.). Each would make their own prototype, the French (001) flying first on 2nd March 1969, with the British model (002) flying from Fliton a month later on April 9th 1969. At the Paris airshow prospects looked good and over the next few years 65 initial orders were placed by 17 countries with options for many more. However, growing concerns over manufacturing costs, noise, environmental pollution and running costs eventually reduced the orders to just a handful from both British Airways and Air France.

With the price of a return ticket London to New York in excess of £6,500 in 2003, it certainly wasn’t cheap, nor affordable for the average man in the street (but where else can you watch the Mach Meter climb through Mach 2). It was however, a head turner. Wherever Concorde flew crowds gathered to watch in awe of her grace and technological advancement.

Concorde

Concorde G-BOAA stands proudly as the centre piece of the Concorde Experience.

Sadly, on July 25th 2000, it all went terribly wrong when taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport, Concorde  F-BTSC ran over a small piece of debris causing the tyre to burst sending shards of rubber at high-speed into the wing of the aircraft. An internal fuel tank ruptured and high-octane fuel poured from the wing igniting as it left. With too little runway to land and insufficient power to fly, it couldn’t fail to miss the Hôtelissimo Les Relais Bleus Hotel and crashed. A terrible tragedy that began the rapid rundown and retirement of the entire Concorde fleet.

Following a slump in air travel due to terrorist activities, rising costs of Concorde and the urgent need for upgrades, by 2003 all Concordes had ceased flying, and the disposal of the air-frames began.

G-BOAA was delivered to East Fortune following a major operation that involved taking it by road to the River Thames, along the Thames by specialist barge and out to sea, around the coast of England and Scotland, and then by road to East Fortune. Roads had to be purposely made cutting through a number of fields in order to get the aircraft to its new home. An operation that took over a week was supported by members of 39 Engineer Regiment’s 53 Field Squadron (Air Support) with a helicopter assistance.

Today Concorde G-BOAA stands as the centre piece of the Jet Age and Concorde Experience Hangar, a proud and open monument to the collaboration and development of the Supersonic passenger age.

But this hangar is not just about Concorde. A cockpit and front cabin portion from a Boeing 707-436 (G-APFJ), and Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C (G-ARPH) cockpit, gives the visitor another insight into life inside another 1960s long haul passenger jet. Outside another two classic passenger aircraft, de Havilland’s Comet 4C (G-BDIX) and the BAC 111-510ED (G-AVMO) further give the visitor an insight into these classic times. A range of jet engines allow you to compare sizes and features, and stories from those who were involved in flying these masters of the sky bring the ‘Golden age of air travel’ to life once more.

East Fortune

Some of the engines on view at East Fortune.

The remainder of the museum is displays and hands on activities. The history of East Fortune, is well portrayed as are the medals of Captain Eric Melrose “Winkle” Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, Hon FRAeS, RN., and the flying jacket and personal artefacts of Rolf Niehoff, the navigator of the Humbie Heinkel.

East Fortune

Portrait and medals of Captain Eric Melrose “Winkle” Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, Hon FRAeS, RN

As mentioned earlier, in Post 1 the parachute store has been fully refurbished and is displayed in the way it would have been used during the war years. A unique building, they are easily recognisable by their higher central roof section, or as in some models, offset sloping roofs. Designed to hang and dry parachutes, they are kept at a constant temperature, ideally between 550F and 650F. Wartime parachute stores were built with 4.5 inch thick walls, early designs having a symmetrical two-stage pitched roof as is here at East Fortune. The parachutes were hung from the highest point on a pulley system, so that the silk was kept away from the floor and allowed to dry evenly and cleanly. Once dry, they were lowered to a packing table, inspected, packed away and stored in the store on racks. Each pack was labelled with an inspection date and the person to whom it belonged – each crewman having earlier being measured for his own parachute.

This is possibly the only original parachute store remaining in this condition in the UK and shows the method of drying, packing and storing these vital pieces of equipment extremely well.

East Fortune

The inside of the parachute store clearly shows how they parachutes were dried, packed and stored.

Other exhibits include the RAF’s Matador lorry and a ‘Green Goddess’ fire engine. Made more famous perhaps by the firemen’s strikes of 2002, they were built in the 1950s, and were designed to be used in the event of a nuclear attack. Operated by civilian personnel of the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) they would be rushed into cities to extinguish fires and repair water systems. Thankfully, they were never used in this particular role.

East Fortune National Museum of Flight

The RAF’s Matador truck.

The range of exhibits at East Fortune is fabulous. The history of aviation, both civil and military is shown through a range of rare examples, that are restored and maintained in original buildings, purposely restored in line with their original designs and construction. For anyone wanting to see original airfield buildings and beautifully restored aircraft, it is certainly worthy of a trip and is time very well spent.

Sources and Further Reading.

The National Museum of Flight Website has details of tickets, events and features on the various exhibits there.

A list of the aircraft locations at East Fortune.

Scotland’s National Museum of Flight – East Fortune (Part 2).

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In the second part of this visit we look into the current display of military aircraft at East Fortune. A collection that ranges from the Second World War through to the end of the Cold War, it is a glimpse into the history and development of fighter aircraft over the last half of the 1900s.

The Military Hangar.

Early examples include the Bristol Bolingbroke IV-T, the Canadian built Blenheim that was used to train air gunners, navigators and bomb aimers.

Bristol Bolingbroke

The Bristol Bolingbroke, an ex Strathallan collection model that served with the R.C.A.F.

The Bolingbroke had a crew of three, with a top speed of 266 mph. It was initially a Blenheim MKI (designated Bristol Type 142M) and was first flown at Filton on 24th September 1937.

Morphing into the Blenheim, the Bolingbroke soon passed into obscurity, however, it did catch the eye of the Canadian Government, who applied to build it under licence at the Fairchild Aircraft Company in Quebec.

The original prototype model was sent to Canada and used as a pattern for subsequent designs, the first model entering Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) service in November 1939. For the first few years, Bolingbrokes were used in the anti-submarine role, initially along the eastern coast of Canada and then later on, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, along the western coast .

The Canadians made a number of changes to the original design, installing U.S. dials and instruments in a modified cockpit for one, and also making room to store a dingy should the aircraft come down in the icy waters around Canada.

Then as part of the agreement made between the Canadians and British for Canada to supply trained crews as part of their support for the war effort, Bolingbrokes were used as training aircraft, and so were supplied to various Gunnery and Flying Training Schools across Canada.

This particular example ‘9940’, is painted in a yellow colour scheme, it flew as part of this British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. It is an ex Strathallan collection aircraft previously used by the R.C.A.F. No. 5 Bomber and Gunnery School, Dafoe, Saskatchewan in Canada.

Another wartime example in the military hangar is the Supermarine Spitfire  LF.XVIe. Built in July 1945, TE462 never saw active war service, instead flew with one of the five Flying Refresher Schools to retrain pilots after the Second World War. Post service, it was used as a gate guard at RAF Ouston, Northumberland, in a time when the R.A.F. flew D.H. Vampires from the airfield. In 1968 TE462 was removed from Oulton to be used in the highly acclaimed film the ‘Battle of Britain’. Being  a much later model to those classic 1940 examples, extensive modifications would have been needed if it were to appear in any flying roles on camera.

In 1971, TE462 was donated by the Ministry of Defence to the now National Museum of Scotland, who were then, due to lack of space in Edinburgh, allowed to use one of the hangars at East Fortune for her storage.  It was this move that helped generate the ideas and movements that created the museum as it is today. Spitfire ‘TE462’ stands proudly as the centre piece of the military exhibition.

Supermarine Spitfire LF.XVIe

Spitfire LF.XVIe ‘TE462’ now stands on a plinth as the centre piece of the East Fortune Military Hangar.

Another Second World War Example is the German Messerschmitt Komet Me 163B-1a. Another 1945 example, this model (s/n 191659) is unique in that it was flown by R.A.F. pilot Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown. The Komet, built by various manufactures using slave labour, was the only rocket-powered aircraft ever to enter combat. A very dangerous aircraft to fly because of its mixture of explosive fuels, Brown described its handling to 32,000 ft as “Fantastic!”.

Messerschmitt Komet 163

The Messerschmitt Komet 163 flown by Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown

Post war and Cold War examples make up for most of the exhibits in this hangar at East Fortune. The nose section of Canberra B.8 reported to be VX185, is an ex Wroughton exhibit, the original of which flew a return flight to Canada in 10 hours 3 minutes and 29.28 seconds, setting a new transatlantic record at that time. The Canberra being a revolution in aircraft design in the early post war era, was used to fly long-range reconnaissance missions and proved its worth for many years to come.

Hawker Sea Hawk

WF259 Hawker Sea Hawk of the Royal Navy.

Two Royal Navy aircraft examples are found in this hangar, the Hawker Sea Hawk and the D.H. Sea Venom.

The Sea Hawk ‘WF259’ (171) is an F.2 model and a Lossiemouth veteran. Designed around a Rolls-Royce Nene 101 and latterly 103 engine, they were single seat fighters that first flew as a prototype on 2nd September 1947. Whilst not seen as a major step forward from the RAF’s Vampires and Meteors, it was successful with the Navy, proving its worth in the ground attack role. The Sea Hawk, a thoroughbred from the Sir Sydney Camm stables, formed the backbone of the Fleet Air Arm during the 1950s and was exported to various European countries and India, where many still survive as museum pieces today.

The D.H. Sea Venom, an FAW.22, WW145 ‘680’, is also an ex Lossiemouth veteran. Serving with both 891 and 750 Naval Air Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. It was a naval development of the RAF’s 2-seater Venom NF3 Night Fighter, with numerous modifications to enable it to operate from carrier decks.

de Havilland Sea Venom

The D.H. Sea Venom operated with both 891 and 750 Naval Air Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm.

A Meteor NF.14 of The Ferranti Flying Unit based at Edinburgh’s Turnhouse Airport, is painted in white and red giving it a distinctive paint scheme. The unit was set up in 1949 to test distance measuring equipment for the Ferranti group whilst based at the airport. Between its inception and disbandment in 1973, it flew twenty-five different models of aircraft, the long-nosed NF.14 being just one of them.

Aero S-103

Czechoslovakian marked Aero S-103. A Mig 15 built under licence.

International Cold War aircraft are represented with the Czechoslovakian marked Aero S-103. A Soviet MiG-15bis, it was built under licence by the Aero Vodochody aircraft company in 1956. The Mig proved itself as a very potent fighter during the Korean War, attacking U.S. bombers from beyond their defensive gun range. Whilst it did have its flying limitations, it was quickly realised as a close match for the American F-86 Sabres.

This particular model, ‘3677’ is an ex Caslav, Ostravian Air Regt. c/n 613677 of the Czechoslovakian Air Force, the badge just visible on the nose is that of the City of Ostrava.

Moving toward more modern eras, we see the E.E. Lightning, SEPECAT Jaguar, Hawker Siddeley Harrier, and the Panavia Tornado.

English Electric Lightning

XN776 served with 92 Squadron.

The Lightning, F.2A ‘XN776’, built by English Electric (B.A.C./B.A.) served with 92 Squadron, and was the only Mach 2 all British aircraft to serve with the R.A.F. Lightning XN776 first flew (as an F.2) on 18th October 1962 subsequently being delivered to 19 Squadron. After seven years, she was returned to Warton for conversion work to upgrade her to an F.2A model, and then delivered to 19 squadron at Gutersloh a few months later. Her last operational flight was on 3rd March 1977, being flown to Leuchars on April 5th that year. She displays on her tail, the blue diamonds that represent the Blue Diamond Aerobatic team that previously used Hunters with 92 Squadron. With a maximum speed of 1,500 mph (Mach 2.3) and a service ceiling in excess of 60,000 ft, she was a potent and deadly weapon restricted only by her high usage of fuel.

The Harrier, a GR.1, is the reputed to be the oldest surviving Harrier example, a unique design it is famous for its Vertical or Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) capabilities, now taken on by the F.35 Lightning. This particular model (XV277) was only used for test purposes and never saw operational service. During its life it has taken on many changes and modifications, but it still remains the much-loved Harrier.

Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1

The oldest surviving Harrier GR.1

The remaining aircraft here, the Jaguar and Tornado, did however see operational service. The Jaguar ‘XZ119’ (with nose art Katrina Jane), flew 40 operational sorties during the first Gulf War in 1990 / 1991, her nose-art bomb-tally testament to her successes; whilst the Tornado ‘ZE934’ also flew during the first Gulf War, performing air defence patrols from Saudi Arabia. Other than this it operated primarily at RAF Leuchars in Fife with 111 squadron.

SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A

Jaguar GR.1A ‘XZ119’ carried out 40 successful bombing missions during the first Gulf War.

Outside the military hangar is Vulcan B.2 XM597, the mighty ‘V’ bomber designed as Britain’s nuclear deterrent until the role was taken on by the Royal Navy in 1969.  XM597, an ex Waddington aircraft, entered service with 12 squadron on the 27th of August 1963, going on to serve with 35, 50, 9, and 101 squadrons. She also saw service in the Falklands in three of the Black Buck missions.

XM597 was different to other Vulcans in that she had wing pylons fitted. These carried up to four Shrike anti-radar missiles (previously for Skybolt) and were used during these missions.

Avro Vulcan XM597

XM597 next to a Blue Steel Stand off missile

Her first mission, Black Buck 4, was cancelled due to a faulty refuelling drogue on a Victor tanker. On the Black Buck 5 mission, on 31st May 1982, the Vulcan took off once again, over the target she fired two missiles causing some minor damage to an Argentinian Radar installation.

On mission six, XM597 returned to the Falklands again armed with more Shrike anti-radar missiles. Two missiles were launched and the enemy ground-based radar was destroyed. On the return leg of the mission though, a planned rendezvous with a Victor tanker went wrong when the refuelling probe on the Vulcan became damaged. With too little fuel to get home to Ascension Island, the Pilot, Squadron Leader Neil McDougall, diverted  to the only airfield he could possibly reach before running out of fuel. Climbing high and jettisoning the remaining two weapons (one failed to release and remained on the pylon), he carefully nursed the Vulcan to Rio de Janeiro where he landed safely and where the aircraft, her crew, and the remaining missile were impounded for nine days before being released.

One of the conditions of the release however, was that XM597 took no further part in the conflict with Argentina and that the rogue missile stayed in Brazil. XM597 later retired to the East Fortune collection in 1984, with her two missile strikes painted on her nose*3.

Avro Vulcan XM597

The under wing pylons that carried the Shrike Anti Radar missiles.

The military collection at East Fortune is, like the civil collection, filled with unique and historically important aircraft. A range that stems from the Second World War through the Cold War and on to modern conflicts and models, it is a dynamic collection of aircraft that just cannot fail to impress.

Sources and Further Reading.

*3 Royal Air Force Website – Operation ‘Black Buck’.

Scotland’s National Museum of Flight – East Fortune (Part 1).

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In the third part of Trail 42, we take a closer look at Scotland’s National Museum of Flight based on the former East Fortune airfield.

Located east of Edinburgh, not far from the main A1 road, between East Linton and Athelstaneford, East Fortune is an airfield with its roots set in the First World War. A former Airship station, it went on to house various training flights, and host a wide range of aircraft. Post war, it was adapted for possible U.S.A.F. use, then used to store food stuffs, and East Fortune stepped in to accommodate flights when Edinburgh’s Turnhouse airport was closed for maintenance and upgrading.

Since 1975 it has housed one of the best collections of aircraft in the country (many from the former Strathallan collection) along with a number of well-preserved airfield buildings. This site is so historically important that it is now a Scheduled Monument, the terms of which are set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979*1. Whilst not graded, East Fortune is, by definition, considered to be of national importance, and any such alterations or work done to it, has to have consent granted from Historic England who manages the process of scheduled monument consent on behalf of the Secretary of State.

To help preserve these buildings, several projects have been undertaken to restore them keeping as much as possible to the original war-time designs, with the work being undertaken by Smith Scott Mullan Associates of Edinburgh.*2

The National Museum of Flight has its aircraft stored in three hangars arranged by theme: civilian, military, and along with the Concorde Experience the Jet Age hangar. A fourth hangar is used for restoration and is closed to the public although tours can be arranged by appointment. The three main hangars are themselves historical pieces, each being a World War two Callender-Hamilton hangar.

Originally designed in the late 1930s, by Callender Cable and Construction, they were initially designed with canvas doors, but later models, built in 1940, were constructed with metal doors. Whist being more secure, and no doubt warmer, they reduced the clear door height from 25 feet to 17 feet. The overall length of 185 feet and door openings of 90 feet remained the same however. These examples at East Fortune were recently restored, again by Smith Scott Mullan Associates, using funds in the region of £3.6m awarded mainly by the Scottish Government but also the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

A number of the smaller technical buildings on the site were also targeted for restoration. After finding sagging roofs, penetrating damp, cracked or damaged rendering and distorted windows; five of the site’s buildings were earmarked for restoration and a five-year programme put in place to restore and preserve them, again keeping as close to the original designs as possible.

These buildings are now in full-time use, used for exhibitions, artefact storage and as an education centre.

In the first hangar, the Civilian Aviation Hangar, you can explore a range of civilian aircraft types, one notable model being the DH80 – de Havilland Puss Moth. A relatively unique aircraft, it was designed so that its wings could be folded back for easier storage. The undercarriage, an innovative feature in itself, could be turned through ninety degrees to act as air brakes thus allowing the pilot to land at a much steeper approach. Very popular, these models were often flown long distances with notable pilots including the long distance flyer Amy Johnson. Whilst primarily civilian, some models were used by the Royal Air Force, both 24 Squadron (Oct – Dec 1939) and 510 Squadron (delivered May 1941 on its formation). This particular model (ex G-ABDW) was the first Puss Moth to fly to Australia.

East Fortune National Museum of Flight The de Havilland Puss Moth VH-UQB (ex Strathallan G-ABDW), the first Puss Moth to fly to Australia.

Another notable aircraft here at East Fortune is the Miles M18 MKII Prototype. Built as a private venture it was intended to replace the Miles Magister. During test flights it was noted that the aircraft could not be put into a spin by the pilot. However, sadly lacking in what the Air Ministry described as ‘robustness’, it was not put into full production and so only three models were ever built; the MKI, MKII and MKIII. The last remaining example here at East Fortune, G-AHKY, ‘HM545’, is the MKII and had a Certificate of Airworthiness up until September 1989, it was delivered to East Fortune four years later in 1993. It has a notable history in that it was sent to the Royal Navy on short loan, this may have been for service trials and was with 759 squadron in January 1941. In 1956 it won the Goodyear Trophy Air Race and in 1961, the Kings Cup Air Race reaching a speed of 142 mph.

The three M18s operated with two engine types, the D.H. Gipsy Major engine (MKI) and the Blackburn Cirrus Major engine (MKII/III), giving a maximum speed of 142 mph and a ceiling height of 12,800 feet. It had a cruising speed of 130 mph. This particular example remains the only one left in existence.

East Fortune National Museum of Flight The Miles M18 MKII Prototype, the only remaining example of its type.

Also at East Fortune is a General Aircraft Cygnet. Designed in 1936, it was first flown in May 1937, and was at that time, the first all-metal stressed-skin light plane to be both constructed and flown in the U.K. This particular model, was a later modified model having a nose wheel as opposed to a tail wheel and designated the GAL.42 Cygnet II. After the initial prototype, only ten production models were ever built with five going to the Royal Air Force (24 and 510 Squadron, 51 and 52 O.T.U.). This and one other (reported to be in very poor condition in Argentina) are the only surviving examples in the world.

G-AGBN is currently exhibited in military colours, an ex Strathallan example, it served as ES915 with both 51 and 52 O.T.U. preparing pilots for the Boston, another tricycle carriage aircraft of the Second World War. It is also reported that the Cygnet was flown by Guy Gibson, adding further historical interest to this model.

East Fortune National Museum of Flight The General Aircraft L.42 Cygnet II – adapted as a trainer for pilots of RAF Boston aircraft.

Other civilian examples found here include: an Avro Anson in part construction form, a de Havilland Dove 6, G-ANOV (ex SAFU Stansted), a Jetstream 3100 (G-JSSD) and a BAC 111-510ED located outside the hangar.

East Fortune Ex Prestwick Jetstream 3100 (G-JSSD)

The civilian hangar at East Fortune holds many rare and interesting examples from aviation’s history. Each one worthy of saving and viewing. In the next part, we look into the military examples at East Fortune, with aircraft ranging from the Second World War through the Cold war to the modern fighters of the Royal Air Force.

Sources and Further Reading:

*1The National Archives

*2 Smith Scott Mullan Associates website

Flt. Sgt. Arthur L. Aaron, V.C., D.F.M., 218 Sqn, RAF Downham Market

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The Second World War produced some incredible heroes, men and women, who in he face of incredible odds, continued to carry out their duties, often going beyond those expected of anyone.

One such man was Arthur Louis Aaron, of 218 Squadron, RAF Downham Market, Norfolk.

Image result for arthur louis aaron

Arthur Louis Aaron (RAFVR) V.C., D.F.M, (source unknown)

Aaron, born 5th March, 1922, in Leeds,  who at the time that war was declared, was training to become an architect at Leeds School of Architecture. On joining the Royal Air Force on December 15th, 1941, he was sent, via Canada, to No.1 British Flying Training School (B.F.T.S.) at Terrell, Texas, where he completed his initial flying training.

Aaron like the other recruits would pass through ten weeks of biplane flying, moving onto monoplane aircraft at which point, if successful, they would receive their wings. Returning back home also via Canada, he was hoping to fly fighters but was disappointed when he was posted to bomber training, and was sent to 6 Advanced Flying Unit at Little Rissington. After further training, he was sent on to 1657 Heavy Conversion Unit (Stradishall) flying Stirling MKIs, and then on 17th April 1943, he was posted to his first operational flying unit, 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron, at RAF Downham Market.  

Whilst here at Downham Market, Aaron continued flying Short Stirling bombers, the large heavy bomber that proved to be both vulnerable to fighters and poor performing. Due to high losses it  was eventually pulled out of front line bombing duties, and used for mine laying, glider towing and parachute operations.

Aaron’s first mission would be the very next day after arriving at Downham Market. He, and his crew, would fly a ‘gardening’ mission laying mines off Biaritz, after which he would be sent on more heavily defended targets within German occupied Europe and Germany itself.

At 21:35 on the night of August 12 – 13th 1943, Flt. Sgt. Aaron and his crew: Sgt. M. M. Mitchem (Flt Eng.); Sgt. A. C. Brennan (RCAF) (Nav.); Flt. Sgt. A. W. Larden (RCAF) (Bomb Aim.); Sgt. T. Guy (Wop/AG); Sgt. J. Richmond (M.U. Gunner) and Sgt. T. M. McCabe (R. Gunner), all took off from Downham Market on their second mission of August to attack Turin, a night that featured several attacks on Italian targets.

This would be Aaron’s 20th and final mission, three as co-pilot and seventeen as pilot. He was a man known for his courage and bravery, only 12 days earlier he had struggled with his aircraft whilst his crew bravely fought fires that had broken out in the fuselage after being hit by incendiaries from aircraft flying above. Using his skill and judgement, he managed to evade both flak and searchlights by corkscrewing his aircraft whilst the crew members put out the fire that resulted from the accident. For his action on this day, he would be awarded the D.F.M.,*1 one of the highest possible awards for non-commissioned officers in the Royal Air Force, but this, like his V.C., would only come posthumously after his death on 13th August 1943.

That night, two of the thirteen 218 Sqn aircraft from RAF Downham Market in Norfolk, would be posted ‘missing’; Stirling HA-Y ‘MZ 263’ piloted by F/O J. McMallister, and that of 21-year-old Arthur Aaron – Stirling III ‘EF452’ HA-O . Whilst in the bomber stream heading toward Turin,  the aircraft was hit by gunfire from another aircraft. The navigator, (Sgt. Brennan s/n R/117605) was killed, Sgt. Mitchem and Flt. Sgt. Larden were both injured. The aircraft, now badly damaged, had been hit in three of the engines resulting in one of them being put out of action. Both front and rear turrets were immobilised, various control lines were broken and the windscreen was shattered. During the attack, Aaron received devastating blows to his face, his jaw being broken and quantities of flesh being blown away. A further bullet struck him in the chest, puncturing his lung. Now in great pain and severely injured, Aaron fell against the control column forcing the aircraft into a dive. After the Flight Engineer regained control, a course was set for North Africa, Aaron was moved to the rear of the plane where he was treated. He remained here for only a short time, insisting on returning to the cockpit where he was placed with his feet on the rudder bars. Wanting to take over, he had simply insufficient strength, and was persuaded to assist rather than fly. He wrote notes with his left hand, guiding the crew toward the airfield at Bone, in Algiers. After four failed attempts at landing, the bomb-aimer finally managed to get the aircraft down, low on fuel and with its undercarriage still raised.

The entry in the Operations Record Book for August 12th 1943, merely states “Landed in Algiers, Sergeant Brennan, Navigator Killed.”*2

At 15:00 on August 13th 1943, Arthur Aaron finally lost his determined battle to survive and died from his terrible injuries. He had fought on, overcoming severe pain and injury to guide his crewmen back to safety. Flt. Sgt. Aaron was buried alongside Sgt. Brennan in Bone War Cemetery, in Algeria.

For their action Flt. Sgt. Larden received the C.G.M., and Sgt Mitcham and Sgt. Guy, both a D.F.M.

Arthur Aaron was awarded not only his D.F.M. from his previous mission, but the V.C., the highest honour for military personnel. His V.C. was announced in the London Gazette on November 5th, 1943*3.

It reads:

Air Ministry, 5th November, 1943.

The King has been graciously pleased to confer the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned airman in recognition of most conspicuous bravery:
1458181 Acting Flight Sergeant Arthur Louis Aaron, D.F.M., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 218 Squadron (deceased).

On the night of 12 August 1943, Flight Sergeant Aaron was captain and pilot of a Stirling aircraft detailed to attack Turin. When approaching to attack, the bomber received devastating bursts of fire from an enemy fighter. Three engines were hit, the windscreen shattered, the front and rear turrets put out of action and the elevator control damaged, causing the aircraft to become unstable and difficult to control. The navigator was killed and other members of the crew were wounded.

A bullet struck Flight Sergeant Aaron in the face, breaking his jaw and tearing away part of his face. He was also wounded in the lung and his right arm was rendered useless. As he fell forward over the control column, the aircraft dived several thousand feet. Control was regained by the flight engineer at 3,000 feet. Unable to speak, Flight Sergeant Aaron urged the bomb aimer by signs to take over the controls. Course was then set southwards in an endeavour to fly the crippled bomber, with one engine out of action, to Sicily or North Africa.

Flight Sergeant Aaron was assisted to the rear of the aircraft and treated with morphia. After resting for some time he rallied and, mindful of his responsibility as captain of aircraft, insisted on returning to the pilot’s cockpit, where he was lifted into his seat and had his feet placed on the rudder bar. Twice he made determined attempts to take control and hold the aircraft to its course but his weakness was evident and with difficulty he was persuaded to desist. Though in great pain and suffering from exhaustion, he continued to help by writing directions with his left hand.

Five hours after leaving the target the petrol began to run low, but soon afterwards the flare path at Bone airfield was sighted. Flight Sergeant Aaron summoned his failing strength to direct the bomb aimer in the hazardous task of landing the damaged aircraft in the darkness with undercarriage retracted. Four attempts were made under his direction; at the fifth Flight Sergeant Aaron was so near to collapsing that he had to be restrained by the crew and the landing was completed by the bomb aimer.

Nine hours after landing, Flight Sergeant Aaron died from exhaustion. Had he been content, when grievously wounded, to lie still and conserve his failing strength, he would probably have recovered, but he saw it as his duty to exert himself to the utmost, if necessary with his last breath, to ensure that his aircraft and crew did not fall into enemy hands. In appalling conditions he showed the greatest qualities of courage, determination and leadership and, though wounded and dying, he set an example of devotion to duty which has seldom been equalled and never surpassed.

A number of memorials exist in honour of Arthur Aaron. On the site of the former accommodation blocks at Bexwell (RAF Downham Market) stands a small plaque in his honour along side that of Squadron Leader Ian Bazalgette, who also won the V.C. whilst at Downham Market.

There is another plaque in the main hall of Roundhay School, Leeds, Aaron’s former school; another commemoration can be found at the AJEX Jewish Military Museum in Hendon, London, and a five-metre bronze sculpture by Graham Ibbeson has been erected on a roundabout to the north of Leeds city centre. Unveiled on 24th March 2001 by the last survivor of the crew, Malcolm Mitchem, it represents the freedom Aaron’s sacrifice helped ensure.

RAF Downham Market

The Memorial Plaque at the former RAF Downham Market.

Sources and Further Reading:

RAF Downham Market appears in Trail 7.

Other Heroic tales appear in Heroic Tales of WW II.

*1 London Gazette, 15th October 1943, page 4620.

*2 Air 27/1351 – National Archives

*3 London Gazette, (supplement) 5th November 5th, 1943, page 4859

No. 218 Gold Coast Squadron, 1936-1945. A blog that has many letters, from Aaron along with the history of 218 Squadron.

R.A.F. East Fortune – Scotland’s Baby that Grew up.

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After leaving R.A.F Drem, we travel a few miles to the east, away from Edinburgh to an airfield that was originally built in the First World War. In the mid war years it was closed and returned to agriculture; then, as the Second World War loomed, it was reopened, used by both the Navy and the Air Force. As such, its history goes back to the turn of the last century. Today it is Scotland’s home of the National Museum of Flight, it is also has one of the best preserved collections of original buildings left in the country. In the second part of Trail 42, we visit the former airfield of R.A.F East Fortune.

R.A.F East Fortune.

R.A.F East Fortune is another airfield that has its roots in the First World War. Located 4 miles north-east of the small town of Haddington, and a similar distance east of R.A.F Drem, it has since become Scotland’s premier aviation museum, housing one of the best collections of aircraft in the north.

East Fortune National Museum of Flight

One of the many buildings left at East Fortune.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, German intrusions over British towns and cities became both a tangible and frightening threat. Scotland and the north-east along with North Sea shipping lanes, all became targets. To counteract these threats, a string of defensive airfields (Stations) were built along the eastern coast of Britain operating as a combined force in the British Home Defence Network.

East Fortune become one such station, from which, during 1915, a small number of aircraft would operate. Designed to protect the waters around the city of Edinburgh and the North Sea coast, it fulfilled this role using a selection of aircraft including types such as the: Sopwith Scout, Maurice Fairman, Avro 504 and B.E.2c.

It wasn’t until 1916 though that the airfield really came into its own. Officially opened in August as a Royal Naval Air Station, it operated initially Coastal Class airships, followed shortly after by North Sea Class airships, both of the non-rigid design. Later on, as airships developed, the more famous ‘R’ series rigid airships appeared and took their place at East Fortune.

As a major airship station, there would often be five or six of the type at East Fortune at any one time, each carrying out submarine patrols over the North Sea. To ensure their safety whilst on land, a number of airship sheds were built; the design and development of these sheds proceeded almost as fast and dramatic as the airships themselves.

When war broke out, the threat posed to British ships  by German submarines, became all too apparent. The Admiralty recognising the potential of airships as spotters, were soon to put in an order for a ship that would be able to travel at speeds of between 40 – 50 mph, carry two crew, 160lb of bombs, wireless equipment and sufficient fuel for up to 8 hours flying time. These airships would ideally reach altitudes of around 5,000ft, and their design be so basic, that the crew could be trained and in the air within weeks rather than months. The first of these ships was the Submarine Scout (S.S.) class, a design that was so simple, the first were airborne within three weeks of the initial prototype being built. In essence, these used the wingless fuselage of a B.E.2c aeroplane suspended beneath a simple envelope. These ‘S.S.’ ships were so successful in their role, that the Admiralty ordered more, bigger and faster airships, and so the Coastal Class was then born.

The Coastal Class was larger at 195.6 feet long. They had two 150hp engines, a top speed of 52 mph, and could be airborne for up to 22 hours at a time. Designed around a French design, they were made of three sections, an unusual “Tri-lobe” design. The gondola itself, utilised two shortened Avro seaplane aircraft fuselages, the tails were removed and the two sections joined back-to-back. This produced a car that could seat four or five crew members with two engines at opposing ends. Canvas and planking was added for further strength and improved crew comfort. Operating successfully for two years, many soon became weary and in need of updating. Deciding to opt for an improved alternative, the Admiralty scrapped the Coastal Class and brought in the last of the non-rigid designs, the North Sea (N.S.) Class.

Initial trials and operations of the N.S. Class proved it to be very unpopular. Problems with the drive system left many crews unhappy about its performance, its top speed of 57mph rarely, if ever, being achieved. The original engines, 250 horse-power Rolls Royce engines, had very elaborate transmission systems, in fact so elaborate that they were prone to breaking. The only answer was to replace the entire system and attach the propellers directly to the engine itself. Once this problem was overcome, the airship was hailed as a success to the point that many of them broke flight endurance records on an almost regular basis. Whilst flights of 30 hours or more were not unusual, some extended as far as 61 hours, and even post war, one of these ships flew for an incredible 101 hours non stop.

The period 1916 – 17 saw a rapid advancement in airship design and development. The larger rigid airships (so-called because the envelope was now wrapped around a rigid frame) were now coming into being, and the remainder of the war would see these new airships coming on-line and into service, many appearing at East Fortune.

To counter the German’s Zeppelin threat, three new manufactures were contracted to build these rigid ships: Beardmore, Armstrong and Whitworth, and lastly Shorts Brothers.

At East Fortune, (H.M.A) R.24 was delivered on October 28th 1917, and not without its problems. Initial testing revealed that it was two-thirds of a ton heavier than its sister ship R.23, and after investigations as to why, it was discovered that it was the rivets used that were the problem. In order to move the craft from its Beardmore shed, a number of weight modifications had to urgently be made. These modifications included removing an engine and all the associated components from the rear car.

RAF EAST FORTUNE DURING THE INTERWAR YEARS

The camouflaged Airship shed built to house H.M.A. R.34 at East Fortune. Note the smaller shed to the right. (IWM – Q103040)

Although now much lighter, R.24 paid the price with speed, with no replacement of the propulsion unit, she remained slow, achieving a top speed of little more than 35 mph. But she did cover some 4,200 miles and flew for 164 hours in total; most of which were as training flights. As an operational airship however, she was little more than useless, and was eventually scrapped in 1919.

The next rigid airship to arrive and operate from East Fortune was R.29 in the following June. R.29 went on to be considered the most successful wartime rigid airship. Being the only one to be involved in direct enemy action, she was responsible for the sinking of the German submarine UB.115. Commissioned on 20th June 1918, she was based at East Fortune and would cover around 8,200 operational miles, in some 335 hours flying time. This would be a short-lived active life though, lasting only five months before the war finally came to an end.

Carrying on flying post war, she would eventually be scrapped in October 1919 having covered in total, 11,334 miles in service, more than any other British rigid airship up to that time.

Post war, rigids continued to operate from East Fortune; R.34 perhaps being the most famous. Another craft from the works of William Beardmore and Co. Ltd. of Inchinnan near Glasgow, R.34 would be constructed in the later stages of the war under War Specifications. At 634 feet in length with a top speed of 62 mph generated by five 270 hp Sunbeam ‘Maori’ engines, she would cost £350,000 to build. R.34 would be designed to carry twenty 100 lb and four 550 lb bombs, a range of Pom-Pom, Lewis and two-pounder quick-firing guns, but as she wasn’t finished until after the war, none of these were ever fitted, nor was she flown in anger.

R.34 probably at East Fortune. (author unknown)

Completed in early 1919, she just missed out the first Atlantic crossing, being laid up by damage caused by poor handling, and thus beaten to the record now held by Alcock and Brown. In May, she arrived at East Fortune, here she carried out a number of test flights including an endurance flight across the Scandinavian countries. Then in July 1919, she became the first aircraft to make the Atlantic crossing, both east to west, and back again.

On the evening of 1st July 1919 the ship was fueled to capacity, in the early hours of the morning she was moved out of her shed and prepared for the flight. Her captain, Major Scott, decided gave the order to release and at 1.42 am (GMT) R.34 lifted slowly in to the Scottish sky.

A record was made, R.34 had put East Fortune firmly on the map. After 108 hours and 12 minutes flying time, R.34, her crew and two stowaways: William Ballantyne and a small tabby kitten called “Whoopsie”, landed at Mineola, Long Island, New York.

After a major refit at East Fortune, R.34 left for Pulham airship base in Norfolk. Here she carried out a number of flights, but was eventually badly damaged in strong winds, and after being stripped, she was sold for scrap – a rather ungainly ending to an incredible machine.

Airships were not to be the only user of East Fortune though. With the formation of the Royal Air Force in 1918, it would initially house No. 208 Training Depot Station (T.D.S.), designed to train torpedo bomber pilots using a variety of aircraft types, such as the Sopwith Camel and Beardmore W.B.III. In August 1918, it became 201 Training Depot Station, merging both 1 Torpedo Training Squadron, and the Torpedo Aeroplane School already at East Fortune.

A Sopwith Cuckoo (N6954) of the Torpedo Aeroplane School dropping a torpedo during trials at East Fortune, 24 – 26 July 1918. (IWM Q 67496)

On 21st October 1918, No. 185 Squadron was formed here, made by merging elements of 31, 33, 39 and 49 Torpedo Depot Stations, they would fly the Sopwith Cuckoo until April 1919, when it was reduced to a cadre, and then disbanded five days later on April 14th, 1919.

It was also in this month on the 31st, October 1918, just days before the armistice that year, that Bristol F.2b B8942 of 201 T.D.S, left R.A.F. East Fortune for a bombing mission against the German Fleet. During the take off, the aircraft stalled and crashed into the ground. In what must have been the last casualties of 201’s operations, the two crew: Lieutenant Lynn N. Bissell (age 19), and  Lieutenant Eric W. Bragg (22), were both killed when a bomb they were carrying exploded on impact. They have remained together ever since in Athelstaneford Parish Churchyard in East Lothian*1.

201 Training Depot Station were soon re-designated as the Torpedo Training School, finally being disbanded on February 1st, 1920, here at East Fortune.

This move signalled the end of East Fortune as an airfield for now. The site was closed, many of the buildings were removed either scrapped or sold off, and no further flying activity would take place.

East Fortune National Museum of Flight

A small part of the collection of wartime buildings that still exist at East Fortune.

After laying dormant for around twenty years, the outbreak of war saw East Fortune brought back to life once more. Designated a satellite for R.A.F. Drem, it was virtually unchanged in its layout. After a period of expansion and development, new runways were laid, a technical site established, and accommodation and administration areas developed. A bomb dump was created to the south-west, well away from the other areas to the north. The runways, tarmac laid on hardcore, were all non-standard lengths, 1,710 yards, 1,560 yards and 1,100 yards but they were the standard 50 yards wide.

The first to arrive were 60 Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.)  in June 1941. A night fighter development unit they flew a range of aircraft including: Boulton Paul’s Defiant, Miles’ Master and Magister, and Westland’s Lysander. In June 1942, the  twin-engined Beaufighter also arrived here, a year which also saw a return of the Blenheim and Beaufort. Some of these Beaufighters were dual control and several had Aircraft Interception (A.I.) equipment installed.

It was in one of these Defiants, that pilot Sergeant Anthony. D.C. La Gruta, (s/n 400719) (R.A.A.F.) was killed when the aircraft he was in plunged into the ground with such force that it buried itself some 16 feet down. The Ministry of Defence, unable to recover the wreckage, declared it a war grave and his body remains there to this day. A monument and parts of the wreckage currently mark the spot where the aircraft lies. Whilst it can’t be confirmed, it would appear that whilst out conducting a series of ‘homing tests’, the pilot lost control of the aircraft resulting in the tragic accident.

East Fortune National Museum of Flight

One of several Air Raid shelters at East Fortune.

During October 1942, No. 2 Glider School were formed here, they were quickly moved on however, and disbanded later at Dumfries – playing virtually no part in the development of East Fortune. On 24th November 1942, 60 O.T.U. was officially disbanded, and then immediately reformed as 132 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit, remaining at East Fortune airfield. Operating under the leadership of No. 17 (Training) Group (R.A.F. Coastal Command) it was designed to train crews in the long-range fighter and strike role. To achieve this, there were some sixty aircraft split primarily between Beaufighters and Blenheims; with other models such as Beauforts, Lysanders, Magisters and Spitfire VBs also adding to the busy airspace in this region of Southern Scotland.

In May 1944, Belgian Flying Officer, Gilbert A. E. Malchair, (s/n 132969), and Flight Sergeant, Roger H. L. Closon, (s/n 1424811), both of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, took off in Beaufighter ‘EL457’ on what is believed to be a training sortie. Little is still known about the accident but it is believed that the pilot reduced height to prevent icing, in doing so, the aircraft collided with the ground at Hedgehope Hill (Threestoneburn Wood) in the Cheviots. As a result, both crewmen were killed.

In 1944 a few D.H. Mosquitoes arrived at the airfield, but by now East Fortune had begun the long wind down. By May 1946, 132 O.T.U. was disbanded, and the aircraft were either dispersed or scrapped.

The airfield remained in R.A.F. hands, but during the cold war years, the U.S. Air Force lengthened two of the runways in anticipation of the Cold War becoming ‘hot’. Thankfully however,  hostilities never broke out and occupation of the site never materialised. East Fortune was then used as storage facility in case of any subsequent Soviet attack, primarily for the ‘Green Goddess’ fire engines, and later to store food stuffs by the Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries. The site remained ‘open’, and for a short period – April to August 1961 – it acted as a replacement for Edinburgh’s Turnhouse international airport recording just short of 100,000 passenger movements. After this, in 1961, East Fortune was finally closed and the site vacated.

Callender-Hamilton Hangar East Fortune National Museum of Flight

Two of the three Callender-Hamilton hangars.

Over the years East Fortune had gone from an Airship site to a night fighter training school. Operational Training Units had lost crews and the entire site developed and expanded. Two of the three runways were expanded up to 2,000 yards, 46 hardstands were laid, it had 3 Callender-Hamilton hangars, 8 blister hangars, and accommodated 1,501 R.A.F personnel and 794 W.A.A.Fs. Designed as a satellite it had achieved a remarkable status, incredibly much more than it was ever designed to do.

Since its closure however, it has taken on a new role, developing both its past and preserving its history, turning it into what is possibly Scotland’s finest aviation museum. Many of the Second World War buildings still remain: The night flying store (drawing number 17831/40); three Callender-Hamilton hangars; Nissen stores, latrines and a refurbished parachute store. The Watch Office sadly not refurbished, is also present on the airfield site, as are a number of air raid shelters. The main runway is also still in situ, now used for Sunday markets, with the original section and extended post war sections being dissected by the road through the site. The perimeter track and secondary runways are also intact, having been used in part for racing activities.

East Fortune

The Watch Office remains on the ‘active’ side of the airfield site.

One of the benefits of East Fortune is the location of all these buildings, primarily on one relatively small site. Access is easy although many of them are sadly locked and out-of-bounds to the public.

Considering its early history and the sacrifice many of its crews gave, East Fortune is an important site, it stands as a memorial to all those who came and died here, and to all those who not only wrote history, but have contributed to it over the last 100 years.

Sources and further reading:

Further details of R,34’s trip can be found here.

Additional pictures of East Fortune can be found on flckr.

More detailed information about R.34 and the development of Airships can be found on The Airship Heritage Trust website .

The Eastern Daily Press ran several articles on the commemoration of R34’s journey 100 years on. The articles are available on the EDP Website.

*1 The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

July 11th 1945 – Last B-24 leaves the U.K.

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As the war drew to a close, encircled German troops, took to flooding the fields of western Holland, forcing the local Dutch people down to starvation levels. In an attempt to help them, Allied operational bombing missions turned to mercy missions. Operations  ‘Manna‘  and ‘Chow Hound’  involved Allied bombers flying low-level to drop supplies of food and other provisions to these people.  They would fly aircraft along mutually agreed routes  to dropping points at the Hague and other sites around Rotterdam.

The first of these RAF operations occurred at the end of April into the early days of May, followed by the USAAF between the 1st and 8th of May 1945. On this first operation, 396 B-17s flew from their bases in East Anglia to unload some 700 tons of provisions over the affected area. Over the next few days similar flights would also take place, which would in total provide some 11,000 tons of food to the starving population. During one of these missions on May 7th, B-17G  #44- 8640 of the 95th BG, 334th BS, was believed to have been hit by ground fire over Ijmuiden,  The aircraft, engine ablaze, ditched in the North Sea. Rescue efforts were mounted to recover the crewmen and observers, but only two survived – eleven were lost. It is believed to be last combat casualty of 8th Air Force in World War 2.

Also during this time, ‘Trolley runs‘ began in which around 10,000 ground crew and other personnel, were given the opportunity to see first hand, the destruction caused by the relentless allied bombing campaign of the previous years. Many were shocked to see the extent of the damage having lived in the relative safety of their airfields back home.

Whilst some crews enjoyed the ‘sight seeing tours’ others were involved in ‘Revival‘ flights, bringing home the many thousands of Allied prisoners of war and displaced persons interned in camps as far away as Austria.

Gradually even these missions began to slow. Squadrons and airfields were wound down, and eyes began to turn to the Pacific. An American force consisting of three P-51 and nine B-17 groups would remain in Europe, the rest of the Eighth  Air force would return home for rest or training and eventual posting to the Pacific.

In the third week of May 1945, the huge operation began, the first B-24 left the U.K. for American shores, a flight that would begin seven weeks of flights across the Atlantic routes. In total some 41,500 men and 2,118 aircraft would depart the U.K. for home, most through either Prestwick in Scotland, or Valley in Wales.

Valley airfield became known as “Happy Valley”, and would see about 90% of the returning aircraft leave from here. Each of the aircraft leaving would carry its crew and 10 passengers, along with sacks of mail for home.

On July 11th 1945, 1st Lt. Gean (or Gene) Williams climbed aboard his B-24, started its engines and pulled off the runway at Valley; the last B-24 the leave the U.K, and with it began the slow demise of Britain’s wartime airfields.

The ‘New York Times’ Published a report on the last Liberator to leave the U.K. on July 12th 1945.

July 2nd 1919, H.M.A. R.34 Sets A World Record Flight.

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On July 2nd 1919 at 01:42, airship R.34 lifted off from the airfield at East Fortune, east of Edinburgh, to make an epic voyage – the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean east to west by a powered aircraft.

R.34 possibly at East Fortune. (author unknown)

Conceived as early as 1916, R.34 was built at the works of William Beardmore and Co. Ltd. of Inchinnan near Glasgow. At 634 feet in length with a top speed of 62 mph, she would have five 270 hp Sunbeam ‘Maori’ engines, and would cost £350,000 to build. Her massive size gave her an impressive 1,950,000 cubic feet for gas storage, and she would be equivalent in size to a Dreadnought battleship. A major step forward in airship design, her aerodynamic shape reduced total air resistance to that of just 7% of an equivalently sized flat disc.

As she was designed under war specifications, R.34 would be built to carry twenty 100 lb and four 550 lb bombs, a range of Pom-Pom guns, Lewis machine guns and a small number of two-pounder quick-firing guns; but as she wasn’t finished until after the war, none of these were ever fitted, nor was she ever flown in anger.

Completed in early 1919, she just missed out on achieving the record of the first Atlantic crossing, being laid up by damage caused by poor handling, and thus beaten to the record now held by Alcock and Brown.

In May, she arrived at East Fortune airfield, a major airship station in East Lothian, from where she carried out a number of test flights including an endurance flight across the Scandinavian countries. In July she was set to make the first  Atlantic crossing, east to west.

In preparation for the flight, eight engineers were sent to the United States to train ground crews in the safe handling of the airship. The Admiralty provided two  warships, the Renown and Tiger, as surface supply vessels, and should R.34 have got into difficulty, she could have been taken in tow by one, or both of the two vessels.

On the evening of 1st July 1919 the ship was fueled to capacity (some 6,000 gallons), and in the early hours of the morning she was moved out of her shed and prepared for the flight. Her captain, Major G. H. Scott, gave the order to release early, and at 1.42 am (GMT) R.34 lifted slowly in to the Scottish sky.

After battling strong winds and Atlantic storms, R.34 finally arrived at Mineola. Huge crowds had turned out to greet her and her crew, a grandstand had been erected, parks and public spaces were packed with onlookers. Major J. Pritchard (The Special Duties Officer) put on a parachute and jumped from the airship to become the first man to arrive in America by air. He helped organise ground staff and prepared the way for R.34 to safely dock. As she settled on her moorings, she had not only become the fist aircraft to fly the Atlantic East to West, but broke the current endurance record previously held by the North Sea Airship NS 11, also based at East Fortune.

A record was made, R.34 had put British Airship designs and East Fortune firmly on the map. After 108 hours and 12 minutes flying time, R.34, her crew and two stowaways: William Ballantyne and a small tabby kitten called “Whoopsie”, had landed at Mineola, Long Island, New York.

After a 3 day stay in which the crew were treated like the heroes they were, R.34 was prepared for the homeward journey. On Wednesday July 10th 1919, at 23:54 she lifted off and set sail for home.

With prevailing winds carrying her eastward, she made an astonishing 90 mph, giving the opportunity to cut some of the engines and preserve fuel. This gave the crew a chance to divert over London, but due to a mechanical breakdown, this was cancelled and R.34 continued on her original route. Poor weather at East Fortune meant that she was ordered to divert to Pulham Air Station, Norfolk, but even after clarification that the weather had improved, her return to East Fortune was denied and she had to continue to Pulham – much to the disgust of the crew on board. At Pulham, the reception was quiet, RAF personnel greeted her and secured her moorings. She has covered almost 7,500 miles at an average speed of 43 mph.

Eventually after a major refit at East Fortune, R.34 left for the return to Pulham. After six weeks of static mooring, R.34 was sent to Yorkshire, to Howden Airship Station. Here she was used to train American crews, was modified for mast mooring and used for general training duties. During one such training mission, she was badly damaged in strong winds, and after sustaining further damage whilst trying to moor and secure her, she began to buckle. Falling to the ground, she broke up and was damaged beyond repair. R.34 was then stripped of all useful materials and the remainder of her enormous structure sold for scrap – a rather ungainly ending to an incredible and historical machine.

H.M.A. R.34 and her crew had become the first to cross the Atlantic east to west, they had achieved the  longest endurance flight, and become the first aircraft to complete a double-crossing of the Atlantic.

East Fortune

The memorial stone at East Fortune airfield commemorating the epic flight of R.34.

The Flight Crew for the Atlantic journey were:

Major G. H. Scott A.F.C – Captain
Captain G. S. Greenland – Second Officer
Second Lt. H. F. Luck- Third Officer
Second Lt. J. D. Shotter – Engineering Officer
Major G. G. H. Cooke DSC – Navigator
Major J. E. M. Pritchard O.B.E. – Special Duties
Lt. G. Harris – Meteorological Officer Second
Lt. R. F. Durrant – Wireless Officer
Lt. Commander Z. Lansdowne – Representative U S Navy
Brigadier General E. M. Maitland – Special Duties
Warrant Officer W. R. Mayes – First Coxswain
Flight Sergeant W. J. Robinson – Second Coxswain

Sergeant H. M. Watson – Rigger
Corporal R. J. Burgess – Rigger
Corporal F. Smith – Rigger
F. P. Browdie – Rigger
J. Forteath – Rigger Corporal

H. R. Powell – Wireless Telegraphy
W. J. Edwards – Wireless Telegraphy

W. R. Gent – Engineer
R. W. Ripley – Engineer
N. A. Scull – Engineer
G. Evenden – Engineer
J. Thirlwall – Engineer
E. P. Cross – Engineer
J. H. Gray – Engineer
G. Graham – Engineer
J. S. Mort – Engineer
J. Northeast – Engineer
R. Parker – Engineer

W. Ballantyne – Stowaway
“Whoopsie” – a small tabby kitten and stowaway

The crew of R.34 Crew – with the crew pets.

East Fortune airfield appears in Trail 42.

Historic RAF Halton to Close in 2022.

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RAF Halton, currently used for basic training of new recruits, is set to close in 2022 following the Ministry of Defence’s announcement that it was having to save £140 million over the next ten years.

Halton is also used by the Specialist Training School, which is part of No 22 (Training) Group, which provides training in all three areas of: Environmental Management, Health and Safety and Quality Management for the Royal Air Force.

At Halton, new recruits go through a range of activities over a 9 week period including: general knowledge, fitness, inspections, arms instructions and of course P.T. etc,. The course culminates, for those successful candidates, in a graduation parade.

RAF Halton has its roots prior to the First World War, when the then land owner, Alfred de Rothschild, allowed the Army to use the land for manoeuvres. After a short while, the RFC (No. 3 Sqn) arrived with a small contingency of machines and men. When war broke out, the entire estate was handed over to Lord Kitchener, and by mid-war it was awash with tents and wooden huts accommodating up to 20,000 young men, many of whom would never be returning from the battlefields of France and Belgium.

By 1917 there was a great need for aircraft mechanics and technical expertise in the RFC, Halton would become the hub for training these men. New huts were established, and it became known as the School of Technical Training (Men), which would eventually pass some 14,000 mechanics by the end of the year. By the end of 1918, it would also be training women (2,000) and boys (2,000) along side the 6,000 mechanics it already had under its wing.

After the death of Alfred de Rothschild in 1918, the War Office purchased the entire estate from his nephew for £112,000 and developed it into a an Officer Cadet College for the forthcoming Royal Air Force in April. The transfer of the site eventually went through the following year, and Halton took on a new role.

In December 1919 a new apprentice scheme was set up, where boys between the ages of 15 and 16 were recruited and trained internally; the idea being to intensify the programme reducing it from its normal 5 years to only 3. In January 1922, the first group of 500 recruits arrived, and Halton became No. 1 School of Technical Training; a school that would provide both ground crew and technical staff for the RAF. This scheme ran for 73 years before closing, at which point it has created 40,000 trained recruits, not just for the RAF, but for overseas Air Forces as well.

Since then, Halton has continued to train recruits: chefs, stewards, tradesmen, maintenance crews and even helped in the development of innovative surgical procedures in the Princess Mary Royal Air Force Hospital, opened in 1927; a task it sadly no longer continues to do today.

Flying has, and does occur at RAF Halton. On the 15th June 1943, No. 529 Sqn RAF was formed here from the disbanded 1448 (Radar Calibration) Flight, previously at Duxford. Between 1943 and its disbandment on October 20th 1945, it operated the Rota I, Hornet Moth, Rota IIs, Airspeed Oxford and the Hoverfly I.

It has two grass runways and four large hangars. It also has its own dedicated Air Traffic Zone and manages around 15,000 powered aircraft movements, and 2,500 winch launched glider movements a year.

RAF Halton has had a number of ‘Gate Guards’ including Spitfire XVI ‘RW386’, Hunter F6 ‘XF527’ and currently, Tornado GR1 ‘8976M’ which, as the first British pre-production aircraft, first flew on March 14th 1977.

On site, is a museum dedicated to the history of RAF Halton and named in honour of the founder of the Royal Air Force, and the RAF’s apprenticeship scheme, Lord Trenchard. It was opened in 1999 and is open every Tuesday from 10:00 to 16:00 hours. At present it not known what the future holds in store for the museum once the site is closed.

Also on the Halton airfield site is a: Polish monument, restored World War I trenches, the World War I firing range, historic burial sites, a neolithic long Barrow (mound), the site of the former hospital, a church and an RAF logistics heritage centre.

Once closed, the local council hope to create a ‘mixed use’ site rather than just a ‘housing estate’. It has been reported that various film companies have been interested in Halton, whether or not these come to fruition is yet to be seen.

Today Halton continues to provide new recruits with the basic skills required by the demands of a modern Air Force; once ‘qualified’, recruits go on to training in their respective trades at other bases and RAF colleges around the country. It seeks to develop the ethos and ideals of Lord Trenchard when he set up the Royal Air Force in April 1918, an ethos that has made the Royal Air Force one of the most respected Air Forces in the world.

RAF Halton certainly has a significant history, its roots deep in the founding of both the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force. The site has numerous significant historical and architectural features, and hopefully, the true historical value of these will be considered before any tentative proposals are put in place.

The full news report appeared in the Bucks Herald newspaper  on 24th June 2017. (My thanks to Rich Reynolds for the link.)