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RAF Eastbourne (formerly Royal Naval Air Station Eastbourne) was a Royal Air Force airfield near Eastbourne.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2020) |
RAF Eastbourne (formerly Royal Naval Air Station Eastbourne) was a Royal Air Force airfield near Eastbourne.
The Fowler Flying School (also later known as the Eastbourne Flying School) was established by Major Bernard Fowler in 1909 at Beaulieu, Hampshire but moved to the 50-acre site between Eastbourne and Pevensey Bay. His original airfield lies under the present day industrial estate below St Anthony's Mount. In nearby Leeds Avenue an original Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) guardhouse is the sole surviving building from this enterprise and is now converted to a bungalow.
The Eastbourne Aviation Company was an aircraft factory that was constructed in early 1913 on the Crumbles shingle beach where the Sovereign Centre swimming pool now stands. Despite its proximity to the Royal Naval Flying School which was adjacent to the factory, it did not produce seaplanes, instead producing the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c and Avro 504. The factory performed some repair work for the Royal Naval Air Service. During World War I, the factory prospered off wartime orders, declining after the war. This led to the eventual closure of the factory and Aviation Company in 1924.
In 1917, the factory fielded a ladies' football team from the seaplane sheds, players including Hilda Goudhurst, Mabal [sic] Goudhurst, Mabal [sic] Marchant, Rose Holobone, Marjorie Putland, Lilian Lee, Bessy Brown. [1]
The Admiralty had taken an interest in 1913 having leased part of the airfield and helped fund development of various facilities. [2] With the outbreak of war, the site was taken over by the Royal Naval Air Service and subsequently expanded by acquiring neighbouring land. The site served as the Naval Flying School between August 1914 and November 1916, and later between May 1917 and April 1918 to undertake initial flying training.
Aircraft based at the school were initially of a variety of types, however, this was not seen as the ideal training environment and eventually, aircraft was rationalised where the airframes by Maurice Farman and the Curtiss Jenny could be found at the school.
During the First World War aspiring pilots from all over the Commonwealth came to train here. A young trainee Dan Minchin learned to fly a Bristol Boxkite at this aerodrome and in 1927 attempted to cross the Atlantic in a Fokker V11A monoplane named St Raphael. Lieut Colonel Minchin and two colleagues were lost when the aircraft failed to reach Ottawa, Canada. A plaque on the wall below the 'RAF' window of Eastbourne College in Blackwater Road commemorates the loss of this 'Old Eastbournian'.
Following the amalgamation of the RNAS and Royal Flying Corps in 1918 to form the Royal Air Force, the Naval Flying School initially became No. 206 Training Depot Station. [3] No. 54 Training Squadron was transferred to the site from Castle Bromwich and the two units combined to form No. 50 Training Depot Station. The combined units were refocused into training day bomber pilots in a fleet that included the Avro 504, Bristol F.2B, Airco DH.6, Airco DH.9 and Sopwith Camel. [2]
Trainee numbers at the site decreased in the latter months of the war, and 50 TDS was moved to RAF Manston by autumn 1919. The airfield reverted to its previous owners, however, lack of business ultimately led to its closure in 1920 reverting to agriculture.
The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in any military capacity during the First World War. More than 10,000 were built from 1913 until production ended in 1932.
Royal Air Force Mona, or more simply RAF Mona, is a Royal Air Force station near Bodffordd on the island of Anglesey, Wales. It is primarily used as a relief landing ground for RAF Valley.
Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent is a former Royal Naval Air Station located near Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire, approximately four miles west of Portsmouth on the coast of the Solent at grid reference SU560019. It was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm and was first established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and administrative centre of the Fleet Air Arm.
No. 24 Squadron (also known as No. XXIV Squadron) of the Royal Air Force is the Air Mobility Operational Conversion Unit (AMOCU). Based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, 24 Squadron is responsible for aircrew training on C-130J Hercules, A400M Atlas and C17 Globemaster. The squadron also delivers engineer training for these aircraft.
No. 202 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is the maritime and mountains training element of the No.1 Flying Training School, operating the Airbus Helicopters H145 Jupiter.
Castle Bromwich Aerodrome was an early airfield, situated to the north of Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. The site now falls within the City of Birmingham.
Royal Air Force Montrose or more simply RAF Montrose is a former Royal Air Force station in Forfarshire in Scotland. It became the first operational military aerodrome to be established in the United Kingdom on 26 February 1913.
Royal Air Force Filton or more simply RAF Filton is a former Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) station located 5 miles (8 km) north of the city centre of Bristol, England.
The Royal Navy Observer School grew out of HM Naval Seaplane Training School at RNAS Lee-on-Solent as a result of a series of changes of identity and parent unit. From 1918 until 1939 the Royal Air Force was responsible for naval aviation, including training and provision of aircrew to the Royal Navy. With the return of naval aviation to the Royal Navy on 24 May 1939, the Observer School was established as 750 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm. During World War II the squadron moved to Trinidad to continue training aircrew. It was temporarily disbanded in October 1945. The squadron reformed in 1952 and is currently based at RNAS Culdrose, where it trains approximately 30 Royal Navy observers every year.
The Airco DH.6 was a British military trainer biplane used by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Known by various nicknames, including the "Clutching hand" and "Skyhook", many survived to be used as a civil light aircraft in the postwar era.
Royal Air Force Calshot or more simply RAF Calshot was initially a seaplane and flying boat station, and latterly a Royal Air Force marine craft maintenance and training unit. It was located at the end of Calshot Spit in Southampton Water, Hampshire, England, at grid reference SU487024. It was the main seaplane/flying boat development and training unit in the UK, with the landing area sheltered by the mainland, to the west, north and east, and the Isle of Wight, a few miles away to the south on the other side of the Solent, where seaplanes and flying boats were mass-produced by Saunders-Roe. It closed in 1961. Much of the former base has been preserved, with most of the site now being occupied by the RNLI.
Royal Air Force Eastchurch or more simply RAF Eastchurch is a former Royal Air Force station near Eastchurch village, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England. The history of aviation at Eastchurch stretches back to the first decade of the 20th century when it was used as an airfield by members of the Royal Aero Club. The area saw the first flight by a British pilot in Britain.
Royal Air Force Carew Cheriton, or more simply RAF Carew Cheriton, is a former Royal Air Force station located near Carew, Pembrokeshire. It was situated 4.7 miles (7.6 km) north west of Tenby.
Air Commodore John William Boldero Grigson was a highly decorated British pilot who served in the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force in World War I, continuing his service and serving in World War II until his death in an air crash in 1943.
Royal Air Force Charterhall or more simply RAF Charterhall is a former Royal Air Force station located in the Scottish Borders and the historic county of Berwickshire between the village of Greenlaw and Duns. It was originally a First World War landing ground named Eccles Toft. The airfield was reconstructed in 1942 and was used mainly by No. 54 Operational Training Unit during Second World War. The RAF left in 1947 and the airfield was officially closed.
The Naval Air Service was the air arm of the Hellenic Navy from 1915 to 1930.
Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield, operational 1914–1920. It was in the London borough of Hounslow, and hosted the British Empire's first scheduled daily international commercial flights, in 1919. The site today includes the main remaining part of Hounslow Heath.
RAF Lilbourne is a former Royal Air Force station which was located 5.2 miles (8.4 km) south of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England.
The Imperial Gift was the donation of aircraft from surplus stocks in Britain after World War I to the dominions of the British Empire: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. On 29 May 1919, the Cabinet of the United Kingdom agreed to give 100 aircraft to the dominions in addition to replacements for aircraft donated to Britain during the war. These aircraft formed the core of newly established air forces in several dominions.