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18

Flying

by David Collyer

B mid-June, 1917, the
civi ian ‘population of Kent
had suf ered two daylight
raids by the twin-engined
German Gotha bombers
flying from their bases in
Belgium.

Folkestone had been
bombed on May 25 with
nearly 100 casualties, and
on June 5, Sheerness was
raided, although not so
severely.

The - authorities were
worried that these bombers
could fly over Kent almost

without 0 sition and de-
duced tha eir next target
would be London.

Although things were not
oing well for ..the R0 al

lying Corps on he
Western Front, it was
decided to brin ,back one

of the crack fi ter squad-
rons to defen the capital
against the enema. There-
fore, No 56 Sqd ha just suf-
fered a shattering blow
when the seemingly in-
vincible Ca t -Albert Ball
had been ost a month
earlier, and it was prob-
ably partly as a morale
booster that this squadron
was the one chosen to
return to England.

The coast

It was decided to base
them at the small aero-
drome alongside the SE &
Chatham.-Railway line just
south of'Bekesbourne, and
in a direct line between

.London and the coast._

The squadron arrived on
June 21, the aircraft -
-SE‘.6 fighters designed by
the Royal Aircraft Factory
at Farnbprough -- were
flown in by heir pilots,
while the ground crews and
baggage arrived by sea via
Dover.

. The CO was ‘Major
Bloomfield, and among the
well-known pilots was Flt
Cmdr Prothero, who had
taken over A Flight from

Bali. Lt Jeffs and 2nd Lt
Rhv!:.T\nviri R Wliaht was

Classified Section

Corps’

with what they had had.to
put up with previously.
Major Bloomfield had
picked his ground crews
very carefully. All the
mechanics throughout the
RFC, who were musicians,
it’ound themselves posted to
he
had e finest orchestra
one could assemble to play
at functions in the mess.
Canvas tents were
erected to house the men,
and various small huts put
up for,the squadron office.
duty crewroom and guard-
room. The aircraft were
deployed in the 2 existing
wooden hanger, attende
by the mechanics, and the
squadron settled down to
await the Gothas.

However, one important
task which was soon com-
pleted was the laying of a
wooden _ nce floor in the
mess ten , and all was soon
ready for a party to cele-
brate the squadron’s
arriyal.

Invitations wei=e'sent out
to local people, especially
eligible young women, and
a splendid dinner and
dance was laid on for the
people of Canterbury and
neighbouring towns. The
squadron cook was instruc-
ted to lay on a sum tuous
lmeal, including bot es of,
French wine, which the
squadron had brought with
it, and of course there was
the squadron orchestra.
Candelabras were on the
tables, and before dinner
"an impromptu flying dis-'_
play was laid on for the
guests.

Capt J ames B.
McCudden, the leading ace
of World War I, and a
native of Gillingham, knew
several of the officers of
the squadron. He was home
on leave with No 63 Train-
ing S d at Joyce Green,
near artford. He lost no
time in -flying'down to see
his old friends, calling
twice in the first week after
their arrival.

He found them “as keen
ac rnuusi-nwvl in cat’ 'nf Hun

uadron, and so No 56 '

first, days-

Reluctantly, the squad-
ron packed its bags and
bagga e on July 5 and the

roun crews were sent by

rossley tender. to Dover.
The next afternoon the
pilots climbed into their
aircraft, engines were

started and they took off,_

disappearin in a haze of
blue exhaus smoke in the
direction of France. The
next day the Gothas came
again in force to raid Lon-
don and Kent.

The aerodrome at‘Bekes-

bourne had been in exist-V

ence as a landing round
before World War _. The
first reported landing was
by Lt wtoencer-Grey. of the
Royal aval Air Service, at
Eastchurchin 1912 when he
was forced" down‘ with
engine trouble, and had to
Bark overni ht for repairs.

n Sunday, arch 15, 1918.
a Cuadron bi lane, on
delivery to the NAS was
forced to all ht, again
through a fan ty engine.‘
The pilot, .M. Marty, and
his passenger, Mr .
Ramsey, had previously
had to land at Adisham
where the local constable
“took their particulars"
before allowing them to
continue their journey.

At the start of World War
I the airfield was desig-
nated an emergency lan -
ing ground and various

Avro 504 trainers landed ,
their en-route for Dover for :-

refuelling or with en ine
trouble, he rotary eng nes
of those days not being en-
tirely reliable.

Machine gun

On June 15, 1915, No,-,50'
‘Sqd was formed at Dover

as a home defence‘ squ d-
mm‘ to aid the RNAS in e
defence of the UK, audits
fighters were based aroun

East Kent airfields, inclu -
lng Bekesbourne. Equip-
ment was the Royal Air-
craft Factory designed BE
2C, really a reconnaissance
aircraft, but with a.

machine gun attached for

 

  
   

      
   
  
   
   
 

especially a ,_,,7ight were

. , “g this time;
1,}; owery mire orted to
have been '1 toned at
Bekesboum swim to be-

down the Z "elln L.31 a

come famo%or ahootin

Billericay,
night of Sep
24. 1916.

Sex, on the
bar 28 and

 
 

Accommo‘ n for the
crews was as under
- on huts,

hal -a-mile
aerodrome;

own!‘ Inn;-Int‘

landing;

giro pod a-

in village 60 years ago 

and a crew of seven, with
machine guns mounted on
top of the upper wing and in
the engine nacelles, as well
as the usual nose and tail
positions. -
Raids by daylight had
been too costly in aircraft

for the Germans, so at the .

end of Au list 0 erations
on moonlig t nig ts were
started, and London, as
well as East Kent, suffered
its first blitz.

By early 1918 the
or anisation of night
fig ter defences had been
im roved, with search-

lig ts and anti-aircraft ..

uns stationed around Lon-
on and in Kent. Those at
Bekesbourne were manned

by VDC crews, and formed _

.... ._A 4: 6|... 1...!‘

.4: .......... I...

Kentish Gazette/Home Bay Press. April'14, 1978

1,:

, M
' .I'
.1.

r

  
  
 

 

The hangar at Bekesbouriie, photographed in 1968. ,

  


under the command of Flt
Cmdr G. H. “Beery" Bow-
man. and included Lt
Gardiner. Maybury and
Hoi ‘e. The S uadron Re-
cor in Of icer was
“Papa' Mason. .

The thoughts of the er-

sonnel were mixed. T ey
were glad to be out of the
firing lines, but considered
the task of defending Lon-
don as a joyride compared

spirit eat sted in the squad-
ron, entirely different from
anything he had come into
contact with up till then."
There were two alarms
while No 56 was at Bekes-
boume, both false ones. On
June 27 and on July 4 the
aircraft took off the flew
patrols without seeing any-
hing, althou h on the
latter occasion here was a |
raid on Harwich.

....v.

as '":{1ach1fi’é.“Ei{é"'l'3"fii.Ié«

fighter, was also based at
Bekesboume during this
period, and a wooden

‘hangar was built to the‘,

rear of the present one.
When there was an air
raid warning, either for
bombers or Ze ps, aircraft
would hurrie y take off

andipatrol to look for the

raiders. Interception was
rather haphazard and

“Smiler” Sopwlth Qamel with the two leaping dingos painted on the side at

Bekesboume in October, 1918.

the enemy -‘knew
Bekesboume.

As an emergency land-
ing, round, dif erent types
of a rcraft could be seen
arrivingat the aerodrome.
DeHavilland DH.4
bombers, RAF RE.8 recon-
naissance-typesg Avro'
trainers, and once a;
French Morane parasol
fighter. Not all the aircraft
landed accidently, how-
ever, as on June 10, 1918,
when Win Cmdr J. A.
Shaw flew n from Manston
to visit his old friend Ca t
Chisholm for tea; f
course, such social visits
could not be entered in the
official log book, so Shaw
wrote “Forced to land due

all about

. to engine trouble."

The list

The description of the
aerodrome on the list of
ELGs within 40 miles of
Manston RNAS station is
quite raphic: “Surface

ood. T e glround slopes to
he E and as a dip in the
middle. Borders low
hed es or fences. Good
lan ings may be effected in
either direction day or
night. Obstacles — hangar.
W. a windmill 700 yds S."

Another home defence
s uadron was itself formed
a Bekesboume when
Flight of No 50 S d became
No 112 Sqd on Ju y 30. 1917.
remaining at the airfield
until September" before
moving to Throwley Wood,
near Faversham. This
s uadron was equipped
with Sopwith Pugs and
used mainly for nig t/fight-
ing.

- Towards the‘ end of 1917,
No 50 Sqd received SE‘.5A
fighters, with a 200 hp
Wolseley Vip'er engine; and
with a top speed of 140 mph
it was more than a match
for any lumbering Gotha.
One of the members of the
s uadron at this time was
L G. S. M. Install, VC,
whose SE.5 was marked
with coloured stripes
. ainted around the rear

uselage and on the wings,

a practice usually frowned
u on when serving on the

estern Front.

By now, the Gothas had
been joined in their ‘raids
by the Giant or R class air-
craft. These monsters
having up to six engines

ney Marsh’ to"trap the un-
wary raider on his way
home. -

Scenes reminiscent of the

Battle of Britain would
occur at the airfield every
time there was an alert. A
hooter was mounted on the
roof of the crew duty hut
and when a report of a raid
was received by telephone,
a morse key was depressed
to sound the alarm.

Pilots who had been sit-
ting in the duty hut playing
cards, reading or listening
to the ramophone sprang
into ac ion and poured out
of the door. The engines of
the fighters were wax med
up by the mechanics and
the aircraft took off hur-
riedly to search for the
enemy.

One roblem was the
lack 0 communication
once the aircraft were in
the air, and a system was
developed for daylight
using large, white panels in
“dots and dashes" to be
laid on the aerodrome to}
indicate the position of the
enemy.

Ma‘or McCudden made
use 0 this s stem when he
was flying rom Dover on
July 13, 1917, and passed
over Bekesboume where
the Ingram System show-

B ing on the ground told him

that the Gothas were still
over London.

However, this type of sig-
nal proved cumbersome 0
lay out andchange uickly,
so a simplified me od of
indicating the enemy's
position was introduced.
This consisted of a large
arrow, visible from
17,000ft, which indicated
the position of the enem
when last reported. -

Dayli ht raids having
been a andoned by the
‘enemy due to the strength
of the defences, night figh-
ters were introduced.
These were essentially day
fl hters but roughly
a apted with exhaust
dampers to reduce glare,
and with twin machineguns
mounted above the top
wing. All squadron and
national markings had the
white portions painted over
to prevent any reflection in
searchli hts, and an over-
all dar green colour
scheme introduced in place
of the more usual khaki

SE5A night fighter, thought to be taken early 1918.

   

Second-Lieut Rhys-Davids at Bekesboume with No 50

Squadron in June, 1917.

upper surfaces and clear"
doped ones below.

No 50 Sqd found that their
SE.5A’s were not suitable
for _night~.~fighting as they
took too long to warm up
the engines, and the nar-
row under-carriage caused
problems on landing. They
were re laced with the Sop-
with amel in October,
1918.

The squadrons all were
allocated a call sign as in
1940, and that of No 50’was
“Dingo" while at Bekes-
boume. One enterprising
gilot whose nickname was

miler painted two leaping
red dingos (Australian wild
dogs) on the sides of his
Camel. This sign was
adopted as an unofficial
squadron bad e, even
bein painted on he tails of
the vro Vulcan et bom-
bers of the latest 0 50 Sqd
as recently as 1976.

At the end of the war,
many squadrons were dis-
banded and airfiélds closed
and by 1919 Bekesboume
was no longer designated
an RAF aerodrome. How-
ever, it was to continue in
use for another 20 years as

ia civil aerodrome.

(To be continued)

Acknowledgements to: ,Aeroplane
Monthly, Air Britain Digest; Squad-
rons of RAF, Owen Thetfoed; The
First Battle of Britain,-Raymond F.
Fredette; Mr N. Jarvis: Flight
Magazine.

Photos: Imperial War Museum:

Mr Roy Green.

Gift. hits

right note

Canterbury Youth
Band's rehearsal proved
more eventful than usual
on Saturday, when the vice-
aresident of Herne Bay and

hitstable Lions’ club pre-
sented the _band with 30
music stands.

The De uty Mayor, Cllr
George odges, received
the s ands on behalf of the
Mayor, Cllr Mrs Margaret
Scott-Knight, who is the
band's president.

Thanking the Lions on
behalf of the band, Mr Leon
Bartholomew said it was
the first rehearsal where
players had not had to use
chairs to support their

. 1'0 All.  
“THOSE wm-I

STEERING
W EEIS

your attention
on the food

please turn
to other

 

J’
K‘.-E31