Arlington
ARLINGTON see also WILMINGTON
ARLINGTON: Military Landing Ground (Also known as HAILSHAM and WILMINGTON)
These three pictures are from my Google Earth © derived database.
Military users: RFC/RAF (Royal Flying Corps / Royal Air Force)
39 [Home Defence] Sqdn (Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2, BE.12 & SE.5 types. Possibly just one Armstrong-Whitworth F.K.8 and later Bristol F.2 Fighters)
78 [Home Defence] Sqdns (Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2 & BE.12 types. Later Sopwith 1½ Strutters and lastly Sopwith Camels)
Note: As these squadrons main bases were elsewhere, I cannot be at all certain that all these types were operated from this location.
Location: Roughly 1nm SW of Hailsham town centre
Period of operation: 1916 to 1919
Site area: 105 acres 512 x 823
NOTES: Both these two squadrons, using this location, had some limited success in attacking enemy intruders - but I doubt any of these were sorties by their aircraft based here?
Most raids by German airships and bombers in WW1 were concentrated of cities, London especially of course, but the fear levels by the people in those days was completely out of proportion to the damage actually done. But, to assuage these fears it was deemed neccessary to demonstrate that a deterrent was in place. By comparison, starting only about twenty years later, on all sides in WW2, it seems astonishing just how well civilian populations managed to cope with the most ferocious mass bomber attacks - in the UK of course - known as 'The Blitz'.
This said, to the pilots especially, being based here from time to time, this must have been very frustrating. All the more so because they were based on the fringe, (or perhaps even outside), of the routes being used by the German airships, generally known by the generic term - 'Zeppelins'.
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