Murton
MURTON: Military Landing Ground
All three of these pictures are from my Google Earth © derived database
Military users: RFC/RAF
76 [Home Defence] Sqdn (Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2s & BE.12s)
Location: Just W of the A64, just WNW of Murton village, about 1.75nm ENE of York city centre
Period of operation: 1917 to 1919 (some say from 1916)
Site area: 23 acres 503 x 274
NOTES: This is pretty small airfield by any standards but apparently used solely as a Night Landing Ground by 76 Sqdn pilots. It has to appreciated that in those days night flying was very much in its infancy, and indeed, the pilots had no lit flying instruments such as we have today. The runway being lit by gooseneck flares, probably using parafin.
This said, and I think I am correct (?), there were no black-out restrictions in this region, so the pilots could, to a large extent, orientate themselves flying around the area, by reference to the centre of York, which I assume, was fairly well lit up?
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