Whitley Bay
WHITLEY BAY see also SCOTT'S FIELD
WHITLEY BAY: Military aerodrome in WW1, later civil aerodrome? (Aka HARTLEY)
Military user: RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service) Home Defence Flight Station
Location: NNW of Whitley Bay, N to NNW of Tynemouth
Period of operation: Military: 1915 to 1916 Civil: 1923 to 1924 only?
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
As is often the case in this 'Guide', we have Mike Holder to thank for the following items:
B.E.2c PICTURES FROM SQUADRON SIGNAL 1123
Photo Three is, I am fairly certain, the first picture I have seen of a 'landing light' being fitted to a British aircraft.
But, would it have been powerful enough to have been much use on the approach to land? Expect it may have been quite useful as a taxy light.
THE ZEPPELIN THREAT
This excerpt is from Zeppelin in Combat, A History Of The German Naval Airship Division. The perceived threat of a Zeppelin bombing raid created a huge amount of fear amongst the public, out of all proportion to the damage that could be done. Look at how the public coped magnificently just over twenty years later during the Blitz. But, fear can be contagious, and the powers that be were very aware of this - hence the substantial amount of aerodromes laid out to counter the threat to help assuage the public that retaliatory methods were being put in place.
The term Zeppelin is, to some extent, generic. Like 'hoover' for vacuum cleaners. The Schütte-Lanz company also built many rigid airships. What interests me though, as in this case, is the threat of a deterrent from the Royal Flying Corps. Very few German airships were shot down by RFC pilots - but of course, just one was enough to make 'Zeppelin' captains very wary indeed of letting one of the pesky little blighters get anywhere near.
A VERY NASTY ACCIDENT
Article One was published in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle on the 22nd September 1915.
Article Two is from the Sitelines Government Site, Tyne and Wear. The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
SOMETHING OF A MYSTERY?
It was Mr Graham Frost, another great friend of this 'Guide', who sparked this off, finding a listing for Mr E F Edwards having the Avro 504K, G-EABE, (Ex E4137), registered from 13.09.23 to 12.05.24, and based at WHITLEY BAY. Despite the three of us trying to find out exactly where he operated from, and failing to find any proof, we suspect he probably used the old WW1 aerodrome?
It now appears that his enterprise only lasted for barely one month! His aeroplane being written off in a crash near Cambridge on the 14th October 1923. We doubt he found a replacement? Over the years I have found that the official 'paper trail' often took many months to be amended - as amply illustrated in this example.
NOTES: Used as an Advance Base in 1915 for RNAS GOSFORTH
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