Forgotten Aerodromes of WW1 - new book , October 2014

Paul wrote:

David I hope that book ends up in the archive!

I can't believe you even reminded me Paul .
I have lots of other stuff for the archive too , I just need to get down to Alconbury again !

I know you are not a lazy bloke normally Paul, so I will live in hopes of having the plans as well as the rest of the 1918 detail online.
Best wishes

I joined this forum about 5 years ago. My interest is centred on WWI but I have an interest in aerodromes from all eras. WWI, however, is my main line of research and the publication of Forgotten Aerodromes of World War I has prompted me to take to the keyboard.

It’s great to see the listings of WWI sites in the Research Lists produced on this forum. Anything that points to accurate details about flying sites from that era has to be welcomed. However, it should be noted that the station listings are just those available in the RAF Quarterly Survey of Stations for autumn 1918, as available in TNA AIR1/452 & 453. That survey is not complete – for example, there’s no information on such aerodromes as Southport and Shrewsbury, which were functioning at that time, and a number of Day Landing Grounds were excluded. By autumn 1918, the flying services had relinquished more than 140 sites, most Night Landing Grounds. Of course, the listing also fail to include manufacturers’ aerodromes and the sites used by the handful of civilian schools that operated during the war. That information is, however, available.

The theme of this post a cautionary tale. This forum seems to work on members providing information for the knowledge of others, not for profit. There have been, at least 3 instances in recent years where information that I’ve circulated freely has been pirated.

A number of years ago, I did a set of plans, voluntarily, for my late mate Ray Sturtivant and they appear in Royal Navy Aircraft Serials and Units, Air Britain 1992. In 2006 I bought The Military Airfields of Britain, Northern England, by one Ken Delve (living in the North East, I had a natural instinct to see what it contained). Lo and behold, it contained site plans from the Air Britain book, stating in the acknowledgements that their reproduction was with my permission. I have never had any conversation or correspondence with Delve.

The North East Aircraft Museum then asked for information about WWI sites and I gave Dave Gregg my 150 page history of early aviation in the region, some of which was placed on the museum’s website. About 3 years ago, the magazine Britain at War carried a feature on Cramlington, with my text used, in places verbatim – I hope the pirate didn’t receive too much of a fee.

This new publication takes the biscuit. I’m credited in the acknowledgements, surname misspelt, with the provision of ‘site plans and technical information’. Chorley (Martyn) Chorlton contacted me earlier this year, asking to use the RNASU plans, which he claimed to have received from Ray S. I agreed because I’ve been running something so much better in the Cross & Cockade journal. The Gazetteer of Flying Sites 1912-1920 has now been running as an 8-page pull-out for 5 years – 160 pages so far and eventually to have presented 400 or so site plans. The information was built up over many years and continues to be added to. A bonus for CCI members are the location maps, produced at A2 on contemporary OS maps and using the same plotting procedure as provided to WWI pilots. The scale of the maps also allows the inclusion of non-flying sites, such as Stores Depots, Stores Distribution Parks etc.

Chorley (Martyn) Chorlton then pestered me for information about Gazetteer entries at the end of the alphabet, even though he claimed to have used the same sources as I’d listed in Part 1 of the series (TNA files). That sent alarm bells ringing. I ordered the Chorley’s Chorlton's book from Amazon and anyone looking at it may now know why site information such as Wigsley (incorrectly noted as being on the same site as the WWI aerodrome), Willian (the original intended home for 75 HDS A Flt) and Wolverhampton (Dudley Park racecourse as a NLG 1916) are incomplete. My acid test of the book, however, was to check on 2 things. First, I’ve a list of amendments and additions to add to the Gazetteer after it concludes with listings of sites used in pre-war exercises and whole squadron movements, anchorages used by ships carrying aircraft and 1919 List D aerodromes. Those amendments include the correction of a typo in the entry for Stonegate (its alternative name Tilehurst came out as Ticehurst – guess what Chorley Chorlton used) and the correct grid reference for Arlington (goodness knows how I messed that one up, the site was that which became the post-war Wilmington aerodrome – reduced in size – but again guess what’s in Forgotten Aerodromes). Finally, I thought to look at the GRs given for those early NLGs that had closed by autumn 1918. Surprise surprise, the 6 figure GRs match. I would have thought that two guys working independently would have come up with slightly different positions, not exact matches.

Then, to cap it all, he’s nicked 3 sites plans from the Gazetteer – Loughbrough, Scalford and Mattishall, as well as Jeff Jefford’s Lake Down plan from RAF Squadrons.

Thank goodness people on this forum seem honest and sharing.

Mick Davis

Mick

In your post above , for Chorley do you mean (Martyn) Chorlton the author or perhaps Crecy the publisher ?
PM sent .
Thanks

Hi Mick: I'm sorry to hear of the way your work has been nicked by others. I can vouch for the quality of your research having been a member of C&C since the beginning of the 1970s. I covet my copies of the Gazeteer and its associated colour location maps. I suppose we are all victims of publishers across every genre trying to cash in on the current profile of the First World War.

David wrote:

Mick

In your post above , for Chorley do you mean (Martyn) Chorlton the author or perhaps Crecy the publisher ?
PM sent .
Thanks

Yes I did mean Cholton - in my (I hope obvious irritation) I could have called him much worse. BTW, when I mentioned Dave Gregg at NEAM he's a mate and only placed the Cramlington information on their website - someone else plagiarized it ( just as MC did with the details of the hitherto unremarked fact that West Town Moor and Hylton were not one and the same) - I'll have to dig out the article and find out who. The publisher, I'm sure, was naive enough to accept material at face value - although I have written to them to point out the error of their ways.

Paul wrote:

As you correctly say Mick, the material on here is free to all and as such, is open to abuse.

Mick, yes the lists of WWI aerodromes were taken from the above mentioned files in TNA, compiled by me on behalf of English Heritage c.1994 of which I was a contractor carrying out research that ultimately led to a large number of listings. I photocopied the complete series of entries and this paperwork is now at Alconbury. I have never been a member of C&C. The WWI munitions factories as listed was also EH 1994 work though voluntary.

I know the published WWI lists on here are not complete, it does include some of the landing grounds in addition to those in TNA AIR1/452 & 453 but I have not carried out any further research into this. My main interest is the buildings and I had originally intended to include entries for all of the key buildings illustrated with plans and photographs - those presented here (including buildings of other periods) were taken from the various reports that I had written over the years in the course of my work as an archaeologist. The missing buildings will be added just as soon as I have the time to complete the plans - the text is ready and waiting. Plans and drawings are mainly based on the following sources:

• Actual site plans (not those you mentioned in TNA AIR1/452 & 453) but fully annotated site plans
• Original building drawings
• Measured extant buildings by myself or other ARG members

Sorry to learn that your material has been stolen by others, I have not seen this latest book but I believe that the author is a member of this forum.

All the best,

Paul

Thanks Paul

I do like this website. Although WWI is my interest, I have a general fondness for airfield histories and members here provide some brilliant insights. I do hope that the author of Forgotten Aerodromes is a member of this forum because he will have that opportunity to reply to my statements.

You may not be a member of CCI (each of us has our own interests) but a sample page from each of the 20 parts of the Gazetteer published so far can be viewed on our website www.crossandcockade.com .

As CCI editor, I find it sad that there are two brilliant organisations working in parallel, yet not meeting. If you'd like to see a sample of the OS maps I'm putting out, I could send you one via wetransfer.com - each PSD is about 90mb so wont go by e-mail. I'm at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..