Chingford
CHINGFORD: Military aerodrome later temporary civil aerodrome
Military users: WW1: RNAS/RFC/RAF RNAS Aeroplane School
RFC/RAF Training Depot Station
39 & 44 (Home Defence) Sqdns
138 Sqdn (Avro 504Bs & 504Es? Later Bristol F.2 Fighters)
Location: Under what is now the William Girling Reservoir, just N of Hall Lane, SW of Chingford
Period of operation: Military 1915 to 1919. Civil: 1932 only?
Site area: WW1: 150 acres 1372 x 366
NOTES: A very useful source is the records regarding the awarding of Pilot Certificates. The first mention of this aerodrome is on 15/5/15 when Flight Commander Hyde-Thomson (RNAS) was awarded Pilot Certificate No.1245 flying a Bristol Biplane from here. He also listed flying a Wight Seaplane from CALSHOT. About one thousand RNAS pilots were trained here during WW1 and shortly after before the aerodrome closed in 1919. An ‘in- house’ magazine named the “Chingflier” was published between October 1916 to February 1918.
A ZEPPELIN ATTACK
On the 31st May 1915 shortly after the Zeppelins started bombing England, Mr Merriam, (a civilian instructor), set off from CHINGFORD in an unarmed Deperdussin to search for the Zeppelin LZ38 which had bombed Stoke Newington in NE London killing seven and injuring thirty five. He didn’t find the airship but I wonder what his intentions were if he had? Incidentally, the pretty large Home Defence air force established to attack German airships, although succeeding in shooting down several, really didn’t achieve their purpose as the “Zeppelins” continued to raid up until the 5th August 1918.
On this date it seems that the airship L70 was shot down over the North Sea and it was commanded by Capt. Pieter Strasser, the commanding officer of the German naval airship fleet. Presumably he and his crew perished?
A SINGULAR ZEPPELIN INTERCEPTION
In his excellent book Fighter Heroes Of WW1 Joshua Levine provides an account by Humphrey Leigh, an RNAS officer who was based at CHINGFORD. “On one occasion in 1915, two men went up from Chingford in a large Sopwith pusher with the coping of a Zeppelin. Their armament consisted of a single Remington rifle.” When I often point out that so many British military and naval senior officers of that period were so very often, by todays standards, either clinically insane and/or had the IQ rating of morons, this story serves to prove my opinion. “There were no arrangements for night flying at that time – no system of landing lights. They went up – and they crashed out towards Hatfield. The pilot was killed and the other got away with it. The orders to go up had come from the Admiralty – and a lot of people in the Admiralty didn’t know what an aeroplane could or could not do. It was a complete waste of an aircraft and man-power.”
Being a tad pedantic, I cannot recall the Sopwith company ever designing “a pusher” (?). Comments please.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT?
It is surely quite astonishing to realise today that a considerable amount of senior officers would be, (in both WW1 and WW2), if given proper testing today, considered as utterly dysfunctional, barely competent at best, and pretty much totally useless individuals. But perhaps not so surprising? We see similar people today especially in management positions, speaking the speak, getting all the codes correct for appearance and behaviour, but utterly incapable of doing the job properly. Regarding people in authority up to and including WW2 it now appears studies indicate that, given a modern IQ evaluation, most would be in the ‘Moron’ class.
This is being somewhat unfair as, from the late 18th century the Royal Navy had instituted a method of making their senior officers proficient by insisting they passed various exams. At that time, given the money, any wealthy family could buy a commission in the Army for a hopeless cretin to become an officer - and many did.
However, although being very proficient in sailing ships, their understanding of aviation matters was very often, at best woefully inadequate.
MORE INFORMATION
Later on, in 2013, I found this information regarding CHINGFORD from Andrew Renwicks excellent book RAF Hendon: “The skies around Hendon were getting very busy, so the location for a sub-station was sought. The reasons are unclear, but Chingford was chosen and construction of the airfield began. In March 1915 it was also selected to be a night emergency landing ground and home to a defence flight.” (My note: Another RNAS sub-station of HENDON was near Chelmsford in ESSEX, see BROOMFIELD).
“By 24 May 1915 Squadron Commander John C. Porte and the other officers were listed under Chingford, indicating it had taken over as the home of the Naval Flying School, despite the fact there were more pilots under training at Hendon. Gradually, however, th
e numbers of pupils at Chingford grew until the school at Hendon was closed.”
THE NAVY PRESENCE
Looking at the ‘bigger picture’ it might now seem rather odd that a Royal Navy Air Station was based on the outskirts of London, as indeed it was in those days. Patrick Bishop explains this in his excellent book Wings: “It was clear that the RFC had an important, possibly crucial, part to play in the land war. The same could not be said of the Royal Naval Air Service and the war at sea. In August 1914 the War Office had insisted on control of the country’s air defences, even though almost all of its aircraft were already earmarked for France. At the Admiralty, the First Lord, Winston Churchill, took advantage of the army’s predicament to move in. Soon the Royal Naval Air Service had taken over the responsibility.” And, “In early September the army grudgingly accepted the situation and – for the time being at least – ceded the air over Britain to the navy.”
THE ZEPPELIN ATTACKS
(Note: Not all German airships were built by Zeppelin)
It is perhaps a tad difficult to appreciate today the widespread fear and considerable alarm the night-time bombing raids by 'Zeppelins' had on the civilian population. Nothing like it had ever happened before and these raids, mostly on London but other towns and cities too, tend to now be forgotten as the Blitz offensive in WW2 heavily overshadows these events.
From Andrew Renwick: “The first actual raid on London took place on the night 31 May/1June 1915, causing damage to the East End. On the night of 8/9 Setember London suffered one of its worst attacks from a single airship. The first bombs were dropped on Golders Green at about 2240 hours but most fell between Euston and Liverpool Street stations, killing twenty-six, injuring ninety-four and causing more than £500,000 worth of damage.”
And: “The flying instructors at the Naval Flying School took over as pilots for the anti-Zeppelin patrols previously flown by the Grahame-Wight School.” These being from HENDON initially, later CHINGFORD, then HAINULT FARM (LONDON), SUTTONS FARM (ESSEX) and YARMOUTH (NORFOLK).
A NUMBER OF ISSUES
Several issues can be raised about this period. Understandably the civilian population were very angry indeed about the lack of any viable defence, and the senior Admiralty and Military staff were only just getting to grips with the aeroplane being a useful weapon. Hindsight is of course a most wonferful commodity and is usually used liberally if not usually accurately. But, prior to WW1 the Germans had perfected airship operation to such an extent that a long-distance airline operation had been in place for several years and hadn’t lost the life of a single passenger, although they did have some crashes.
The existence of this airline was hardly a secret but even so it appears the British ‘top brass’ had not realised that a large passenger carrying airship could very easily be converted into a bomber. Perhaps oddly I have not yet come across an account of a single visionary voice trying to make them aware of the threat. (Was there one or more?). On the other hand, when hostilities were declared, it all happened really quite suddenly.
SOMETHING TO BE REMEMBERED
Until a few years ago I had not realised that the sacking of Leuven in Belgium, the genocide commited by German troops on the civilian population, including women and children, and the wilful destruction of one of the finest libraries in the world, (which then constituted one of the most barbaric acts ever committed against humanity), was a major factor in the British government declaring war.
NIGHT FLYING
Getting back to the Zeppelin threat we had no experience in night flying, no high-power anti-aircraft guns, and the position reporting system was wholly inadequate. Our aircraft had one measly machine-gun, and, if spotted by a member of a Zeppelin crew they could easily outclimb our best fighter aircraft at altitude and, these airships were heavily defended – up to a point. So, obviously, in the short term nothing could be done. It wasn’t until the night of 2/3 September 1916 that a German airship was shot down. See SUTTON FARM (ESSEX) for more details.
I would be very happy to be contradicted, with evidence of course, but it does appear that the Royal Naval Air Service were singularly inept at providing anything like a ‘shield’ against attacks by the Germans.
THIS SITE
This WW1 site may have remained pretty much intact as the Alan Cobham 1932 ‘National Aviation Day’ UK tour is said to have ended at CHINGFORD although it was called HALL LANE in some accounts. In 1935 work on the William Girling Reservoir started and this aerodrome site was lost forever. It is because there is this doubt that I have a seperate listing for HALL LANE.
SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION
In his excellent book Tiger Moth Stuart McKay has this to tell us: “In a single season with Alan Cobham’s National Aviation Day Display, Charles Turner-Hughes recorded these extraordinary statistics in a Tiger Moth.” Turner-Hughes was known as “TocH” to his contemporaries and it is probable that much, most or even all (?) of this flying was in the Tiger Moth G-ABUL.
“780 hours flying of which 176 hours were inverted; 2, 328 loops, 2,190 rolls, 567 bunts, 522 upward rolls, 40 inverted falling leaf manoeuvres and 5 outside loops.”
I have experienced a falling leaf manoeuvre in a Tiger Moth and a great many other aerobatic figures in several aircraft, plus watched as a spectator at many air shows. But, I have never seen an ‘inverted falling leaf ‘ performed. Plus, I would swear on oath, an outside loop in a 'standard' Tiger Moth was impossible in those days.
It must now appear this Tiger Moth at least, G-ABUL, was fitted with a fuel pump of some sort, to enable inverted flight and negative ‘G’ manoeuvres? The standard Tiger Moth had a gravity fed fuel system, the fuel tank being in the section above the fuselage, supported by cabane struts, between the two upper wings. Prior to discovering this record I had believed it was not until after WW2, with the highly modified Tiger Moths flown by ‘The Tiger Club’ originally based at REDHILL, that Tiger Moths could perform such manoeuvres.
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