Holt
HOLT: Military aerodrome
Military users: RNAS/RAF RNAS Home Defence Flight Station (1915 to 1917)
RAF Marine Operations Station (1918 to 1919)
Location: In/near Holt on the A148, about 11nm ENE to NE of Fakenham, 20nm NNW of Norwich
Period of operation: 1915 to 1919
Site area: 90 acres 549 x 640
NOTES: The growth in all aspects of aviation related activities, (manufacturing, military operations and training etc), during WW1 is surely one of the most extraordinary episodes in European history at least. When WW1 was declared the RFC (Royal Flying Corps) had a total of 63 first line aircraft and the RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service) 39 landplanes and 52 seaplanes, a total of 154 and by August 1914 this was 272 aircraft.
I suppose you do have to be a tad careful because the previous figures may not include training aircraft? However, by January 1917 the total number of aircraft ‘on charge’ had reached 5,496 and one year later this had risen to 11,091. By October 1918 the RAF had an astonishing 22,171 aircraft on charge.
The manufacturing story of how this happened and some of the problems encountered can be found in the highly educational series of books, (Volume 1 to 5), British Built Aircraft by Ron Smith who describes the entire British aircraft manufacturing history up to 2005.
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