Worthy Down
WORTHY DOWN: Military aerodrome, initially RAF but later a Royal Naval Air Station (HMS KESTREL)
Military users: WW1: RAF School 1918 to 1939
Interwar years: RAF Bomber Command
35 Sqdn (Vickers Wellesleys, later Fairey Battles)
49 Sqdn (Hawker Hinds)
102 Sqdn (Handley Page Heyfords)
207 Sqdn (Vickers Wellesleys, later Fairey Battles)
WW2: RN (HMS KESTREL) 807 Sqdn (Fairey Fulmers)
School of Aircraft Maintenance
Spitfire flight testing facility
Location: S to SE of South Wonston, just NE of the A272, E of the A34, NW of Kings Worthy, about 3nm NNW of Winchester centre
Period of operation: RFC(?)/ RAF 1918 (some say 1917 hence the RFC query) to 1939.
Then transferred to the Royal Navy (HMS KESTREL) until 1960. Under Army control from 1985 (some say 1960). Used by the Army Pay Corps with a helipad at least later on to - ?
Site area: WW1: 438 acres 1097 x 1646 (A very large site for the period)
Runways: WW2: N/S 704 grass E/W 1280 grass
NOTES: On a 1930 Ordnance Survey Aviation Map WORTHY DOWN was listed as being equipped with co-located Direction Finding equipment which was pretty rare in those days and it seems that this aerodrome was a very important aerodrome indeed.
In 1933 F/O Arthur T Orchard kept the Parnall Imp G-EBTE here, presumably flying it during the summer before cancelling it’s marks in December.
THE SUPERMARINE SPARROW
In his book Spitfire's Forgotten Designer (This is Joe Smith and not R J Mitchell) Mike Roussel quotes this memory regarding the Supermarine Sparrow from Judy Monger: “This aircraft, the first and only land monoplane that R.J.Mitchell designed at Supermarine before the development of the Spitfire designs, was used as a testbed for wing forms, and they flew the aircraft with five different wing shapes in a week at Worthy Down in 1927. The aircraft chosen for the tests was the experimental Sparrow II high wing parasol monoplane, and it was designed specifically for testing different wing shapes.”
Actually the Sparrow II was a modified version of the Sparrow I which was designed to compete in the Light Aircraft Trials at LYMPNE (KENT) in 1923 except that they couldn't get it ready in time. According to listings it was placed in the 1924 Trials but it didn't perform well enough to finish the course.
THE SPITFIRE Mk IX
The Spitfire Mk IX was, I suppose it is fair to claim, largely a response to the Luftwaffe bringing the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 into service - and the Mk.V Spitfire was no match for it. By far the most significant improvement was the Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk 61 engine which provided a considerable increase in speed, rate of climb and service ceiling over the Spitfire Mk V. The Supermarine test pilot Jeffrey Quill started flying the first Mk IX, R6700, here in early January 1942 and the second Mk IX, N3297, had gone to BOSCOMBE DOWN.
DON ROBERTSON'S MEMORIES
In his book The Urge To Fly Don Robertson, a Royal Navy pilot in WW2, has these memories: “Part of the grass aerodrome at Worthy Down, an old RAF station recently transferred to the Royal Navy, situated about four miles north of Winchester, was used for target practice with smoke bombs and one was encouraged to dive really steeply because any bombs overshooting the target tended to land in the Captain’s garden and incur his displeasure.”
“The barrage balloons round our home base at Eastleigh were a menace. Often, while training as fighter pilots, we would return home to find the balloons up, forcing us to land and wait at Worthy Down. The aerodrome had a ridge along the centre with relatively steep slopes on either side and although it may have been suitable for World War One aircraft, landing a Skua or Spitfire necessitated touching down short and stopping by the crest of the hill. It caught out many an innocent stranger and must have cost the country millions of pounds in damaged aircraft. I even saw one aircraft virtually written of while parked facing up the hill with the tail to the south. In the south westerly wind which was blowing, the rudder was swinging from side to side thus releasing the air pressure for the differential brake/rudder control. On finally losing all the pressure, the aircraft started to roll backwards until it reached a shallow ditch alongside the approach road. When the tail wheel fell into this, the whole fuselage buckled just in front of the tailplane.”
And to think, these were the kind of people charged with the defence of the Realm! It seems Worthy Down couldn’t, (or certainly didn’t in this case), provide chocks and/or tie downs - let alone control locks. And, how about the pilot having a duty of care towards his aircraft? Regarding the latter ‘crew members’ how about this tale also from Don Robertson: “When the barrage balloons were up at Eastleigh we would wait impatiently at Worthy Down for them to be pulled down, at which time there would be an ugly rush to get home first. The air raid warnings often occurred in the evening just at the end of the working day when the bar at Eastleigh, our home base, opened; hence the rush. One evening we heard that one balloon had broken its cable after a hang-up on the winch but it was only at the daily inspection of our aircraft the next day that two deep, ugly cuts were noticed on one of the engine cowlings. The strange thing about this was that the cuts were horizontal and the culprit had, therefore, been in a vertical turn. We never heard any more of the incident but it did discourage the evening race to the bar.”
Today of course the general lack of organisation, lack of basic airmanship, lack of discipline and, let’s be honest - lack of common sense especially regarding safety, seems quite extraordinary. I suppose we nearly always tend to forget that WW1 was, in those days, still a recent memory, and many of the attitudes towards operating aircraft still came from that era. Don Robertson has this to say: “In the early years of flying, the accident rate was appallingly high. My own parents, with their memories of the losses in the Royal Flying Corps in World War One, had been against my learning to fly but I had the urge and, like all youth, would not listen. Even in 1928 the general attitude to civil flying was still slapdash.”
“Perhaps training in the armed services was better organised but even here the ratio of accidents to the number of flying hours was fairly constant. By noting every mention of an accident in the press it was possible to make a reasonable estimate of the number of hours that particular service had flown. Every now and then there would be an outcry in the press about excessive losses in the Royal Air Force and a call for an enquiry.” This account of ‘public’ concern regarding flight safety in the RAF is certainly one I have not come across before. Totally justified of course and as mentioned elsewhere in this Guide I think it is a national disgrace that those who died in flying training, (and any non-combative duties for that matter), do not have a major memorial erected in their memory. Indeed two of the latest additions wold be the two Red Arrows pilots who died in recent years, and whose main aim in life was to provide the public with a thrilling spectacle.
Don Robertson goes on to say, without any doubt reflecting his experience in Canada with the pioneering airlines into the outback: “ I witnessed many crashes and had many good friends killed but somehow one hoped that one’s luck would hold. It would be untrue, however, not to admit that I was constantly aware of the danger with one small mistake due to thoughtlessness, misjudgement, or any other human failing, being enough to cause disaster. An aircraft is unforgiving of any error: no excuse, no second try; it must be right the first time. This discipline of thought and action does not come naturally but as a result of training and experience, the lesson must be well and truly understood – ‘no mistakes’. Once airborne and flying there is little danger for, as Monkey Sherlock used to say, ‘It’s the last half inch which helps the undertaker!’
This attitude is interesting. Today we have, mostly, a completely different approach in that aircraft are, in most cases, quite forgiving of mistakes. The absolutely critical factor being to immediately recognise the mistake - and do something about it. This said, as with any powerful machine of any sort with the ability to overcome the strength of an average human being, there will always be a ‘coffin corner’ into which, for obvious reasons, YOU MUST NOT ENTER.
All in all, Don Robertson paints a colourful picture of WORTHY DOWN, and also adds that Percival Proctors engaged in radio operator training, and based here, were also flying around. For anybody in the slightest bit interested in aviation, I can wholly recommend reading his book, The Urge To Fly’.
AN UNUSUAL RESPONSE?
Perhaps one of the most unusual ‘attacks’ made on German bombers, in 1940 at least, was launched from here, as Patrick Bishop describes in his book Wings: “On that day, 10 July 1940, a large German formation also bombed Swansea, damaging ships, railways, a power station and a munitions factory, and killing thirty people. Among the pilots that launched a fruitless attempt to catch them was Wing Commander Ira Jones, Mick Mannock’s old comrade and now in charge of the training airfield at Worthy Down. He took off in a Hawker Henley, used for towing targets, armed only with a Very signal pistol, which he discharged eloquently but uselessly at the raiders.”
The response from any Luftwaffe aircrew who might have witnessed this is not recorded, or so it seems? But, apart from probably falling around laughing, it may well have given them pause to reflect that the British were not going to be a pushover.
Terry Clark
This comment was written on: 2018-08-15 13:01:55Worthy Down was definitely occupied by the Army in 1969. I had to attend the College of Air Traffic Control at Hurn for my initial Air Traffic Control Assistant course in March 1969 and on driving down towards Winchester (long before the M3 was built) I saw roadsigns for Worthy Down and followed them to the main gate. In thise days, the Army hadn't yet 'destroyed' the airfield (why do they have to do that when they move into an airfield?) and there were still some airfield type buildings including 'dutch barn' type hangars (used by the FAA to store aircraft with wings folded) in existence.
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
