Bill Tomlinson Posted 30 November , 2004 Share Posted 30 November , 2004 During a recent coversation with a man who was a national service man in the fifties at what is now HMP Ranby in Nottinghamshire. The discussion turned to the First World War,and what happened there during the period 1914-1918,could anyone help as regards imformation about an Airfield there at this time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 30 November , 2004 Share Posted 30 November , 2004 There was an aerodrome at East Retford - but itsn't it still there, and called Gampton (or something similar). I thought the prison was a converted army camp...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_East Posted 1 December , 2004 Share Posted 1 December , 2004 The airfield RT is referring to is the Second World War airfield, RAF Gamston,2 miles south of Retford, adjacent to the A1 which opened 62 years ago this month as a satellite to No 14 Pilots Advanced Flying Unit at RAF Ossington down the road near Newark.In May 1943 it became the satellite of No 82 OTU based at RAF Ossington equipped with Wellingtons.It closed in 1945 after being the holding unit for 2000 RAAF aircrew awaiting repatriation to Australia.It reopened again as a satellite to RAF Worksop in May 1953 accomodating No 211 Flying Training School equipped with Meteors and finally closed its doors to military flying in 1957. It is still in use as a small civilian flying field having been closed by the RAF in 1957 and is in relatively good condition. The point about Ranby is interesting.I do not think there was ever an airfield here.However,the site does have a long association with the military.A recent Forum thread listed the site as a Great War German POW camp and it was obviously retained as a military site after the Great War. BT's contact must have done his NS when it was it was an important British Army Tank unit centre having had this role in the Second World War.I think it closed down in the early 1960s.A railway yard across the road from the camp would seem to be associated with a dedicated system of tank transportation by rail. Regards Frank East Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Tomlinson Posted 2 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 2 December , 2004 Hallo and thank you both for your interesting replies,yes Gamston airfield is still in use,I think it was used in conjunction with an airfield close by the present course of the A1 trunk road at Scofton. But back to Ranby Pow,s were there and some who died were intered in Retford Cemetery,but the story about the grass airstrip is still very interesting,was it before the RFC ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_East Posted 3 December , 2004 Share Posted 3 December , 2004 Bill, Scofton is the village where RAF Worksop was situated(called Scofton airfield by the locals.)Typical of the RAF to be so confusing but more confusing to an enemy until they get their intelligence right. Regarding Ranby having an airstrip,I cannot confirm but I have to say I have never heard it discussed.I will have a word with a friend of mine who lives a cockstride from Ranby.Which side of the Worksop road was the strip said to be? Interesting point about the German POW dead at Retford cemetery.This forum also revealed that there was a German POW camp at Gringley on the Hill, not too far away from Ranby.It looks as if there was a tendency by government between the wars to retain such facilities as it would appear that the site at Gringley became the Borstal Institution for many years after the Great War.The Ranby site was developed as an important British Army tank base during the Second World War and after. Regards Frank East Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_East Posted 16 December , 2004 Share Posted 16 December , 2004 Update on Ranby,North Nottinghamshire. Having spoken to my friend,he confirms that there was a Great War airfield on the site of the present HM Prison now named Ranby.The name went under East Retford,being the official name of the town about 2 miles to the East now known as Retford.On some maps the town is still referred to as East Retford. The airfield opened in 1917 with a night flying training role.On 1 July 1917,No 200 (Depot) Squadron was formed here expressly for pilot night flying training.In its short operational life apparently it was well established having several hangers erected on the site.As many other airfields of the era it must have closed about 1919. The airfield appears to have been missed reference by well known publications. Adjacent to the site, alongside the airfield on Green Mile Lane,that is the back lane to Barnby Moor was situated the Great War POW Camp which has been listed as a POW Camp on the Forum in another thread. During the Second World War,the airfield site was used as a base for the Rifle Brigade.Postwar the camp became the depot for the 7th Tank Regiment which trained handling of tank transports.During the Second World War the railway system was extensively used by the adjacent Clumber Park Ammunition Depot. Regards Frank East Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 My list of 1914-1919 aerodromes in the UK says the following: East Retford: 3 miles W of East Retford. As at 1. 4 .18 Nos 188, 199 and 200 (Night) Training Squadrons. Later in 1918 Nos 186 and 187 (Night) Training Squadrons (Avro 504). I hope that this helps. Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J T Gray Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 My list of 1914-1919 aerodromes in the UK says the following: Good lord! I didn't know such things existed (though in this information-heavy age I guess I shouldn't be surprised). Gareth, does it mention Port Meadow in Oxford? I am not sure what the aerodrome would have been called - probably Port Meadow or Wolvercote, but am interested as I have an allotment on it! Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 Adrian Sorry, but there's nothing in the list between Portland (ex-RNAS seaplane station used by No 241 Sqn's Short 184s) and Prawle Point (ex-RNAS station used by the DH 9s and DH 6s of No 254 Sqn), nor between Wittering (No 1 Training Depot Station) and Wormwood Scrubs (Airship Construction Station). Is there another possible name? Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J T Gray Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 Godstow? possibly even Oxford? It may have been a summer-only training field as much of the meadow floods, even though the bit it was on is higher than the rest of Port Meadow. But I've seen photos of it with Besoneaux (spelling?) hangars and Be2-type aircraft outside, so I know it was there! Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 Adrian There's no mention of Godstow. All it says for Oxford is: Oxford. NE of town. 'Summer Camp'. Not much help, but perhaps some. Regards Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 Adrian, Gareth, I suppose we are getting a bit off-thread with all this – with apologies to Bill - but could I quote the Victoria County History of Oxford (1990): “Wolvercote was the scene of an early flying accident in 1912 when two officers of the Royal Flying Corps were killed near Toll Bridge. They are commemorated by a large marble plaque at the north–east end of the bridge. An airfield was built on the north end of Port Meadow during the First World War, and the site was used for a short time in the Second World War as a military camp.” (I recall stumbling across the memorial nearly 50 years ago but I could have sworn it was then stuck in the corner of a field in the middle of nowhere…) Should have thought that “Wolvercote” was the most likely name Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 20 December , 2004 Share Posted 20 December , 2004 Chris I agree that we're getting more than a bit off-thread with this. However, the photograph below is from The Guinness Book of Air Facts and Feats a 1970 publication by Mason and Windrow, and shows the monument at Godstow, Oxfordshire, to Lt E Hotchkiss and Lt C A Bettington, who were killed in an accident on 10 September 1912 while flying an 80hp Bristol Monoplane from Larkhill to Cambridge. The aeroplane crashed at Wolvercote. The above accident resulted in a temporary ban on monoplane use in the RFC and, later, to what amounted to an anti-monoplane bias when it came to the acceptance and use of them during the War. As a result, the excellent Bristol M.1 didn't see active service on the Western Front and was banished to Macedonia and Mesopotamia, as well as being used as a trainer in the UK. I'm well and truly off-thread here! Cheers Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J T Gray Posted 21 December , 2004 Share Posted 21 December , 2004 Apologies to Bill T for de-railing his thread! I'll start a new one and see if this one comes back to topic... New thread lives at: http://1914-1918.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=25292 Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Tomlinson Posted 28 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 28 December , 2004 Thank you for the detailed reply Frank,as a local this thread has many stories about Ranby the back lane you refer to,could this be Old London Road the original Great North Road. The information is very intresting,sorry about my slow responce Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_East Posted 29 December , 2004 Share Posted 29 December , 2004 Bill, I do not know if the back lane could have been called The Old London Road.It might have been but not in the context of being associated with the old A1. For centuries,the old A1 ran through the town centres of Doncaster,Bawtry and East Retford (Retford)before the Doncaster bypass (A1 motorway) was laid in 1961,then progressively,the A614 became the A1 as far as the present Clumber Park roundabout,the A57 became the A1 up to the present roundabout at Markham Moor thus bypassing Doncaster,Bawtry and Retford by the mid 1960s.The road nearest the back lane before these road works was the old A614 Doncaster to Nottingham road. I suppose in those times long ago any road that ran North /South had a distinct chance of being referred to as London Road,indeed the road going south from Reford (the old A1) is still called London Road. Getting back to the airfield apparently post Great War,it was the site of Sir Alan Cobham's air circus displays. Regards Frank East Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Tomlinson Posted 29 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 29 December , 2004 Once again much information on this thread,but I don,t think it finished yet.To-day I walked with my son in the area of Ranby/Babworth and the Old London Road area to be precise it is a road which ran from Markham Moor to Barnby Moor much of it lost but some is still there intact,from Jockey House (Gamston Airfield) thro, Little Morton to Ranby Prison then to Barnby Moor there is a short local history of this stretch of the Great North Road. Babworth Church and its Pilgrim Fathers connection also has a military connection as well as German Pow,s it is the final resting place Sir Albert Whittaker who was at Mafaking with Lord Baden Powell.Back to Ranby( hope I am not stretching the thread to far ) I was employed at a local Hospital with a man who was related to Alan Cobham and I thought he was pulling my leg! Once again Frank thank you for the information Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now