Pilot training aerodrome buildings and structures

[WolvercoteWW1]

Hi, we (Wolvercote WW1 Aerodrome Memorial Project) are undertaking a geophysical survey of the WW1 aerodrome site at Port Meadow, north of Oxford. It is surprising how many features are visible below ground, including the markings/locations of Bessonneau hangars, helped no doubt by the land not being cultivated for thousands of years and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Are there standard buildings (& information on them) that were used at these training sites? We know from aerial photos and a 1920 auction leaflet, that there was a 145 ft by 65 ft metal clad shed (presumed to be a Rigging Shed?), various wooden admin/stores huts, large tents, what look like small hangars for individual planes, and, so far, 8 of 11 known Bessonneau hangers. Other local aerodrome sites opened in 1918 seemed to have larger more permanent wooden hangars. 

[depaor01]

Hi Wolvercote,

 

To my limited knowledge these aerodromes were identical in plan regardless of location.

Assuming this is the case, here are drawings from the Tallaght Co. Dublin aerodrome that I acquired from the Irish National Library for our library some time ago.

I hope they are of benefit for your project.

 

http://source.southdublinlibraries.ie/browse?type=author&value=National+Archives+of+Ireland

 

Dave

[WolvercoteWW1]

Hi Dave, thank you very much for these, really interesting. Some look to be very relevant and I'll go through them all in detail. I sense 
Port Meadow might be a hybrid as it was built in 1916, and I think aerodrome design (particularly hangars) had moved on by 1918. Peter

[Buffnut453]

I don't have anything to add, other than I'd be very interested to see the results of your research.  One of my relatives flew a couple of flights from Port Meadow in the spring of 1918 while he was completing his training with 8 Training Squadron, first at Netheravon and then at Witney.  On 19 Apr 1918, he force-landed an RE8 at Port Meadow, returning 3 days later.

 

Cheers,
Mark

[WolvercoteWW1]

Hi Mark, I've been researching the aerodrome since 2013. Peter Wright did a great booklet RFC in Oxfordshire 1912-1918 in 1985, reprinted I think in 2015, by which time we were working together on it. Sadly he passed in 2018. Oxford's Lost Aerodrome is a short book collection of local newspaper articles I did on the WW1 era there on 12 fatal crashes and on specific interesting "survivors", plus some extras. The project we ran has a FB page  https://www.facebook.com/wolvercoteww1memorial/ and mentions the survey kicking off.  We have lots of photos and I do try to collect photos of individuals who died or survived there to ensure we have a personal touch and stories as well as the functional history. If you have a photo of your relative in WW1 and a name and rank I'd love to have a copy of that if possible. I give talks on the topic and keep a slide or 2 for those photos. Regards Peter

PS: there is a Witney Aerodrome FB site that covers its full history not just WW1.

[Buffnut453]

My relative only made a couple of flights to/from Port Meadow, so his association with the airfield is scant at best.  The most significant was his engine failure on 19 Apr 1918 which he successfully completed.  According to his logbook, the aircraft was RE8 '4527' of 8 TS.