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RAF Upwood (1917-1945)
Starting life as a none-flying airfield of the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, Bury (Ramsey) Airfield in Cambridgeshire was initially used as a night landing and satellite airfield for the nearby Elmswell, over the border in Suffolk, who were flying BE2c’s on No. 75 squadron. By the summer of 1918, they had affiliated with the newly formed Royal Air Force. In July, 191 (Night) Training Squadron had joined the unit, adding DH.6 aircraft to the mix, and shortly afterwards moved onto the FE2b. Five hangars were placed, and the name changed to RAF Upwood, 190 NTS arrived in October 1918 with the 504k. The two squadrons were part of the…
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Britain’s first military aviation fatality
At the end of February 1913, following a government decision to operate twelve devoted military airbases for the Royal Flying Corps, five aircraft from Farnborough landed at Montrose, following a 450 mile journey undertaken in stages over the previous 13 days. Although the airfield was moved four miles north, at the beginning of 1914, Montrose became the first operational military airfield in the United Kingdom, on the orders of Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Winston Churchill. The first squadron, No 2 Squadron RFC were stationed in Montrose, primarily forming a training school for pilots under the command of Major Charles James Burke, who had gained his flying certificate in France…
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Lanoe George Hawker VC
Born in Hampshire on December 30th, 1890 into a well-know and respected military family, Lanoe George Hawker attended first Stubbington House School, and then from the age of eleven, Dartmouth’s Royal Navy College. Despite being an intelligent boy and a keen sportsman, his academic grades proved disappointing as a career in the Navy seemed unlikely. Instead Hawker enrolled at Woolwich Royal Military Academy before enlisting as an officer cadet in the Royal Engineers. After seeing a film about the Wright Flyer in 1910, Hawker, a keen inventor and dabbler in all thing engineering, developed an interest in aviation, and after gaining his flying certificate at his own expense in 1913,…
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Crash of Air France flight 4590
Upon the departure of a Continental Airlines DC-10 from Charles de Gaulle International Airport on 25th July, 2000, a metal wear strip used during a recent repair of the aircraft was dislodged and fell onto the runway. The titanium alloy piece was approximately 1.4 mm thick, a little over an inch wide and roughly 17 inches long. A scheduled 3pm clean-up of the runway failed to take place, and the debris remained where it fell. French President Jacques Chirac was inbound on a 747 from Japan, following his attendance at a G8 summit. The arrival of his flight forced the adjustment of Air France flight 4590 to a different take-off…
