Beverley Aerodrome and Bishop Burton – article 1

Few people today know that there was an aerodrome on the edge of the parish of Bishop Burton during World War 1. Flying aircraft was a great novelty in 1914 since Bleriot had only managed to cross the channel in 1910. At the start of the war, the military use of airplanes was given little credibility. But the technology of flight moved on very quickly and by 1916 there were many small aerodromes springing up. They were small because the airplanes had a very limited flying range. The weaponry of the earliest planes was often a revolver or rifle shot by hand by the pilot – being very careful to avoid the blades of the airplane.

Beverley Aerodrome was situated on land taken from Mount Pleasant Farm lying within the parish of Bishop Burton and part of the racecourse on the north side of the York road. It had no connection with the aerodrome established a few miles to the north east in Leconfield in 1936. The aerodrome at Beverley was gone by the early 1920’s – its buildings sold off or assigned to other purposes. Racecourses and open land had regularly been commandeered for military purposes, and the Westwood was no exception. It was also used as an encampment mostly for soldiers under training. So there was no golf and no racing on the Westwood for the period of the war; the Holderness Hunt managed to keep going for a while and dog-walking might well have been a restricted activity. Burton Bushes was still used for recreational activities though by locals and visitors alike.

Almost the only physical sign of the aerodrome now is the brass plaque that was erected on the wall of All Saints’ Church in Bishop Burton to commemorate the 17 men who died at the Aerodrome in air accidents. The plaque exists because of the aerodrome’s partial location in the parish but more importantly through the YMCA canteen that was on the camp and the role that the late vicar (WA Pearman) and the women of the village played in supporting it.

The mural plaque was dedicated at a service led by the Bishop of Hull around the same time that the war memorial was erected.

During the war, the aerodromes were kept as secret as was practicable, probably to prevent them being attacked, possibly by German airships; in our area the primary target were the docks in Hull. The odd bomb did fall on Beverley but this seemed to be more a misadventure than a deliberate act. In March 1916, a bomb fell on the Beverley Parks area from airship L14, possibly attracted by the lights of the Figham gas works. Reading the local newspaper you would hardly be aware of the existence of the aerodrome although increasingly as the war ground on, newspapers began to fill with items reporting the exciting achievements of the Royal Air Force. The men who died in accidents at the aerodrome were often the subject of inquests but there was never a direct reference to Beverley – invariably the location of the aerodrome or the inquest or the accident was a “town in Yorkshire”. One editorial oversight occurred in March 1917 when there was an announcement of a meeting in Bishop Burton to support the work of the YMCA at the aerodrome (oops!).

The aerodrome at Beverley opened in March 1916 with two squadrons, 33 and 47. Initially their primary purpose was to patrol the Humber ports which were subject to attack from German airships. Increasingly though the aerodrome was used as a training base by squadrons dedicated to training and also by squadrons who were on their way to the war front in France and the Low Countries and needed to “polish up” their flying skills.

This may explain why there were so many accidents at the Aerodrome. The training of pilots required them to perform “stunts” since they would need to fly in that way in the “dog-fights” that would occur in France and the Low Countries when on active service.

We have a record by Sir Hugh Chance CBE of the Worcestershire Regiment who recalled in his memoir: “Three weeks after posting to Castle Bromwich I was ordered to 47 Squadron at Beverley in Yorkshire, commanded by Major J. G. Small. Beverley aerodrome had been a racecourse and was like a grassy pimple; if one flew in too low one ran the danger of hitting the rising ground; and if too high, the ground receded on the far side of the pimple and, instead of touching down, one's wheels went higher and higher and another circuit became imperative.”

The cost on men and planes during training was high. The aircraft were difficult to fly, particularly when taking off and landing. One of our casualties, Linden Richardson of York has left a contemporaneous diary which contains some fascinating insights into his daily activities during training. On one day he flew from Beverley to Tadcaster where he crashed his plane on landing; he waited all day for another aircraft to become available to allow him to fly back to Beverley and proceeded to crash that plane at Cherry Burton on his return – and he was judged to be an excellent pilot! The crash enabled Linden to recover the damaged propeller and fit it with a barometer that he bought in Hull with his brother – this is still in the possession of the Richardson family today and it works!

Notwithstanding the general security that surrounded the aerodrome, the week beginning 6 th March 1918 was designated “Beverley Aeroplane Week”. Shopkeepers were encouraged to display flags and bunting to mark the event. The likely highlight was a lantern lecture given in Lairgate by G C Grey, entitled “The war in the air”. The lecture consisted of showing the 60 exclusive slides featuring both British and German planes in aerial combat. Admission was free but since the event was organised by the National War Savings Committee one might suppose that some contribution was expected.

Mr Grey was the editor of the “The Aeroplane” magazine. Grey was said to be very opinionated and his views on most subjects would apparently nowadays be regarded as completely lacking in political correctness.

Illustrated in black and white only for almost all its life, in 1959 the title was amended to 'The Aeroplane and Astronautics'. In 1968 it was taken over and absorbed into its long-time rival 'Flight International'. The Chairman of the local branch of the War Savings Committee was James Elwell, also the Mayor of Beverley. He wrote a letter from the Guildhall to the participants thanking them for their great energy and congratulating on the £90,000 that had been collected. Today that would be worth more than £3 million based on the RPI and £15 million based on change in average earnings since 1918 – an astonishing sum considering the size of the town. Even this effort though is dwarfed by that of West Hartlepool where over £31 was collected per head of population in the three months from October 1918. Both towns were, however, rewarded with one of the 256 war-battered tanks that were distributed to towns that performed well in persuading their populations to invest in what were commonly referred to as “tank banks”.

It is a mark of how much the character of the war changed by 1918 or its reporting at least, that probably a third of the war reports in the Beverley Guardian are now to do with aerial warfare. Remember the first manned flight by the Wright brothers had been just a few years earlier.

Over the next year, more articles will be published in the newsletter with extended versions including pictures being published also on the village web site. The individual stories and histories of the 17 men will be described both to commemorate the individuals and also to better understand the character of the air service at the time and its interaction with the village.