View Full Version : Any Ideas?
Maxflyer
5th Oct 2011, 07:26
I am researching a disused WW1 airfield in South Devon and have been told that the aircraft in the photo flew out of there. Can anyone tell me what type it is?
Many thankshttp://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/maxflyer/DS049.jpg
Its a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter.
Someone no doubt will come up with the correct designation but my description is good enough to start with
By George
5th Oct 2011, 07:54
Looks like a two-seater, Sopwith 1 and half Strutter?
By George
5th Oct 2011, 08:00
You beat me to it by four minutes VX275 as far as I'm aware that is the correct name. ( I cannot find the 'half' thingy on my keyboard).
By George
5th Oct 2011, 08:02
Ah.... got it.... 1 1/2 (this is why they wouldn't let me fly an Airbus).
sycamore
5th Oct 2011, 18:39
White hats,old RNAS base ?
Kitbag
5th Oct 2011, 20:17
Looks like this one has had the armament removed, the type was used as a trainer as it became obsolescent. Also (and surprisingly I thought) according to the ever reliable:cool: Wiki RNAS had no stations in the South West
Grob Queen
9th Oct 2011, 14:44
White hats are indeed RNAS designation. Jackets are RNAS as well.
I would need to check when they were in operation, but, Kitbag, what about Mountbatten (Plymouth), Culdrose. Personally I take what Wiki says very much with a pinch of salt!!!;)
Try contacting the Fleet Air Arm museum and/or the RAF Museum...
diginagain
9th Oct 2011, 18:05
Culdrose was completed post-war - 1946 - so puts that out of the frame, and Mountbatten was a sea-plane base.
Kitbag
9th Oct 2011, 21:34
Thanks Diginagain, stopped me from delivering a more pointed riposte.
Phileas Fogg
9th Oct 2011, 21:59
DEVON AIRFIELDS INDEX (http://devonairfields.tripod.com/)
CharlieOneSix
9th Oct 2011, 22:16
according to the ever reliable:cool: Wiki RNAS had no stations in the South West
Airfields
HMS Vulture II, Treligga, Cornwall, 1916-18
RNAS Trevose Head, Cornwall, 1917-18
RNAS Prawle Point, Devon, 1917-18
RNAS Crugmeer, Padstow, Cornwall, dates unknown but towards the end of WW1
Airship bases
RNAS Mullion, Bonython, Cornwall,1915-18
RNAS Laira, Plympton, Devon, (sub-station to Mullion)
RNAS Land's End, Newlyn, Cornwall, 1917-18
RNAS Bude, Cornwall, 1915-18
In 1918 the RNAS had 67,000 officers and men, 2949 aircraft, 103 airships and 126 coastal stations
Kitbag
10th Oct 2011, 05:41
Charlie, I'm struggling to find any reference to those bases, could you point me to them please?
CharlieOneSix
10th Oct 2011, 07:49
If you Google "Royal Naval Air Stations" then, depending on the size of your screen, either at the bottom of the first or top of the second page you will find a pps presentation by cloudobservers which uses as a basis a map prepared by the Fly Navy Heritage Trust in connection with the celebration of 100 years of naval aviation in the UK.
The only reference I'm not too happy about is to HMS Vulture II. Whilst there certainly was a RNAS airfield at Treligga during WW1, the name Vulture II seems to be a WW2 name when it was a satellite to RNAS St Merryn (HMS Vulture).
The reference to Crugmeer was found on a Cornwall County Council site "Flying through Cornwall's Past". Hope that helps!