FEATURES
a Cranwell Perspective By Hazel Crozier – College Curator
THE GREAT WAR
When flying in the circuit, I generally have two thoughts…a) I have to land this thing at some point and b) the perspective of Cranwell from 800ft is really very good… When one looks closely, the station’s historic past can still be seen in the countryside. The officer’s married quarters for instance are built on exactly the same pattern as the airship sheds from the Airship Wing – something which I find quite exciting! (It’s a Curator thing…)
F
rom the inception of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1912, military flying training had been carried out at
Upavon. The formation of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS 1st July 1914) meant that facilities at Upavon became inadequate; the Admiralty had to relocate its pilot and engineer training. Cranwell was chosen for this new facility as it could also have a supporting role to the air stations being set up on the east coast of England.
RAF Cranwell was originally known as HMS Daedalus. Personnel posted to HMS Daedalus borne on the books of the renamed Medway hulk – HMS Daedalus – so that they were in fact, a ship’s company!
Whilst the Continent was in turmoil, the inhabitants of the quiet rural community of Cranwell village were about to have their world changed with the influx of the military. Cranwell Lodge Farm was commandeered from Mr Usher Banks for the Admiralty by CPO Whitlock on 23rd November 1915. Accommodation was within the farmhouse, three cottages and the outbuildings. Personnel had to sling their hammocks wherever they
could find a space in the grounds and less than salubrious outbuildings! That first winter could not have been at all comfortable, as it was cold and snowy… The first sod of earth was cut for the first building on 28th December 1915, and the first officers to Cranwell that same month were Flt Cdr J H Lidderdale, Lt JR Potter and Flt Sub Lt FHM Maynard (a popular chap); and Cdre Sir Godfrey Paine, the first Commandant.
The Piloteer (the Station magazine) recorded the birth of Cranwell and noted that one officer “had a day’s journey from London in the pouring rain in a decrepit lorry with one CPO and 13 men and their baggage. All were wet to the skin, and were not in a mood to see humour in anything, least of all in the barn…which was filled with corn and inhabited by rats…”
Sqn Cdr JH Lidderdale was the First Lieutenant from the beginnings of HMS Daedalus on 15th December 1915, and with the use of Naval terminology he was known as “Jimmy the One”. The Piloteer described him as the “Young, active personality that evolved order out of chaos, hutments and hangars out of pasture and cornfields”. Two of those original hangars are still in use today.
Lidderdale supervised the strict daily naval routine on the Station. Time was broadcast by the ship’s bell; watches were detailed as either port or starboard. Reveille was played “in the round form” with the buglers stationed around the camp perimeter. On joining the Station, each rating was given a “Station card” (their Station ID; failure to carry it was a punishable offence.)
The Lodge was used as the Commandant’s accommodation, and also the Officer’s
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Envoy Autumn 2014
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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