Redcar Rnas Station.

alan peacock · 4 January 2006, 12:49 PM

In Raymond Collinshaw's book he tells that he served at the
RNAS air station at Redcar for a while. Does anyone know of
other WW1 aces who where stationed there at sometime ?
I have found one ace who did, Flt.Lt. B.P.H. de Roeper [5 victories
Western Front].

Alan.

4 January 2006, 02:23 PM

G'day Alan,

The Australian Ace

Phillip Andrew Johnston (6 Victory Ace, KIA Aug 17, 1917) was stationed at Redcar between August 12th, 1915 and October 18th, 1915.

Andrew

Conrad · 4 January 2006, 03:24 PM

Hi Alan,

I work as a teacher near Redcar and would like to find the location of flying fields in Redcar and Marske, as I believe that they were used as good cross wind landing airfields. I have a few books that show Marske-By-The Sea as they call it, with some crash sites that could be researched if not already done so. I fancy the idea of doing a bit of a local study and would post info/ photos if discovered. Similarly, if anyone has any info that they would be willing to point me towards, I would be grateful. The idea that many of the airmen (famous and not so famous) flew here has potential.
Cheers, Conrad.

Graeme · 4 January 2006, 04:03 PM

Conrad

The airfield at Redcar was alongside the racecourse and immediately to the west of it (pretty much a box, roughly 2,000 feet by 2,000 feet). The hangars etc were in the south-west corner of the airfield. This seems to a built-up area today so little trace of the airfield and its facilities probably exists.

I've got nothing for Marske, so no help there I'm afraid.

Graeme

MikeW · 5 January 2006, 05:09 AM

In most cases the statement “served at RNAS Redcar” is something of a misnomer, Redcar being used to provide “Disciplinary” (drill, lectures, more drill, induction, even more drill) training and basic flight instruction on a sort of “overspill” basis whenever the Crystal Palace, RNAS Chingford and RNAS Eastchurch couldn’t cope. There was also a "War Flight" at Redcar, to provide home defence.

The following list, which is by no means exhaustive and only covers the pilots that I have researched, shows only two “aces” actually serving at Redcar, all the rest received some form of basic instruction there whilst temporary or probationary Flight sub Lieutenants:

WH Chisham under instruction 15/2/16 to 4/8/16
R Collishaw under instruction 7/2/16 to 15/7/16
RH Daly Instructor & testing duties 13/3/18 to 26/4/18
H Day under instruction 2/3/17 to 1/6/18
BHP de Roeper Home Defence & Instructor 22/10/16 to 15/12/16
WGR Hinchliffe under instruction 20/8/16 to 22/9/16
HT Mellings under instruction 16/8/16 to 17/10/16
GE Nash under instruction 1/5/16 to 24/8/16
EV Reid under instruction 7/2/16 to 6/6/16
JE Sharman under instruction 25/4/16 to 15/7/16

As can be seen, this is where Collishaw first met Nash, Reid and Sharman!

Mike

alan peacock · 5 January 2006, 01:05 PM

Andrew,
Thanks for your reply, that's one more to add to
my list.

Alan.

alan peacock · 5 January 2006, 01:33 PM

Conrad,
Thanks for the reply, with reference to your query about
Marske airfield, I have some information from memory that might
be of help to you.
There is a housing estate in Marske [ old Marske] built in
recent years, next to the main road, and all the road names are
named after aircraft and people associated with the RAF etc.
For example 'Barnes Wallis Way'. Before these houses were built
an industrial site occupied this area and some of the buildings
looked very much like military type bulidings. The entrance to
one of these buildings looked very much like the front of an
aircraft hanger and similar to one I have seen in a photograph
in a book showing aircraft at Marske. To the best of my
knowledge none of these buildings remain.

Alan.

alan peacock · 5 January 2006, 01:43 PM

Thanks to all for your replies,
I have found a wesite that may be of interest
to anyone interested aircraft etc in Redcar and the surrounding areas.
I found another two aces who were stationed here on this site, along
with some photo's of the aircraft. The site details aircraft crashed in
the area from 1909 to present.

Website - WWW.ALLENBY.INFO.

Alan.

alan peacock · 8 January 2006, 08:20 AM

Graeme,
With ref. to your reply to Conrad regarding REDCAR airfield,
this website may be of interest to you regarding Marske airfield.

www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk

Alan.

Conrad · 8 January 2006, 03:19 PM

Alan,
I have read the article and it gives some more avenues to go down. I have asked the author of the article Keith Proud to email me with some suggestions. We will see how it develops. Thanks for the help,
Conrad.