A World War One Aeroplane Named Sheffield

[peterwarr]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21562094/CAHSJ47-1.pdfhttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/21562094/C%26C14-2.pdf

Could be a Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_R.E.8

In the summer of 1917, a "Newfoundland Week" was declared in England to celebrate the 420th anniversary of the discovery of Newfoundland and to draw attention to the colony's contribution to the war effort. The cities of Sheffield and Liverpool were encouraged by the Imperial Air fleet Committee to raise money for the purchase of aircraft to be presented to Newfoundland and used in the colony's name on the war front. In a ceremony in Sheffield, the Lord Mayor presented a gift aircraft to the Air Fleet Committee, which it turned over to the colony. Lady Isabel Morris, wife of the Newfoundland Prime Minister, broke a bottle of wine over the propeller and christened the aircraft Sheffield. The Sheffield, an RE8 (serial #A4458) was deployed with 7 Squadron

http://www.newfoundlandquarterly.ca/issue430/allied.php

Many thanks for this. It set me off in several directions, including writing to the author of the article.

He has been very helpful, for example sending these two links:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21562094/C%26C14-2.pdf

Scanned extracts of a few pages from a magazine called Cross & Cockade. Page 65 indicates that 13 British cities presented planes to the Dominions (i.e., including Sheffield). And page 66 gives us the names of fliers in both the Sheffield machines shot down. (Was one a Canadian in both cases?) The third Sheffield plane was still with the RAF in January 1919.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21562094/CAHSJ47-1.pdf

An article in the Canadian Aviation Historical Society Journal 47(1):24-34, by Hugh Halliday. It reports on the 100+ aircraft offered to Canada to build up the Canadian air force. This article covers many years, but early pages cover post-WW1 gifts (potentially including the “Sheffield”). It looks as though the (third) Sheffield plane never reached its original recipient country.

[peterwarr]

I’ve recently come across more details about the aerodrome. The 1920 Sheffield Yearbook indicates on page 57:

“During the war the Government erected a great aerodrome near Norton and Coal Aston for the repair of aeroplanes. Large hangars and workshops, splendidly equipped, were included in the buildings. The Government is no longer using the place. It is proposed that the City Council should acquire the buildings in connection with civil flying.”

So the first aeroplane named Sheffield flew from the first hoped-for Sheffield City Airport. But neither lasted very long!

[peterwarr]

Received from the Royal Air Force Museum, London (www.rafmuseum.org):

"The three aircraft entitled “Sheffield” and presented to Newfoundland were all R.E.8s and had the aircraft serials A4458, B5102 and C2719. Unfortunately such aircraft service documents as were compiled for aircraft used in this period are no longer extant, and I am therefore unable to detail the fate of C2719. However, I can say that it does not seem to have been in use by the RAF by 1 January 1920, the date on which the earliest surviving records begin. "

[Bayleaf]

I’ve recently come across more details about the aerodrome. The 1920 Sheffield Yearbook indicates on page 57:

“During the war the Government erected a great aerodrome near Norton and Coal Aston for the repair of aeroplanes. Large hangars and workshops, splendidly equipped, were included in the buildings. The Government is no longer using the place. It is proposed that the City Council should acquire the buildings in connection with civil flying.”

So the first aeroplane named Sheffield flew from the first hoped-for Sheffield City Airport. But neither lasted very long!

More information on Coal Aston

In 1915 the RFC opened a training airfield and landing strip at Coal Aston, near to Norton Lane, just south of the now Norton Lane/Bochum Parkway junction. It eventually grew to cover a large area around what's now the 4 Lane Ends roundabout at Meadowhead.

This site, along with one at Ecclesfield and another next to the Redmires Camp were used for much of 1916 for night flights in defence of Sheffield.

Unlike the other 2 though,it remained as an RAF establishment well after the war ended.

To begin with it was home to No 17 Training Squadron, RFC, and for some of the time to flights from 33 Squadron, whose headquarters were at Gainsborough.

The squadrons flew BE2c aircraft from a grass strip, but as its need as a defensive site grew less, it became a unit for carrying out repairs to a variety of aircraft, and eventually became No 2 (Northern) Aircraft Repair Depot.

It became almost a small township with hangars, stores, messes, living quarters and a church. It even had its own railway. Women from the Army's Voluntary Aid Detachment eventually arrived to release RFC members for active service.

Towards the end of the War PoW's were housed on part of the site. Government interest in the site dwindled and by 1920 the airfield was unused. When it went up for sale in 1922, it is said the City Council showed an interest in acquiring it for the development of civil aviation, but nothing came of it.

[peterwarr]

Many thanks. Do you have the source reference for this, please? It would be good to be able to cite it.

Peter

[Bayleaf]

Many thanks. Do you have the source reference for this, please? It would be good to be able to cite it.

Peter

Its from From Bailey to Bailey by Stephen Johnson, a member of staff in the Local History Dept.

From Bailey to Bailey : a short history of military buildings in Sheffield

Johnson, Stephen

Publisher: The Author, Pub date: 1998. Pages: 70p. : ISBN: 0951935135