Stonehenge Aerodrome

Stonehenge Aerodrome or Stonehenge Airfield was a short-lived military airfield of the Royal Flying Corps on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, in use from 1917 to 1921. It was built around 300 metres (980 ft) south-west of Stonehenge on the site of existing cottages, and spanned both sides of the New Direct Road turnpike (later designated as the A303).^[1] The base was opened in November 1917, construction having started earlier in that year, as part of the scaling up of military flying capability for World War I. The aerodrome was not complete when the war ended, but construction continued past the end of the war.^[2]

The airfield closed in 1921, and was fully demolished by the early 1930s as part of a concerted effort to restore the natural landscape around Stonehenge.

Military use

The airfield was used for the training of bomber pilots at the No 1 School of Aerial Navigation and Bomb Dropping. The establishment has been described as a "finishing school" for bomber pilots and navigators, and provided both day and night training.^[3] At the height of its activity in mid-1918, 60 day crews and 60 night crews were trained each month.^[3] The biography of David Clendon Hale, an American airman attached to the RAF, states that he completed a 32-day course as an observer at the night flying school at Stonehenge in May 1918.^[4]

There was also a presence of the Royal Naval Air Service with Handley Page heavy bombers.^[2] The No. 108 Squadron RAF unit was formed at Stonehenge (or possibly the nearby Lake Down Aerodrome)^[5] in November 1917, and was equipped with Airco DH.9 bombers.^[6]

The site was closely linked to Larkhill military camp, and from 1917^[7] the two sites were connected through spurs of the Larkhill Military Light Railway.^[8]^[9]^[10]

In 1919, a flight sergeant from the base was charged with stealing six gallons of petrol and selling it to the local bus company.^[11]

Closure

The Under-secretary of State to the Air Ministry George Tryon was asked in Parliament in early 1920 if the aerodrome was to be pulled down to remove the visual impact on Stonehenge, to which he replied "The retention of the aerodrome at Stonehenge has been the subject of very careful consideration, as the Air Council are in full sympathy with the desire that existing disfigurements in the neighbourhood of Stonehenge should be removed at the earliest moment possible. The station is, however, of great importance to the Royal Air Force owning to its proximity to Larkhill and other artillery camps, and until an alternative arrangement can be found the aerodrome will have to remain".^[12]

Flying operations were stopped in 1920,^[7] leading to formal closure in 1921, when the last units transferred to the School of Army Co-operation at Old Sarum Airfield. Disused huts and equipment were disposed of by auction.^[13]

After decommissioning

Return to agriculture

After closure of the site, it was reverted to the previous owners, who then sold the site for use as a pig farm.^[14]^[15] It therefore appears on 1920s maps as the "Pedigree Stock Farm".^[16]

In 1921, the Wiltshire Times reported that the derelict site was different to other decommissioned military installations locally, having at least six "huge solidly-built hangars" which they estimated to be 240 feet (73 m) by 190 feet (58 m) in size and built in stone and brick.^[17]

Restoration

Map showing the three proposed development plots around Stonehenge from 1927, including the former aerodrome

The former aerodrome, now pig farm, was one of the main targets for campaigners who wanted to restore the landscape around Stonehenge to a more natural setting, and the airfield and Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway were high priorities for removal after the National Trust took possession of the Stonehenge land in 1923.^[15]

In 1927 the aerodrome site was put up for sale by the pig farmer, with interest from developers.^[18] As a result, a fundraising effort was launched in August 1927 to raise enough money to demolish the aerodrome buildings and buy the land within the "Stonehenge skyline".^[19]^[20] The subscription target for this was £35,000 and the first £8,000 – with the King as the lead subscriber – was enough to start the demolition in October 1927.^[21]^[22]^[23] The fund continued for a number of years to secure the remaining land around the henge for the nation.^[24]

Demolition of buildings took place from 1927, and in 1928 a labourer was killed falling through a roof of one the buildings being demolished.^[25] The last of the three largest hangars was demolished in August 1930,^[26] and the remaining buildings were cleared from the site in the early 1930s.^[7]

The buried iron and concrete from the demolition and levelling of the site can still be seen in magnetometer surveys of the Stonehenge landscape.^[27]

References

^ Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) (1979). Stonehenge and its environs: monuments and land use. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-85224-379-4.
^ ^a ^b Barber, Martyn (2015). Stonehenge Aerodrome and the Stonehenge landscape. English Heritage.
^ ^a ^b Berryman, David (2002). Wiltshire Airfields in the Second World War. Newbury: Countryside Books. p. 10. ISBN 9781853067037.
^ New England Aviators 1914–1918. Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 1920. p. 100 – via Internet Archive.
^ Historic England. "Lake Down Airfield (1347245)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 25 October 2021.
^ "History of 108 Squadron". Royal Air Force. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 – via Internet Archive.
^ ^a ^b ^c Baggs, A. P.; Freeman, Jane; Stevenson, Janet H. (1995). "Amesbury". In Crowley, D. A. (ed.). A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 15. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 13–55. Retrieved 29 May 2024 – via British History Online.
^ Brown, Timothy (2013). Flying with the Larks: Britain's Early Aviation Pioneers of Larkhill. The History Press. ISBN 9780752492353.
^ Smith, Martin (1994). Britain's light railways. Ian Allan. ISBN 0711022232.
^ Chandler, John (1979). Amesbury: history and description of a south Wilshire town. Amesbury Society. ISBN 9780950664309.
^ "Government petrol leakage: Flight-sergeant's admissions at Stonehenge Aerodrome". The Western Gazette. 14 February 1919. p. 5.
^ "Aviation in Parliament". Flight International. CII (12): 327. 18 March 1920 – via Internet Archive.
^ "Sale by Auction". The Wiltshire Times. 22 October 1921. p. 6.
^ "A "Threat to Stonehenge"". The Gloucester Citizen. 23 June 1927. p. 11.
^ ^a ^b Lloy-Jone, Peter (1992). Stonehenge tomorrow. ISBN 9780951993507.
^ Darvill, Timothy (2006). Stonehenge: The Biography of a Landscape. Tempus. ISBN 9780752436418.
^ Jones, E Rhys (5 November 1921). "The Derelict Camps on Salisbury Plain". The Wiltshire Times. p. 4.
^ "Donor of Stonehenge". The Western Gazette. 28 September 1934. p. 16.
^ "Funds wanted to save Stonehenge". The Dundee Evening Telegraph. 9 November 1927. p. 5.
^ "Stonehenge - Fund to save the skyline". The Midland Daily Telegraph. 5 August 1927. p. 1.
^ JC, Squire (8 October 1927). "Stonehenge". The Wiltshire Times. p. 8.
^ "To Save Stonehenge". The Daily Chronicle. 10 November 1927. p. 8.
^ "Preservation of Stonehenge". Taunton Courier. p. 11.
^ "Save Stonehenge! The "Frontispiece to English history" in peril". The Illustrated London News. 23 March 1929. p. 481.
^ "Fatality at Stonehenge Aerodrome". The Wiltshire Times. 28 January 1928. p. 7.
^ "Preservation of Stonehenge - Progress towards isolation". The Wiltshire Times. 9 August 1930. p. 8.
^ Richards, Julian C (2017). Stonehenge:the story so far. Historic England. ISBN 9781848021006.