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Digby - RCAF Digby
A history : 1918 - 1978
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> RAF Bases
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Alma Park
Anwick
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Heath
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Blankney Hall
Blyton
Boston Wyberton Fen
Bottesford
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Lincoln West Common
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Market Deeping
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Scopwick
Sibsey
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Skellingthorpe
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South Carlton
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Spilsby
Spitalgate
Stenigot
Strubby
Sturgate
Sutton Bridge
Swinderby
Swinstead
Theddlethorpe
Tydd St Mary
Waddington
Wainfleet
Waltham (Grimsby)
Wellingore
Wickenby
Wigsley
Winterton
Woodhall Spa
Updated: 2 Jan 08
CHAPTER 1 - IN THE BEGINNING
1917 - Aug 1919
We had always believed that Scopwick began operating as a military aerodrome sometime in 1917 as a satellite of HMS Daedalus — now the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell. This conclusion was based on several undated photographs allegedly showing RNAS cadets and their instructors taken during this period.My researches have shown such an early opening date to be unlikely.
All we know for certain is that on 24 October 1917 a conference was held on Scopwick site which resulted in a recommendation that the site was suitable for a Training Depot Station. On 12 January 1918 the War Office issued an authority for the site to be taken over under the Defence of the Realm Regulations. On the same day, formal notice was served on the former owners that the department would.enter upon the land at an early date. On 14 January 1918, the Officer Commanding the Training Division was informed that the site had been taken over and could be occupied under camping conditions as soon as adequate provisions had been made for the personnel to be sent there.
On 3 May 1976, I visited the sons of the late Henry Wright, who was the tenant farmer of this land in 1917-1918. Their widowed mother — then 92 years old, and bedridden — jotted down the notes that follow of her memories of that time. -
"500 Acres let with 300 Kirkby Green.
1917 New Year Henry Wright Kirkby Green.
Telegram from Air Ministry — to cease cultivation of Scopwick Heath Farm. Workers detrained at Scopwick Station to walk to work on the site of what was to be the Air Force Station. Trench dug (manpower) to take effluent to Scopwick Beck — Council intervened so filled in again.
Tomlinson, Foreman Heath, moved to Scopwick (Firs Farm) leaving Sampson to small acreage on Heath.
Laughton Milson giving up tenancy of Firs Farm, it was offered to H Wright in place of Heath’s.’
As much as I would like to think that she is correct in remembering the year as being 1917, I fear that she is probably a year out. It all ties in too well with details above. (Incidentally, there was no Air Ministry as such in 1917).
We have also learned from the Air Historical Branch that the original
owner of the land was Lord Chaplin, who, we believe, was the first Minister
of Agriculture. The property then passed to Hugo William Cecil, Earl
of Londesborough, from whom the then Air Ministry purchased some 280
acres in 1923
.
Neither the Lincoln County Archivist nor his opposite number in the new
Humberside County have any relevant papers covering the period 1885 to
1918. They have suggested, no doubt quite accurately that ‘the
missing papers are languishing in some county solicitor’s office,
and will come to light one day!” I hope so, it would be a pity
were our early history to remain as cloudy as it is at the moment.
We do know for certain, however, that on 28 March 1918, a group of officers
and men under the command of Major J H D’Albiac, DSO RNAS left
Portholm Meadows aerodrome in Huntingdonshire and moved to Scopwick.
(Major d’Albiac had been a Royal Marine officer, hence his joining
the RNAS rather than the RFC. He later became Squadron Leader D’Albiac
and, later still, Air Marshal Sir John D’Albiac KCVO, KBE CE DSO
and gained fame in Greece in World War II.)
With him came a Warrant Officer J Hiatt, who for the next 7 years served
on and off at Digby. He retired from uniformed service in 1925 and
became Station
Warden. When he retired again in 1961, he had spent 43 years almost
continuously at the station. (He is the tall man on the left of figure
2).
Regrettably, we enter another grey area. Training units of the First World War are not well documented; only skeleton records exist for some, and nothing at all for others. No 59 Training Depot Station, Scopwick is one of the latter. Things are further complicated by the use of the abbreviation ‘TDS’ to mean both Training Depot Station and Squadron! What we do know is that No 59 TDS moved to Scopwick and came under 59th Wing in September 1918, having been under 26th Wing (which controlled Wyton and some other units in Huntingdonshire and Norfolk) until then. 59th Wing also looked after Cranwell. Presumably this is where the idea of Scopwick’s having been a satellite of Cranwell’s stems from. However, by the end of October 1918, Scopwick was controlled by 27th Wing in No 12 Group. An establishment of 10 Handly Page 0/100s, 18 FE2Eb or ds and 30 AVRO 504 Ks suggests use as a night bomber training unit. By the end of the war, the Station covered 250 acres, had seven 170’ by 100’ hangars and a landing area of 1400 by 1000 yards. According to a contemporary works report the buildings had all been completed by November 1918. (See appendix 3).
Whether the Station ever achieved its full establishment or simply became a squadron is not clear. Certainly, Scopwick was affected by the run down after the First World War. By May 1919 No 59 Training Squadron consisted of 4 Cadres (or flights) each one coming from a different Squadron. Three of these Cadres (Nos 209, 210 and 213) were ex-Royal Naval Air service Units (9, 10 and 13 squadrons) renumbered on transfer to the RAF and brought in from their base at Dunkirk. The fourth, No 273 Squadron, seems to have been an RAF squadron.
By August 1919, the Station had been transferred to the Northern Area, but was still in No 12 Group. At the same time only No 213 Cadre was left at Scopwick.
Scopwick does not seem to have been operational in the First World War. However, it does seem to have seen some action. Apparently, a Zeppelin loosed some bombs one night which fell in a field just north of Scopwick Lodge. To this day, the field is called ‘Bomb Field’.
> next
Digby memorials
Sector Ops Room Museum
Digby Oral Histories:
Geraldine Poulton
- Ops Room WAAF
Peggy Balfour - Ops
Room WAAF
"A
history 1917 - 1978"
Foreword
Introduction
1917 - Aug1919
Inter-War Years
1919-1926
1927-1937
1937-1939
World War II
1939-1940
1941
Jan - Aug 1942
Sep 1942 - 1944
1945
Return to Training
1945 - Jan 1948
Feb - Mar 1948
Mar 1948 - 1953
A cadet remembers
The Signals Era
Jan 1955 - Dec 1961
Dec 1963 - 1978
1955 - the Signals Era
Digby
Ops Room Museum
A
brief history on Airops website
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