Stow It!

On a pleasant if chilly May morning David Holroyd, Brian Wellman, Peter Greene, Stephen King, Roger Kettle, were part of a group of 24 members and friends of the Rotary Club of Billericay, the Probus Club of Basildon and Billericay, and Basildon Rotary club, who visited Stow Maries Great War airfield in Purleigh.

A Short History Lesson

We started with a splendid breakfast of bacon or sausage rolls in the Airmens’ Mess – not for us a visit to the Officers’ mess – that is now reserved for the admin team!  Our tour guide, Jim, introduced himself and took us through the history of the site,  It had been compulsory purchased from a farmer to help defend the eastern approached to London and the Docks – originally against airships like the eponymous Zeppelin and later against German bombers. 

The Mess has the usual facilities along with the cafe including a library and playroom.

This airfield is one of three used by 37 Squadron during the 1914-18 Great War, the others being Goldhanger and Rochford.  It is the only remaining airfield used during that war which still exists.  It is still a working airfield with aircraft still taking off and landing from the grass fields – usually on strips of mowed grass!

A Moving Memorial

It is home to a memorial to the 10 airmen of Squadron 37 who lost their lives.  Astonishingly 80% of them died in accidents, a statistic which Jim said was true for all airmen in what was then the Army’s Royal Flying Corps and the Navy’s Royal Naval Air Service.

We started our visit with a short walk from the Airmen’s mess to this elegant memorial, to be told about the men who sadly lost their lives – including a 17 year old C. C. Taylor, who had lied about his age to enlist, and a 2nd. lieutenant Mucklow, who was originally in the army, but deserted when on home leave and joined the Royal Flying Corps under an assumed name!

A Private Tour

There are two hangars – the white one and the green one, and we visited both.  They contained some original aeroplanes and several replicas at various stages of restoration.  These included a Fokker single seater, said to have been used by the famous German Red Baron, and an “Albatross DVa” (apparently German aircrew could paint their aircraft as they wished!).  There was also a Sopwith Tabloid – part of the family of the Sopwith Camel made famous by Captain W. E. Johns in his “Biggles” books.  

A number of other rebuilt replicas showed us how engineering had moved on from the proud boast that some of the planes had reached over 100 miles an hour.

Amongst the displays were a poster of the airfields in East Anglia and stories about some of the airmen of WWI, including one of particular relevance to our home town. 

The buildings at the site are being slowly restored and include an ammunition store, an engineering workshop and canteen and offices.  There was even a garage boasting three WWI trucks.

The site was bought back by the original farmer after WWII, which was really lucky because it meant that the buildings were in continuous use and not allowed to fall into disrepair.  The entire set of over 40 buildings had been part of his working farm.  The restoration to a heritage site started in the early 2000’s after the passing of the farming family.

The site has extensive museums and displays, which are regularly changed and expanded.  Currently there is a fascinating display of the role of women in the Great War, something that is not always understood or promoted.

Contributions

Our day ended with a splendid buffet in the mess. we were able to meet with both our host, the visitor coordinator and the chief executive of the airfield.  Large signs advised that the site costs £760 per day to run. Our contribution for the tour and in both the well-stocked gift shop and cafe hopefully made a useful contribution.

An extra surprise was meeting two teams from a school in Tendring. They had taken part in a rocket competition. Here schools were given criteria and rules to build a rocket which had to rise higher than 525 feet.  The launch and scrutiny of their construction had been put back due to previous bad weather.  The launch was from a distant part of the airfield.  Some of us saw the rockets rise. They certainly surpassed the milk bottle and blue touch paper of our days!

We’ll Meet Again ...

There is a grand programme of events on the website – a Classic cars and Air show, a summer “Fly-in”, the Stow Maries Air Show etc.  No doubt many of us will return to the airfield where there is a lot to explore and with good weather, will find rambling and walking as well as variety.

You can support Stow Maries work via the membership scheme – the Propeller Club.  
https://www.stowmaries.org.uk/about/propeller-club.
There is also the option from the website home page https://www.stowmaries.org.uk/ to press either ‘Plan your visit’, or  ‘donate now’.
By David Holroyd