SPAD S.4.A The SPAD S.A (also called S.A.L.) was a French two-seat tractor biplane first flown in 1915. It was used by France and Russia in the early stages of the First World War in the fighter and reconnaissance roles. It was a somewhat unusual aircraft that carried its observer in a nacelle ahead of both wing and engine. The SPAD A.1 prototype was the first aircraft produced by SPAD following its reorganization from the pre-war Deperdussin company. The chief designer, Louis Béchereau, had been involved in designing that firm’s…
Year: 2021
Bert Whitehead
Prisoner of War Private Bert Whitehead Private Bert Whitehead, son of Mr and Mrs J. Whitehead, 13 Holbrook Way, Bromley, is a prisoner of war in Germany at Stalag XXB 34. He is 23 years of age, and has had three birthdays away from home. His parents hear from him regularly, and he appears to be well and cheerful. Born in Bromley, Private Whitehead was educated at Bromley Common (Holy Trinity) School, when Mr E.C. De’Ath (now a member of the Town Council) was head master, and afterwards at Raglan…
Nurse K.E. Stacey
Nurse from Green Street Green awarded for her services to The Red Cross during World War One The Royal Red Cross The distinction of being the only trained nurse to go abroad from the village of Green Street Green during the war belongs to Miss K.E. Stacey, eldest daughter of the late Mr James Stacey of Green Street Green, and on Wednesday last week, at Maidstone, in recognition of very valuable work, she was decorated with the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class. Sister Stacey, who served in Malta and Salonika,…
Mrs Fraser-Harris joins Munition Making at 62
62 year old lady proves she’s just as capable as her younger counterparts Munition Making at 62 Lady Workers’ 10 Hours a Day At a local factory engaged on Government work, a well educated and widely travelled lady of 62 has, for the last five months, been working from eight in the morning until a quarter to seven at night on a drilling machine. She is Mrs Eleanor Fraser-Harris, who has left her charming home in Maresfield, Sussex, in order that she may live near near work. In an interview…
Driver A.E. Stagg
Prisoner of War at Stalag, Germany Driver A. E. Stagg Mr and Mrs Stagg, of 23 Pope Road, Bromley, have received news that their son, Driver Albert Edward Stagg, aged 22, of the R.A.S.C. is a prisoner of war at Stalag VIIIB, in Germany, where many other of our local lads are confined. Driver Stagg is an old boy of Raglan Road school and before the war he was employed in the outfitting department of the South Suburban Co-Operative at Chatterton Road, Bromley and later at Sevenoaks. He was called…
Albert Henry Jennings
Leading Stoker A. H. Jennings Leading-Stoker Albert Henry Jennings, aged 22, who is among the missing, is a brother of Mr C. Jennings, newsagent, of Russell Place, Horns Cross, with whom he made his home. He was home on leave shortly before Christmas, having served for the previous ten months without leave. Source: Bromley & District Times,
Flyingboats – WW1
Flyingboats Significant progress was made in naval flying in World War I. Three distinct categories of combat aircraft emerged: long-range overwater reconnaissance and antisubmarine aircraft operating from shore bases, shorter-range floatplane (so called because instead of wheeled undercarriages they floats to allow water landings) reconnaissance and fighter aircraft, and ship-borne aircraft. Long-range flying boats (so called because their fuselages were shaped like the hull of a boat) were used extensively by the British. These pioneered the technique of searching for submarines with methodical, mathematically developed search patterns. The French utilised…
GEORGES LEVY 40 HB2
Georges Levy 40 HB2 Avation Maritime’s distrust of triplane flying boats such as the Levy-Besson “Alerte” led the firm to design a version with the more traditional biplane wings, the Georges Levy 40 HB2. (“HB2” probably stood for Hydravion Bombardement with a crew of two.). With a 280hp Renault engine, the plane had good performance and it could carry larger bombs than other French flying boats. It entered service in November 1917. One hundred were ordered in France, and twelve were used by the US Navy. Though it was originally…
Lohner E
Lohner E The Lohner E was a reconnaissance flying boat built in Austria-Hungary during World War I. The “E” stood for Igo Etrich, one of the Lohner engineers. It was a conventional design for its day with biplane wings that featured slight sweepback, and an engine mounted pusher-fashion in the interplane gap. Its crew of two was seated in an open cockpit. Around 40 examples were built before production shifted to the more powerful L Plastic Kit Build Lohner E First flight: 10 November 1913 Number built: approximately 40 Crew:…
Aeromarine 40F
Aeromarine 40F The Aeromarine 40F was an American two-seat flying-boat training aircraft produced for the US Navy and built by the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company of Keyport, New Jersey. Fifty out of an original order for 200 were delivered before the end of World War I, with the remainder cancelled due to the armistice. The aircraft was a biplane with a pusher propeller. The pilot and instructor sat side by side. The Aeromarine 41 developed from the Aeromarine 40. At least some of the Model 40s were later converted…