Cumbria Airfields in the Second World War - Including the Isle of Man (British Military Aviation History) - Softcover

Chorlton; Martyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853069833 ISBN 13: 9781853069833

Publisher: Countryside Books, 2006

Synopsis

This book offers a fully illustrated and exciting account of the part played by the airfields of Cumbria and the Isle of Man during the Second World War.

The history of each airfield is described, including details about the squadrons and aircraft based at them.

As the storm clouds of war were gathering over Europe in 1938, construction work began on two of Cumbria's biggest aircraft maintenance units - at Kirkbride and Silloth. Throughout the war, these two airfields would handle thousands of aircraft, preparing new ones for the front-line and modifying and repairing others.

Cumbria and the Isle of Man had early on been marked down as suitable places to build flying schools because of their relatively uncluttered skies and generally good weather. The Isle of Man also had an abundance of both bombing and air-to-air firing ranges, which attracted an Air Gunners School (Jurby and Andreas), Ground Defence Gunners School (Ronaldsway) and various other bombing and gunnery schools.

On the mainland, flying schools trained pilots for Coastal Command (Crosby, Longtown and Silloth), and Fighter Command (Great Orton and Longtown), and there were training units of the Fleet Air Arm throughout Cumbria as well as the Isle of Man. 

There was also an Elementary Flying Training School at Kingstown and Burnfoot and four satellite landing grounds supporting Silloth and Kirkbride at Brayton Park, Hornby Hall, Hutton-in-the-Forest and Wath Head.

This book describes the history of each airfield and the varied but vital roles they played in Britain's air war between 1939 and 1945. It also records the lives of the people caught up in the titanic struggle - both military and civilian.

CONTENTS

• Map of the Airfields
  
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Setting the Scene
  Pioneering Days
  The First World War & the Inter-War Years 
  Maintenance Command
  Flying Training
  Fighter Command
  Fleet Air Arm 
  Satellite Landing Grounds
• 2. Andreas
• 3. Anthorn
• 4. Brayton Park
• 5. Burnfoot
  
• 6. Crosby-on-Eden
  
• 7. Great Orton
  
• 8. Hall Caine (Cold Lake)
• 9. Hornby Hall
  
• 10. Hutton-in-the-Forest
  
• 11. Jurby
• 12. Kingstown (Carlisle) 
  
• 13. Kirkbride
• 14. Longtown
• 15. Millom
• 16. Ronaldsway
• 17. Silloth
• 18. Wath Head
• 19. Windermere
• 20. Civilians at War
  
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index 
  

About this title

About the Author

Martyn Chorlton was born in the north Cambridgeshire fens during the late 1960s. He joined the RAF as an Air Photographer in 1984. After tours in Germany and Northern Ireland, his service came to an end in 1997 and, a few years later he wrote his first aviation book. He is a regular magazine contributor to Aeroplane Monthly, Jets, Airfix and Aviation Classics and is the author of Bomber Command The Victoria Cross Raids and The RAF Pathfinders.

Edition details

• Publisher: Countryside Books
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853069833
• ISBN 13: 9781853069833
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256