Flying with the Larks, by Timothy C Brown

[Moonraker]

Though the airfield at Lark Hill closed weeks before the outbreak of the Great War, it had a key role in pioneering British military aviation, and a number of wartime pilots learnt to fly there.

Having outlined the origins of powered flight overseas and in Britain, author Timothy C Brown (a member of this Forum, which features in his list of acknowledgements), describes how the War Office allowed civilian pilots to erect “flying sheds” for their aircraft at Lark Hill, near Amesbury on Salisbury Plain. This led the British & Colonial Aeroplane Co to establish the Bristol Flying School there for military officers and civilians. The Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers, the precursor to the RFC, set up its base there when it was formed.

Timothy describes the use of aircraft at the 1910 manoeuvres based on Salisbury Plain, noting the conflicting and confusing newspaper coverage at the time. I believe that he has succeeded in his bid ”to relate a sensible, and as accurate as possible, sequence of events”.

The airfield was one of the checkpoints for the 1911 Circuit of Britain air race and the base for the Military Aeroplane Competition of 1912, which sought to select an aeroplane suitable for military use.

Staff accommodation and public accessibility were always problems at Lark Hill, and in 1912 the War Office commissioned a new airfield at nearby Netheravon.

Many of the illustrations are taken (with permission) from contemporary issues of Flight magazine. (I infer that these were taken from the on-line archive copies?) Some contemporary postcard photographs are also reproduced.

The book’s appendices include a list of Royal Aero Club ceertificates awarded to newly-trained pilots at Lark Hill, RFC personnel in1914 and aircraft known to have been at Lark Hill from 1909 to 1914.

All in all, a good, enjoyable read.

192pp, paperback, Published by Spellmount, ISBN 9780752489896, £14.99