Postcards of the day 2 May - RAF Cranwell

[Michael Dobbs]

Hello to you all - mine today is not a cover, but two postcards from a series of 26 such postcards - and I think the first posting of the day:

[b]RAF Station Cranwell, Lincolnshire[/b]

The history of RAF Cranwell goes back to November 1915, when the Admiralty requisitioned some 2,500 acres of land in Lincolnshire, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford, from the Earl of Bristol's estate.  A hutted camp at West Camp was constructed and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) Central Training Establishment opened the following year on 1 April 1916 (with personnel on the books of HMS Daedalus, a hulk moored on the River Medway).  The airship/balloon sheds were on North Drome, and the aeroplane hangars were on South Drome.  The RNAS Electrical and Wireless School moved in during the same year.

It became Royal Air Force (RAF) Station Cranwell with the formation of the RAF on 1 April 1918, becoming Training Depots Nos 201, 202 and 213, which were later renumbered 56, 57 and 58.  These were home to the Airship Training Wing, the Boys' Training Wing, the Wing Aeroplane Repair Section, the PT School, and the Wireless Operators' School.

After the end of WWI the Chief of the Air Staff decided to establish an air academy at Cranwell to provide basic flying training, provide intellectual education and give a sense of purpose to the future leaders of the service.  Thus the Royal Air Force College was formed on 1 November 1919 and on 5 February 1920 it opened its doors to its first intake and it continues to fulfil this role today as the world's oldest military air academy.  It was initially housed in existing old wooden huts until a new College building was opened by the Prince of Wales on 11 October 1934.

The main series of monochrome photographs by Valentine (numbered 81555 to 81580) was taken at Cranwell in 1919 and has been compiled from the Valentine Archive of registers (Volume 10) held by St Andrews University Library.

There is a note in the register that the photographs were "Reserved to Morton & Son, Sleaford for 1 year from end of July 1919" - hence why the series can also be found with a W.K. Morton & Sons inscription.  The Morton's printing is thus earlier than the Valentine's printing.

Regards, Mike

[Chris Grimshaw]

Very Nice Mike,  May drop this into Autumn Journal. 

Reminds me that my elderly Dad who'd been collecting "Stamps" GB Line Engraved for many years, saw the light and commenced collecting WW I Postcards a couple of years ago.  Picture him 6 inches from screen trying to type up a write up.  Mounting was a challenge as his eye sight went.

He's currently residing in a care home with these albums of material with him.Cannot access them to see exactly whats there as no visiting of Care Homes allowed at present.

However I could run to posting a "Silk" a day for two or three months. :)

Chris

[Nick Colley]

The school I went to in the nearby town of Sleaford had an arrangement with RAF Cranwell that our PE teacher could give swimming lessons to his classes in the (indoor) swimming pool at Cranwell. You may conclude (correctly) that the accommodation had improved considerably in the 50 years that had elapsed between the pictures Mike has presented and the swimming lessons.

chrs
N