The Rugby Advertiser reported on the Open Day at RAF Church Lawford attended by over 15000 people on Saturday 15th September 1945 shortly after the end of the Second World War.
FOR five years Rugby people, and especially those who watched the development of Church Lawford aerodrome from the marking out of the land at Lawford Heath to the arrival of the aircraft and the personnel, have often wondered what were the secrets and what went on inside those closely guarded acres of grassland. Last Saturday they had the opportunity of satisfying their curiosity, for like many other R.A.F. stations throughout the country, the training station was ” At Home ” to mark the anniversary of the “ Battle of Britain.” The arrangements for the visit were made by Group Capt. F. W. H. Hall, officer commanding, and other officers and men of the station.
Thousands flocked to the station, and so much of interest was there to see that many had to “skip” a number of the indoor demonstrations. Opened in 1940, the station was for a period a school for flying instructors before becoming an advanced flying and, where pilots, who had been trained under the Empire Training Scheme in Canada, America, and South Africa, were given experience of flying under British weather conditions, and more important still, under black-out conditions. For the past six months Church Lawford has been an experimental flying school devoted to the training of the post-war Air Force.
MANY TYPES
On arrival at the aerodrome the public were met by an array of machines all ready for their inspection. There were Harvards 11B. Ansons. Oxfords, and Miles Masters of training command, three types of fighters in the Spitfire, Tempest, and Typhoon, and a Lancaster 111. one of the latest bombers. Nearby was a coastal command Beaufighter, an airborne training Hotspur. Horsa and Albemarle, a transport command Dakota, a Barracuda, Hellcat, and Firefly of the Fleet Air Arm. and a civil aviation plane, the Miles Mercury. Within a matter of minutes a queue had begun to form, young and old being anxious not to miss being shown over the giant Lancaster by the guides. As they waited they watched, with the help of a radio commentary, a formation take off and climb to 2,000 feet, and finally break away over the airfield.
Other visitors accepted an invitation to talk over the radio transmission from the control tower to the pilot of a Harvard flying overhead. Glider towing, showing the skill of the cast off and landing, was demonstrated with a Hotspur, and later the crowd scattered from around a Lancaster as its engines started, and it gave a performance of two and three engine flying. Another feature was a display of aerobatics by two Harvards. Thousands of pairs of eyes saw the planes in a barrel roll, double loop, roll, figure eight, and a fascinating spin, dropping from 5,000 feet to 3,000 feet.
FORMATION FLYING
Flying was resumed after a short interval, during which Coventry A.T.C. drum band delighted a good following by their marching and counter marching. Highlights of the second half were formation flying by three Harvards, which took off and landed simultaneously and moved as one throughout their manoeuvres, and a fly past the control tower of all the aircraft participating. An ex-programme turn was the arrival in the sky, as if coming from nowhere, of a Meteor jet propelled twin-engined plane which encircled the ‘drome twice and sped away before many could spot it.
Church Lawford’s greatest contribution towards winning the war has been not the airfield and the craft, but the instruction and study carried out in the class and lecture rooms. Here was laid the foundation of a number of the brilliant exploits of our airmen at home and overseas.
THE LABORATORY
The aeronautical laboratory is one example. Within the four walls of the “lab” course after course of students have been taught the principles of light by means of working models and the blackboard, and have been shown in a practical way the effects of lift and wind drag with the aid of a wind tunnel. In the armaments room they have been given a working knowledge of the gunnery used by the enemy air crews, the intricacies of wind direction, speed and the like in relation to opening fire upon a bomber. These are but a few of the lessons every airman must take to heart when at the school. Radar is included in the curriculum, and several articles of Radar equipment were exhibited, but the veil of secrecy still hangs over some aspects of this marvellous discovery. Various types of bombs ranging from 11 ½ lbs. practice bombs to the 12,000 lbs. “Cookies” were on show in the airmanship hall, where visitors seated themselves in the Fraser Nash & Boulton Paul demonstration gun turrets and tried their hands at working the wheels and flaps of Harvard fuselage.
TRAINER CRAFT
There was nearly always a waiting list of enthusiasts wanting to handle the “link” trainer craft, which electrically performs all the operations of a real plane without leaving the ground. The airman of tomorrow were particularly interested in the aircraft models delicately constructed with balsa wood and tissue paper by flying cadets at the school, from their own designs. All the wooden models have flown, and “The Heron,” with a 65in. wing span, has kept in the air 4mins. 25secs. when hand launched.
So great was the demand to see the “Battle of Britain” film, which runs for about seventy minutes, that it bad to be screened in the camp cinema three’ times.
It is estimated that during the four hours of the “ At Home” between 15.000 and 16,000 people visited the station. Admission was free, but there was a collection for the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund. The result of this was very disappointing, as only £67 15s. 2d. was contributed.