C O N T E X T 1 3 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 19 JEREMY LAKE The earliest airfields Some of the earliest buildings associated with powered flight survive, and a total of 120 buildings on 22 sites dating from the first world war and before have been listed. England and Scotland boast some of the earliest buildings associated with powered flight in the world, and some of the most intact suites of hangars and other buildings which in some instances relate to their flying fields.These remain from 301 sites which were occupied by the Royal Air Force at the end of 1918, 90 per cent of which of which had been abandoned by 1920. A total of 120 surviving buildings on 22 sites dating from before this period have now been protected through listing, the overwhelming majority as a result of the thematic survey of military aviation sites and structures undertaken in the late 1990s (Lake, 2003).This thematic work resulted in the development of conservation area designation and management plans, and benefited from being able to place surviving buildings and sites within an international context. Survivals dating frombefore 1914 are exceptionally rare.They includeWilliam E Boeing’s Red Barn near Seattle and the Royal Bavarian Flying Corps’ site at Schleissheim, sited just to the north of Munich. Those of the first world war period are also rare. Protected sites include the seaplane hangars of 1916–18 at Pensecola Air Station in Florida and the concrete hangars at Karlshorst on the eastern outskirts of Berlin (see essays in Smith and Toulier, 2000). These survive well away from the main theatre of operations, where flying fields and temporary buildings were simply thrown up for the duration of the conflict. The airmen’s barracks and institute at Netheravon, Wiltshire (completed before the first world war) and one of the hangars designed to admit Handley Page 0/400 bombers, which had folding wings and formed the cornerstone of the inter-allied bombing force developed at the end of the war (Photo: English Heritage NMR 24869/012) The airmen’s barracks and institute at Netheravon, Wiltshire (completed before the first world war) and one of the hangars designed to admit Handley Page 0/400 bombers, which had folding wings and formed the cornerstone of the inter-allied bombing force developed at the end of the war (Photo: English Heritage NMR 24869/012) Military flying in its formative stages was fostered across Britain by a high degree of government and commercial collaboration. There was a strong degree of popular and press enthusiasm. Aviation had a strong voice through the Aero Club, the Aeronautical Society and specialist journals such as Flight (1909) andThe Aeroplane (1911).The civilian flying schools at Larkhill in Wiltshire and Eastchurch in Kent, both of which retain hangars dating from 1910, played a key role in the training of army and navy pilots.The headquarters building with its balloon store survives from the War Office’s Air Battalion, established at the Royal Aircraft Factory in Farnborough in 1911.
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