After the USA entered the First World War in 1917 there was an immediate need for Training Depot Stations on the South coast to train United States Army Air Service personnel.
Whilst most people are aware that there was once a large military airfield at Tangmere, with its own excellent museum, few know there was also a plan to build a big airfield at Southbourne.
Given the first UK airfield was only created in 1910 at Shoreham, this was going to be a large aerodrome for its time. The new aircraft station was planned to be 247 acres, bigger than most other airfields. This was so US flyers could be trained on the Handley Page 0/400 heavy bomber, as the US had no bombers of their own.
Work was under way to build the aerodrome and airfield in Summer 1918, with access roads, water supplies, sewage and power supplies almost finished. A large technical site along the edge of Southbourne village had also been started, with six large aircraft sheds, a shed for the bomber aircraft, repair shops and motor transport buildings.
Did you know?
The 400 foot deep well dug for fresh water supplies for the airfield is now owned by Southdowns Water and their production facility today bottles still and sparkling water for sale around the UK.
The final work was still incomplete by the time the Armistice was signed at the end of WW1 in November 1918. Work was eventually abandoned in 1919 and all the buildings were auctioned off and the site returned to agriculture.
Did you know?
Bourne Community College now occupies part of the original technical site on the east side, and the A27 also now cuts through the remainder of the planned airfield that never actually saw an aircraft take off!
So why did they carry on with the vast expense of creating an airfield when it looked that, by 1918, the Germans were likely to be defeated in WW1? One answer may be that there were many commercial aspects to building the large site that involved huge supply contracts, so it could have been legally difficult, time consuming and costly to stop building work immediately.
Did you know?
Sometime between 1922 and 1923 thirty three trees were planted in honour of US service personnel, although the reason for this memorial has been lost.
If you are interested in military aviation then visit the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum open from Feb 1st to November 30th and even has three flight simulators for budding pilots to try out!
- Visit Tangmere Military Aviation Museum – click here
- See a Cold War bomber and start its engines – click here
- Find out about the Handley Page 0/400 bomber – click here
- Find out about Thorney Island and its RAF history – click here
- Find out more about the Bourne Community College – click here