RFC/RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire

No. 36 and 37 Training Depot Stations (SW Area; No. 7th Group, 28th Wing).

Function :- Two Training Depot Stations (each of two unit), Corps reconnaissance, Head Quarters 28th Wing.

Establishment : -

Personnel :-
Officers - 68a. 10b.
Officers Under Instruction - 240a. 0b.
W. O.'s N.C.O's above rank of Corporal - 66a. 6b.
Corporals - 46a 1b.
Rank & File - 462a. 8b.
Forewomen - 10a 0b.
Women - 208a 13b.
Women (Household) 84a. 9b.

Transport :-
Touring Cars - 2.
Light Tenders - 16.
Heavy Tenders - 16.
Motor Cycles - 12.
Trailers - 6.
Machines :-
R.E. 8 - 48.
Avro - 48.

Camp No.1 East.
2 - Boiler House.
3 - General technical Stores.
4 - General Service Flight Shed.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.
6 - Bessoneau Hangar.
7 - Bessoneau Hangar. Type 'R' (or 'A').
9 - Guard House.
39 - Plane Store.
40 - Technical Stores.
41 - Workshop.
42 - Instruction Hut.
43 - Squadron Office.
46 - Dope Shop.
51 - Repair Workshop.
50 - YMCA Kitchen & Yard.
57 - Compass Platform.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.
In reasonable condition in the 1990's.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.
Steel window frame made by Crittall. Original glass and corrugated Iron cladding.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.
Repair sheds always had a heating plant. This one has a large brick chimney.
Aeroplane Repair Sheds were used to repair and maintain aircraft. The hangar needed heating to help with the drying of glues and dope (paint) and to be a more comfortable place to work all day and often nights. In comfort.
General sheds were really just to park aircraft inside at night and bad weather, also to carry out minor servicing and repairs.

4 - General Service Flight Shed.
A very good air photo and quite low level, of the two General Service Flight Sheds which are slightly north of the Aeroplane Repair Shed.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.
The west end of the shed. What we call a hangar was actually a 'Shed' in WW1 and right up until the start of WW2. A hangar is a shed in French and funnily enough the Bessoneau were called hangars and not sheds. Also the other pitfall is spelling hangar with hanger. 'WOE BETIDE me' if 'I' get it wrong.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed. 2012 and its nearly all gone.

Metal frame of the door outriggers.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.
Heating plant room. an odd building, semi sunk into the ground and it would have had a boiler to heat the shed.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.

The remaining wall which was of brick construction, so has lasted a bit longer, had the repair shed offices. These were only small, but were for administrative uses and not storage.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.
Inside one of these offices, as you see they are quite small.

This is our small office at BDAC Old Sarum, its attached to a twin Belfast Truss 1917 Aircraft Shed and shows how small the offices are.

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed.

4 - General Service Flight Shed.
3. Sopwith F1 Camel (B6223) single seat scout, 28 Squadron Yatesbury

Camp No.1 East.
5 - Aeroplane Repair Shed. Bristol Scout (A1783), single-seat scout with 80h.p. engine.

4 - General Service Flight Shed.
8. De Havilland DH5 single-seat fighter scout (note the stagger wing).
The tail skid towing (we called them 'Ambulances' in our garage. The tail is lifted and dropped onto the twin wheels and could be pulled/pushed and maneuvered around.

Camp No.1 West.
1 - Tennis Court.
4 - General Service Flight Shed.
7 - Bessoneau Hangar Type 'R' (or 'A').
11 - Officers Quarters.
13 - Officers Latrines.
14 - Officers Bath House.
15 - Officers Mess Kitchen.
16 - Officers Mess.
17 - Women's Hostel South Dorm Block.
18 - Women's Hostel North Dorm Block.
19 - Women's Hostel Kitchen & Store.
20 - Women's Hostel Dining Room.
23 - Women's Hostel W.C.
24 - Reception Station.
25 - Sergeants' Mess.
26 - Men's Quarters.
27 - Men's Dining Hall.
28 - Cookhouse.
36 - Oil Store.
37 MT Vehicle Sheds.
38 - Blacksmiths Shop.
39 - Plane Store.
41 - Workshops.
43 - Squadron Office.
44 - Camera Obscura.
45 - Bombing Instruction Hut.
47 - R.E. Yard & Stores.
48 - 28th Wing HQ.
53 - Mortuary.

Camp No.1 West.
On a very cold and snowy day, the west camp showing up very well and the two aeroplane sheds of the east camp on the right.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed. The second shed front door.

4 - General Service Flight Shed.
Inside th shed showing off the roof.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed.

Plan showing the front elevation.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed. Looking into the roof.

From Greggs War.
BE2e A1358 at Yatesbury.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed.

3. Sopwith F1 Camel (B6223) Scout, 28 Squadron Yatesbury possibly outside the GS shed

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed. Door gantry which allowed for the doors to open fully. About 80ft clear span.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed. Roof details.

4 - General Service Flight Shed.
Roof details telephone bell.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed. More roof detail.

Camp No.1 West.
4 - General Service Flight Shed.

Camp No.1 West.
An interesting photo, this is the Motor Transport Garages or M.T sheds. Usually 12 bays each side. The workmen could be German POW's who were in a camp just on the edge of the aerodrome.

This is Stow Maries MT garage. It shows that in WW1 there were no doors and that the floor was beaten clinker from the waste ash from gas production and concrete strips for the tyres to run on. Nearly always 12 bays, one bay maybe turned into an office for the M.T. Warrant Officer.

Camp No.1
West. On the plan it does not state where the Hospital is, I have pointed where I think it was below. The red arrow is the mortuary. Outside the hospital is an ambulance. Except for the two Aircraft Sheds, there is nothing to be seen on this side of the camp that is relevant to WW1. Bristol's pulled everything down in the 1930's.

Camp No.2.
2 - Officers Quarters.
10 - Officers Mess.
12 - Kitchen.
15 - Bath House.
27 - Men's Quarters.
36 - ?
41 - Sergeants Mess.
42 - Regimental Institute.
43 - Cook House.
44 Regimental Stores.
45 - Bath House.
50 - Coal Store.
52 - General Service Sheds.
53b Bessoneau Hangars type 'H'.
58 - Vehicle Sheds (MT).
62 - Workshop.
64 - Squadron Office.
65 - Technical Store.
66 - Technical Store.
70 - Blacksmiths Shop.
73 - Petrol Store.
74 - Oil Store.

Camp No.2.
There are no remains of this camp left what so ever and so I can only use the photos taken at the time.

Camp No.2.
The general layout. Although this was a Training Depot Station (TDS) of 1917/1919, its layout and design pre dates the standard TDS of the period. The layout is chaotic to say the least, three camps littered about the landing grounds. When the TDS layout was adopted possibly 1916/1917. The plan was for three double Belfast Truss 100ft wide with double sheds, an 80ft repair shed, Officers, Sergeants and Men's Quarters, A Womens hostel. An M.T. section. Main store, woodworking shop, dope shop,blacksmiths shop, fitters shop, sail makers shop, coppersmiths, class rooms. The war in the air changed in 1916 and flying training was starting to be taken seriously by the upper echelons of the RFC. Major Robert Smith Barry. As the Battle of the Somme progressed, Smith-Barry continued to push for changes to be made and, three days before its conclusion in November, he wrote a paper outlining his suggestions. Gen Trenchard read Smith-Barry's proposals, and agreed to let him try out "these ideas you've been pestering me with". Posted back to England, he took command of 1 (Reserve) Squadron at Gosport, where he set about putting his revolutionary training methods into practice. These included teaching sharp turns, spinning and recovery, and crosswind take-off and landings. He wrote: "If the pupil considers this dangerous, let him find some other employment as, whatever risks I ask him to run here, he will have to run a hundred times when he gets to France." He insisted that as far as possible advanced pupils be allow to fly exactly as they chose - "their experiments limited only by the state of their own nerve".
Pupils sat in the front cockpit of an Avro 504 biplane equipped with a full set of dual controls, while an instructor sat behind communicating instructions through a specially designed device called the Gosport Tube. Smith-Barry's regime was an almost immediate success. The pilots were trained so quickly, and to such a high standard, that his methods were soon adopted by the RFC. In August 1917, 1 (Reserve) Squadron became the School of Special Flying - a unit to teach instructors.
Taken from the BBC.

Camp No.2.
The view above the camp is Cherhill White Horse and monument. The road is the Bath road, later to become the A4.

Two complete sets of M.T. sheds.
Usually on all RFC TDS' had one set of 12 MT sheds, but on Camp No.2, there seems to be two complete sets. Making garaging for at least 48 vehicles. The Service Corps had the most motor transport in WW1 and also a huge amount of horse drawn vehicles. The RFC came second and were totally mechanised. In fact, on all the plans I have seen, there is no allocation for stabling.