Reconstructing the First World War Aerodrome at Croydon / Beddington: Photographs

Roger Potten has recreated two of Herbert Montgomery Martins photos from World War One. Compare The five ground crew (211):

with

and, to give context, where they are:

Then this one of Pt Fay on a Phelon & Moore 350 RFC issue motorbike: 

with

Then to give context, you can see they are near Plough Lane and New Barn Farm:

Reconstructing the First World War Aerodrome at Croydon / Beddington in Detail: Bombing Observation Tower

One of the new training procedures brought in was target practice for pilots to bomb designated locations. In the field these would mainly be trenches, army camps or Zeppelin bases. Roger Potten has reconstructed the bombing observation tower that was used in this training - one side of the airfield seems to have been effectively used for target practice.

Compare this with Montgomery Martin's photograph below:

Reconstructing the First World War Aerodrome at Croydon / Beddington in Detail: Hangers, HQ and Camels

Following on from our previous post on Roger Potten's reconstructions of the aerodrome between 1916-1919, these images illustrate the hangers (and therefore detail aspects of the training) on the site. The light and the grass make the reconstructions seem even more real. The images are constantly being added to as Roger finds more details from visiting other places, such as Stow Maries.

View from the Hanger