Volunteers needed for assistance with ‘Fighting
for Air’ World War One Project
Just over one
hundred years ago, two small airfields at the edge of Croydon became a focus
for fighting German zeppelins and planes in World War One. Historic Croydon Airport
Trust (HCAT) has received a National Lottery grant of £9,200 from the Heritage
Lottery Fund (HLF) to explore the ‘war in the air’ and how it impacted on the
local area. The Historic Croydon Airport
Trust are the volunteer run charity that operates the popular Croydon Airport
Visitor Centre and we are looking for volunteers to research and interpret
information for this project.
Topics
to be researched include Zeppelin raids on Croydon and London 1915-16, the
development of air defences, the opening and function of the National Aircraft
Factory, the female workforce at this factory, the airmen – many of whom became
‘celebrity’ pilots – and the impact on the local area. We are also looking to catalogue the
relevant collections held in HCAT archives. The underlying aim is to share the
research with a wider audience through the stories you uncover.
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| 33 Leslie Rd, Croydon, Air Raid Damage, 1915 (c) IWM (HO26) |
The information
on the airport’s involvement in the First World War will inform a new display
case and interpretation at Croydon Airport Visitor Centre micro-museum. The
impact of the war and the fledgling aviation industry on the local area will be
mapped on the History Pin website and a free heritage map produced.
We Need You!
We are looking for volunteers to help us
with this project. We will provide training on research techniques, reading material
around the subject area and using archives as well as time to share knowledge. There
will be a visit to the War in the Air exhibition at the RAF Museum in Colindale
(on Saturday 4 or 18 November), as well as presentations from experts.
We
need people who can use email and basic Word and Excel programmes
Travel
expenses to the RAF Museum Colindale and locations external to Croydon &
Sutton will be paid.
The
sessions will take place on monthly evening meetings from October 2017 to March
2018. Dates are 17 October, 14 November, 12 December, 9 January, 6 February and
6 March 6-8pm. The first one will be in the Croydon Airport Visitor Centre at
Airport House.
Please
send an email as an expression of interest with a paragraph of information
about why you want to take part. We ask for a commitment to attend 3 of the
evening sessions.
