New exhibition explains South Yorkshire's key role in World War victory

When aeroplanes were transformed from pleasure crafts into deadly weapons of war, an area of Yorkshire famed for its industrial might was plunged into the heart of a terrifying battle for the skies.
A photograph from the Riding High exhibition at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum showing a BE2c airacraft armed with machine guns for the anti-zeppelin defence of Sheffield.  Pic: IRK/Stewart Leslie.A photograph from the Riding High exhibition at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum showing a BE2c airacraft armed with machine guns for the anti-zeppelin defence of Sheffield.  Pic: IRK/Stewart Leslie.
A photograph from the Riding High exhibition at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum showing a BE2c airacraft armed with machine guns for the anti-zeppelin defence of Sheffield. Pic: IRK/Stewart Leslie.

The tale of South Yorkshire’s role as a hub for Britain’s aerial defence during the First World War is one that historians fear has almost been lost 100 years on, but it is a story of innovation and, ultimately, sacrifice that deserves to be remembered.

More than 500 people would be killed in bombing raids carried out by German Zepplins over Britain and the death toll could have been greater without the response to this new threat which was, in part, orchestrated in South Yorkshire.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The region was perfectly placed to make an impact. Sheffield’s steel factories were already manufacturing heavy artillery, shells, armour plate, and later, tanks, while Doncaster Racecourse had hosted Britain’s first-ever airshow in 1909. The event attracted some of Europe’s best pilots such as Doncaster’s Harold Blackburn, one of Britain’s first wartime pilots.

Riding High exhibit: A notebook belonging to Hugh Carson, of Balby, Doncaster who enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. The item forms a part of the new exhibition courtesy of Mr Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.Riding High exhibit: A notebook belonging to Hugh Carson, of Balby, Doncaster who enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. The item forms a part of the new exhibition courtesy of Mr Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.
Riding High exhibit: A notebook belonging to Hugh Carson, of Balby, Doncaster who enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. The item forms a part of the new exhibition courtesy of Mr Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.

A hub was established in the region for training hundreds of pilots and assembling and repairing aircraft. It also acted as a local base for the newly-formed Royal Flying Corps (RFC), later the Royal Air Force, whose recruits numbered 122,000 men and women and 22,000 aircraft by 1918.

Five new airfields and a specialist factory were added locally as the war wore on.

The business community responded too, with some firms such as Peglers of Doncaster, adapting to work with aircraft and many employing large numbers of women for the first time.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

To revive the memory of the region’s pivotal role in the war’s battle for the skies, a new exhibition is set to open at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in Doncaster next Tuesday, on September 20, featuring photographs, letters, original remnants from serving aircraft including some that have been recycled into souvenirs by their owners and scale models of aircraft.

Riding High exhibit: A photograph showing a man named Adam Kessen with one of RAF Doncaster's Arvo 504 trainers in 1918.  Pic: SYAM /Kessen.Riding High exhibit: A photograph showing a man named Adam Kessen with one of RAF Doncaster's Arvo 504 trainers in 1918.  Pic: SYAM /Kessen.
Riding High exhibit: A photograph showing a man named Adam Kessen with one of RAF Doncaster's Arvo 504 trainers in 1918. Pic: SYAM /Kessen.

Entitled ‘Riding High: Doncaster Airfields and the Zeppelin Raid on Sheffield’, the exhibition is a partnership between the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum and Doncaster 1914-18, a four-year project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Among the exhibitors are letters sent by RFC enlistee Hugh Carson from Balby to his wife and daughter which expose the personal toil war took on the area’s flying pioneers.

Thousands of pilots died in the conflict and local people worked with technology that was hazardous and unstable.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ian Kingsnorth, one of the exhibition’s curators, said: “What really strikes you time and again is the enormous bravery of these local people, who knew the risk to their lives, but still carried on fighting.”

A photograph of B flight 107 Squadron shared for the Riding High exhibition by Hugh Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.A photograph of B flight 107 Squadron shared for the Riding High exhibition by Hugh Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.
A photograph of B flight 107 Squadron shared for the Riding High exhibition by Hugh Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.

Alan Beattie, chairman of South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, dedicated the exhibition to those local people who courageously contributed to a British victory in the skies.

He added: “It’s wonderful to be uncovering their stories at last, and making sure their memories aren’t lost forever.”

HUMAN COST OF AIRBORNE FIGHT

In the run-up to the war, aeroplanes were a novelty and people would never have dreamed of flying to war.

Riding High exhibit: A notebook belonging to Hugh Carson, of Balby, Doncaster who enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. The item forms a part of the new exhibition courtesy of Mr Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.Riding High exhibit: A notebook belonging to Hugh Carson, of Balby, Doncaster who enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. The item forms a part of the new exhibition courtesy of Mr Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.
Riding High exhibit: A notebook belonging to Hugh Carson, of Balby, Doncaster who enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. The item forms a part of the new exhibition courtesy of Mr Carson's grandson, Professor Phil Green.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Zeppelins changed that: they were a horrifying innovation that sent a shockwave of fear across Britain, and were dubbed ‘Baby Killers’.

For the first time, the skies became a battleground and on September 25, 1916 a midnight bombing raid killed 28 people in Sheffield.

More than 8,000 air-related casualties were recorded between 1916-18, so training grounds, like Doncaster, had to produce thousands of pilots during the course of the war, putting South Yorkshire at the heart of the battle that raged overhead.