RAF Elmswell Digging for the Past
Excavations and Research of the WW1 Aerodrome at Elmswell
Little remains of the First World War occupation at Lea Farm in the twenty-first century. The site was chosen for the Royal Flying Corps in preference to a similar one at Cotton, Suffolk, in early 1916, as part of the rapid expansion of Britain’s air defences. The Lea Farm site offered better links to the national telephone system, and it was near a railway station. Over a period of two years from the middle of 1917, Lea Farm was developed and expanded into a front-line home defence aerodrome with over fifty buildings including two large double aeroplane sheds (hangars) each measuring 124 feet x 136 feet (37.8m x 41.4m). Most of the buildings were constructed of timber on concrete or brick foundations. Some had asbestos cladding, and a few were built of brick and tile. In preparation for the RFC occupation, the site was cleared, drained and levelled by contingents from the Canadian Forestry Corps. Following two periods of major construction works, a substantial military base was in place by the end of 1918. The question posed by researchers in 2014 was, was there any trace from the First World War left to find?
The original landing ground was grass only, however, when the RAF vacated the original aerodrome site in May 1919, there were over fifty buildings on the site. Over the next twenty years all trace of the WW1 aerodrome above ground was erased. In 1920 many of the buildings and surplus equipment were sold by auction in 1920. One of the large aeroplane sheds (hangar) was dismantled and re-erected in the town of Stowmarket by RC Knight & Co and used as a cattle auction shed. Other buildings were removed and re-purposed, such as the officers mess that was taken to the village of Drinkstone and rebuilt to be used as the village hall. Some buildings remained in situ, and were used for civilian purposes, mainly for agriculture.
In January 1930 a severe storm damaged several brick buildings that were originally the technical workshops belonging to the WW1 aerodrome. They were later demolished. A few buildings remained on the site up to 1940.
A pair of oiler engines in front of the remaining aeroplane shed c1930s (Courtesy: Stephen Miles) 
The Kings jubilee being celebrated in the aeroplane shed in 1935.
The aeroplane shed that was left on the site and other buildings were used for general farming purposes and accommodation for farm hands until the Second World War. German aerial surveillance photographs taken in 1940 show buildings on the site.
In 1940 the site was once again acquired by the government for the RAF. A new airfield was constructed, and three large concrete runways laid across the site. In 1942 the airfield, now renamed RAF Great Ashfield, was given over to the US Army’s Eighth Air Force and occupied by four B17 Bomber squadrons of the 385th Bomb Group. The Airfield was considerably expanded to house over 2,000 US personnel. The USAAF vacated the site in 1945, and the airfield was returned to the RAF who used it for storage until it was returned to civilian use in 1959. Some of the WW2 buildings remain, and new agricultural and commercial buildings have risen on the site in recent years. What, if anything remains to indicate that there was once a major WW1 aerodrome located at Lea Farm?
Excavations began in 2014 to locate the foundations of one of the aeroplane sheds. The search did not take long and just below the surface several ‘T’ shaped concrete blocks were discovered that indicated the footprint of the central hangar, built in 1917. Using information from reference sources enabled excavators to measure out and locate all the remaining concrete foundation blocks for the hangar.
The location of the 1917 hangar within the modern context of the site revealed how much of the original RAFC / RAF site had been lost to WW2 and modern construction. There was a chance however to find the footprint of the second hangar, erected in 1918, and later sold to RC Knight & Co. The Suffolk Archaeological Field Group conducted a geophysical survey of the approximate area for the 1918 building and identified features that could be interpreted as a line of foundation blocks. The decision was made to dig and several concrete blocks spaced apart at regular intervals that matched the dimensions for the hangar were discovered underground
Further excavations around the site revealed remnants from other buildings, including the officer’s shower block, the oil and petrol stores, and the base of the water tower.
The remaining foundations that were rediscovered confirmed the 1918 site plan was an accurate depiction of the original site. The buildings shown on the plan as ‘proposed’ were in fact erected.
It was possible to establish the full extent of the WW1 site, including the landing ground to the south of the buildings. A local construction company had provided the army with a comprehensive estimate for fencing to be erected around the site in October 1917. The document identified the fields to be enclosed with reference to the ordnance survey of 1904. By juxtaposing the 1904 survey and 1917 document onto an aerial image of the present day it is possible to see the entire WW1 aerodrome boundary.
The image below shows the remnants of the second world war runways and perimeter tracks at Lea Farm. The red outline is the boundary of the original first world war aerodrome.
Finds
There were many finds unearthed during the project, some such as the petrol can caps, and hand tools were from the relevant time period but could have been agricultural or military.
The most numerous types of find that was also the informative piece of evidence was ammunition cartridges and bullets. All ammunition has identifying marks on the base of the cartridge making it possible to date the item and identify its manufacturer, calibre and purpose.
Although the construction of the concrete runways in 1940 destroyed over half of the first world war site it also preserved that which was left in the ground. Situated within the triangle formed by the 1940 runways, the area lay relatively undisturbed by the RAF and USAAF operations during 1940-1945. Consequently, a considerable amount of debris from the first world war remained in its original location. Some had been disturbed by ploughing but still provided good evidence as to its original location and purpose.
The vast majority of first world war ammunition found was .303-inch cartridges and bullets. Three hundred cases were unearthed, most yielding full or partial information from the headstamps. All the cases dated between 1915 and 1918, and samples of a wide range of types was found, including: tracer, explosive, incendiary, ball, armour piercing, and even a drill round (an inert cartridge and dummy bullet for loading practice). The squadron used Lewis machine guns for anti-zeppelin work, as these guns were mounted on the top wing, they could fire explosive ammunition without problems. The use of Vickers machine guns firing through the propellor with synchronising gear was hazardous, as explosive rounds were apt to detonate prematurely, with catastrophic consequences for the aircraft.
Other calibres were also found amongst the ammunition finds dating from the first world war. Fifty .22-inch cartridge cases were recovered. These particular rounds had been manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in the USA and had been supplied to the RFC and RAF during the first world war, for use the in Winchester Automatic rifles, acquired by the Ministry of Munitions for aircrew to practice shooting at moving targets.
Cartridge cases were also found for pistol ammunition. .455-inch cases were recovered with the headstamps indicating they were manufactured in 1917 by the Birmingham Metals & Munitions Co. All the .455 rounds found had a groove machined around the case near the base to facilitate loading into a magazine for an automatic pistol. Two types of automatic pistol were used by the RFC / RAF during WW1, the Webley & Scott self-loading pistol and the Colt M1911.
A most informative find proved to be several cartridge case heads fired from signal flare guns. Signal flares were fired by ground crew and pilots in the air. They were used to warn of a hazard or to challenge unidentified aircraft in the sky. To indicate a ‘friendly arrival’, pilots returning to base, had to fire coloured flares in a particular sequence on approach to the aerodrome. The sequence of coloured flares changed daily, and pilots had to memorise the identification code each day.
Bullets were also recovered from the site, solid ‘ball’ bullets were found at the site of the armoury. Hollow bullets were also recovered from a field adjacent to the where the buildings had been during the first world war. Hollow bullets are from tracer, incendiary and explosive ammunition. As these rounds are filled with chemicals to burn or explode after firing, or on impact with the target.
The field adjacent to the buildings area also yielded .303, .22 and .455-inch calibre cartridge cases, and signal flare cartridge heads with bullet holes. The evidence strongly indicates that this field was the site of the squadron’s small arms range.
Home defence squadrons were also issued with 12-bore shotguns and clay pigeon traps to enable the aircrew to practice ‘deflection shots’, that is, learning how to hit targets moving through the air at speed. Many shotgun cartridges were recovered from the site with a range of manufacturers identified on the headstamps, including Eley-Nobel, Kynoch, JW Candler-Pickering, and Remington. Given the agricultural use of the land for the last two to three hundred years, it is impossible to attribute any shotgun cases to solely military use.
After carefully recording the location of each ammunition find it was possible to draw some conclusions as to the activity on the site. The many cases found in around the site of the armoury were to be expected. It is in this location that a drill round was found. Many .303-inch cases were recovered from the area that would have formed the apron in front of the central (1917) hangar. It seems likely that these items were spillages from the deflector bags that were attached to the Lewis guns to prevent spent cases flying into the cockpit whilst airborne. The armourers would detach these bags from the guns immediately after the aircraft’s return to base. The mixture of bullets and cases found in the adjacent field were good evidence for the location of a practice range. Apart from marksmanship training, the range would have been used to test samples of ammunition form each batch delivered to the squadron.
All the evidence discovered in the ground supports the archival research to confirm that Elmswell aerodrome was home to an active home defence squadron during the first world war. The history of this brave and pioneering unit appears to have been eclipsed by the valorous conduct of No 75 Squadron during the second world war, and occupation of the airfield by the USAAF in 1942-1945. The physical evidence lay hidden beneath the ground for eighty years.