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'Aces Low': The Wimbledon Champion at Aubers

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In the years leading up to the First World War, one of the most famous sportsmen of the Edwardian era was Anthony (Tony) Wilding. An excellent all-round sportsman, Wilding had been born in New Zealand but returned to England in 1902 (from where his parents had emigrated) in order to study with the intention of making a career in the law. He visite…

24 December 1914 : Flt Sub-Lieut Bernard Osbourne Ffield

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Bernard was the son of John Bernard Ffield (an 'importer of foreign produce) and Emma Ivory Beatrice Ffield. He was the older brother of two sisters, Barbara and Antoinette, and two brothers: Cyril and Paul. At the 1901 Census the family were living in Chelsea. A decade later at the 1911 Census the family had moved to Edgbaston, Birmingham. B…

16 February 1915: Flight Lieut. Edward Gordon Riggall

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His father was Frederick Rigall JP, Mayor of Grimsby. He was educated Humberstone Foundation School, Old Clee 1904-1912. He was captain of his school and passed the senior Cambridge Examination with honours and with matriculation exemption. Apprenticed Aeronautical Engineer and Aeroplane Manufacturer during which time he gained is Royal Aero …

ONLINE: 'Wings Over the Somme' with Clive Harris

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The presentation will be live and online. The Battle Of the Somme, seen through the eyes of those British Airman flying above it, offers a fascinating glimpse of the potential, and relevance, of air power over the Western Front. Whilst many accounts focus on the fighter squadrons, described by Lloyd George as ‘the cavalry of the clouds’, it was th…

The Original Long Distance Bombers of the First World War

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Most of us are familiar with the RAF bombing campaigns of the Second World War, but few are aware that such cities as Cologne, Frankfurt, Mannheim and Stuttgart had already been targeted two decades earlier during the First World War. The reward for building an organisation like The Western Front Association on a foundation of reputable research i…

The R38 disaster 24 August 1921

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At the start of the war, in contrast to Germany, the British had limited experience of airships. Under the Royal Naval Air Service there were only a handful of airships in service but with increasing U-Boat activity and the resultant impact on shipping, the Navy began to further develop its use of airships to counter the U-Boat threat. The R.38 c…

'From Flying Dreadnought to Dogfighter - The Troubled Birth of the British Fighter' - Greg Baughan

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On Wednesday 11th of October we welcome Greg Baughan to our Hornchurch venue, to present his first talk to the Essex Branch. This talk destroys many myths about WW1 fighter development. Part talk, part detective story, it explains how the importance of air superiority was understood long before the Great War began, explores how naval influence dela…

'From Flying Dreadnought to Dogfighter - The Troubled Birth of the British Fighter‘ a talk by Greg Baughen

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This talk destroys many myths about WW1 fighter development. Part talk, part detective story, it explains how the importance of air superiority was understood long before the Great War began, explores how naval influence delayed the development of dogfighters like the Camel and SE5a and tracks down the mysterious Fighting Experimental dreadnoughts …